Last weekend I visited London with my friends who I had spent time with in Germany. It was great seeing them and even though it was threatening to snow that weekend, it turned out to be gorgeously sunny in the city notoriously known for being grey and dull.
We visited Buckingham Palace on the way to the Tube station since the line we were going to use was down for repairs. It was a good time of day to be there because the sun was hitting the gilded edges of Big Ben's tower and made the Houses of Parliament that much more beautiful to see rising up to create that eerie skyline they make. We also heard Big Ben strike one, which was a bit of an accidental treat on our detour.
Those classically touristy areas, though beautiful, are always busy. One thing I appreciate in Brighton is that there's all this common beauty nestled in the city without all the crowds of London gathered around.
St. Paul's Cathedral's architecture is beautiful and just one of the old-time churches in the area. It's currently fenced off near the bottom because of falling masonry, a building that wasn't as well taken care of as it ought to have been, evidenced also by the extremely dark bricks. Its stained glass windows are hard to catch light through, but when you do it's gorgeous.
There are tons of small public parks here, all of which were blooming with English flowers and rose gardens just a month ago.
The streets in Brighton are lined with narrow houses, duplexes and flats, lots of empty properties because of the monetary crises going on, but with lots of character nonetheless.
Of course, one of the most beautiful and recognizable things about Brighton is the Pier. It's a proud coastal town and many of the places you go here like to boast that fact. And why not? It's beautiful, especially at sunset.
This was taken from the Main Pier, but on the right you can see the remains of the West Pier, which burnt to just its framework some years ago. They left the barebones architecture and it is now part of Brighton's recognizable ocean skyline.
There's this amazing hour or so during sunset that, if you visit the pier, you experience something unforgettable and moving: the evening dance of the starlings. Thousands of small birds take to the sky and fly in organized lines, clumps of hundreds of birds at a time, circling around, seemingly dancing in the sky. It's a bit surreal and certainly breathtaking. Beautiful to take in.
And then there's the North Laines, my favourite part of Brighton, and the part I'll certainly miss most. It's just small shops, owner-operated restaurants and boutiques, hand-crafted goods, a place of renewal and reuse, and the streets that contain the best food I've had here. It's hard to capture the liveliness here, or the spirit in the streets.
Even if I'm ready to go home, and I'm winding down this grand adventure, I've appreciated Brighton's best moments, too, and the sights it's allowed me to see. I'll miss it, I think.
