A trip to Brighton.

Last week I took my none working day on Wednesday. Our plan was to visit Brighton, visit the Royal Pavilion,  eat a fish and chip supper on the beach and hopefully see the murmuration.  Not a major timetable for the day. We left early and headed out to the M23 where things went slightly haywire. There had been a 15 car pile up on the motorway with 4 hospitalised and quite a few minor injuries. We ground to a halt and sat in a queue for some time. The queue eventually started moving but we had to leave the motorway at the next junction We used google maps to find an alternative route but it kept trying to take us back onto the M23, so we headed in the general direction of the south coast and eventually google caught up with us and took us to our destination, the park and ride just outside Brighton. The bus took us on a very circuitous route and stopped so many time but eventually we got into the city centre. I was very pleased we had decided to use the park and ride as the traffic in the centre was awful. I drive most days in London but this was a totally different situation. So much more traffic on narrow roads and with road works everywhere! Our first port of call was the Royal Pavilion.

The history of Brighton Pavilion is very interesting and if you want to know more you can find lots of information Here .  Beginning in 1787, it was built in three stages as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, who became the Prince Regent in 1811, and King George IV  in 1820.

As we entered the first room we saw this huge chandelier.  Unfortunately the picture doesn't show it at its best but it was huge and very beautiful

George IV was very taken with all thing oriental so there were many examples of Chinese art

Also a lot of very large chandeliers in different rooms. As the lights were on it was difficult to get good pictures but this gives you an idea of size.

Up at the top of the high ceiling we could see these windows on each of the 4 sides. The guide in the room told us that a member of staff would go up to the roof and light candles outside the windows when there were guests for dinner. Sounds dangerous on several levels!

Below is a view of the dinning room with the table laid for dessert. You can see the lights better in this picture.

Below is the attachment for one of the smaller lights.

This was the design above the main ceiling light.

We visited the kitchens which must have been very loud and busy when there were guests. It was a large room with separate preparation areas for meat, fish, vegetables and desserts.

  

The fireplace was decorative with this bird or pterodactyl.                                                                                                                                                                         

The wallpaper in this room was very decorative.

This bedroom was very bright

and here is a close up of the wallpaper.

We really enjoyed our visit to the pavilion. I did take a lot more photos but many of them are quite dark due to the lighting. By now we were hungry and so stopped for lunch. It was nice to sit down for a while. OK so we had been sat down for quite a while in the car due to the crash but walking slowly, looking at things makes your legs feel tired so it really was good to sit and eat lunch.

Next we wanted to walk down to the marina. Information that John had read told him he might see a purple sandpiper in that area. This would be a completely new bird spot .  We walked past the pier.  Brighton beach is pebbles and so we kept off the beach at this point. As we walked we were aware of the different birds around but also the restoration work going on along the sea front and the families enjoying a holiday or day out at the seaside, since it was half term.

At the marina we started to look out for the sandpipers and eventually we saw two through the binoculars. They were too far away for me to get a good picture as I hadn't taken the long lens. 

Purple sandpiper stock photo Royalty and copyright free Google.

By now the time was moving towards sunset and so we walked back to the pier. We bought coffee and fish and chips and found a comfortable spot to sit and wait . Our plan was to see the starling murmuration. We had skeins of brent geese fly over us and lots of gulls ,when eventually the starlings started to gather. They fly as a group and there is a lot of swirling, and flying around. The numbers increased as more starling join the groups and slowly the groups came together as one. They flew quite low along, under and over the pier. It was fabulous to watch. Finally the starlings settled to roost. By now the temperature was dropping and we needed to get a bus back to our car. We were tired from our day but fortunately the journey home went without any incidents.

We had a great time on our day out. We have more planned over the year. Now I need to try and finish the back of my cardigan as this was my challenge for this month.

Take care

Lyndsey