Brighton Royal Pavilion & Lanes

22 Apr 2014


Brighton is an easy day trip from London. It is located on the southern coast of Great Britain and it takes just about an hour and a half to get there. Brighton is an adorable little coastal town with winding "lane" streets and a sweet village-y disposition. I went with a friend and her parents and it was just nice to walk around aimlessly and get some fresh air. 

Brighton has a lot to offer, much more than I probably know, but for our day trip we mainly focused on the Royal Pavilion, the Lanes and the Brighton Pier. The first landmark we came across was the Royal Pavilion. I typically don't do audio tours for a couple of reason, one: they cost money and two: I'm just too cool, but I am glad that I paid the extra £11 to go inside and listen to the history of the Royal Pavilion. 

Okay, so this palace was the Prince Regent, a.k.a. George IV's getaway from the ordinary and mundane. Trust me this gets better...  He loved Indian and Chinese culture and architecture, so the exterior of the palace was Indian inspired and the interior was Chinese inspired. (Sorry, no pictures were allowed from inside and the sneaky ones I took were really poor! Oh well.) 

The most amazing part of this audio tour was hearing about how. much. of. a. LAD. George. was! Basically, he built this exorbitant palace (and went bankrupt many times trying to complete it), to entertain, have crazy parties, play by his own rules (example: sit boy, girl, boy girl at the dinner table, HOW CLEVER?! ), drink a ton of booze and sleep with A LOT of women. Like, A LOT. Like I said, straight up lad. 

Eventually, he got super fat from his awesome poor lifestyle and his health seriously deteriorated. Y'all, this guy created underground tunnels so the service staff couldn't see him because they would make fun of him for being so fat. He also used a walker *with wheels and a seat* that connected around his whole body to glide around the palace. OMG! I neeeeeeeed that! I mean, this guy was a serious boss, for shizzle! In his defense, he wasss one of the first people to have a bathroom connected to the Master bedroom because he was big to go much further than that. So, basically he is a genius in my book!

I think many of us will agree that if he were alive during our college years, he would have been our friend, or maybe even our boyfriend... I mean, frat fat is okay, right?!

LOL! Anywayzzz, there were many other fun facts about this guy, but I will save something of the tour if you choose to go!
There isn't much to say about the Brighton Lanes, except they are these narrow interconnected streets and alleyways that house cute shops and restaurants. Basically, it's just a cute area to walk around and peruse. Very relaxing, very quaint. I don't specifically know the actual dimensions of the Lanes, so I just included other pictures from our walk around Brighton.
Click the link for pictures from Brighton Pier!

Week Twenty-Nine

21 Apr 2014

I am always a sloth the week after traveling. James hates this about me, but I avoided a tongue lashing because he was very busy last week. No matter how hard I try to keep the flat in order while packing I always manage to destroy it at the last minute. We came back to a flat in disarray and I hate to say it, we are still living in a flat in disarray. (Eye-roll). I swear it's on my to-do list, but I just haven't been able to get motivated. I think I am in Barcelona withdrawal. I've been spoiled by sunny and warm weather and now I have no interest in what London's throwing my way. The weather here in London has been pretty dry, but still chilly. And mama is ready for some serious rays.

Wednesday morning I met up with Kristen and her parents at the West Hampstead train station and we set off to Brighton for the day. It was nice weather, but again, chilly. I think we all wish we had bundled a bit more. Brighton is a sweet, quaint town on the coast about an hour and a half south of London. Easy peasy. I really enjoyed spending time with Kristen and her parents walking in and out of the winding lane streets and down by the pier. Kristen's parents were super sweet. I secretly adopted them for the day, or at least that's the way I played it in my head... It definitely made me miss my parents since it's been over four months since I've gotten to see them in person. Hopefully, that will change pretty soon!
While I was on my little adventure in Brighton, James was on an adventure of his own accompanying his boss on a couple site visits around the UK.  To meet the schedule they hired a private plane. balla shot calla.
Friday, we met up with two of our Charlotte friends for a makeshift London Pub Crawl. We had pints in many of the oldest pubs in London. Luckily, all the oldest pubs are in the City of the London, so we weren't trekking all over Greater London... that would be annoying. It was really good catching up with the Williamses and hopefully we will be able to see them again in the future!
Saturday morning, we got breakfast at the Elk in the Woods and relaxed for most of the day until we met up with a bunch of our friends at Crazy Bear in Fitzrovia. It was pricey, but the sushi was awesome. We might not be heading back anytime soooooon, but it's definitely a nice date-night place. 
Overall it was an enjoyable week for us. I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and ate lots of candy!

Happy Monday! xx

WEEK TWENTY-EIGHT

14 Apr 2014


Week 28 was amazing. We left for Barcelona on Thursday morning at 5:00 AM and got back to London around 8:00 PM Sunday night. It was REALLY hard for me to leave, like almost in tears hard; I just fell head-over-heels in love with that city. I am legitimately trying to figure out a way that we can move to Barcelona. I mean, it has everything you would want-- beach, mountains, culture, etc... Trust me, I could go on for days!

I haven't gotten a chance to upload my pictures from the new Canon yet, but don't worry there will be plenty of time for that! Over the four days that we were in Barcelona, we explored the city and made a trip outside the city to Montserrat. It went by so fast! Unlike our trip to Amsterdam, I do NOT feel like I dominated Barcelona. I feel like there is still so much that I didn't see. Boo! I guess we'll just have to go back!

Here are just a few iPhone snaps from our Barcelona trip!





Right now, James is back at work and I am getting back into the swing of things here...The weather forecast looks great this week, so I am going to make sure to get out and explore with the new camera. Our first guests arrive in 2.5 weeks! YIPPEEEEEE! I can't wait to show them around and catch up on the past six months!

Sooooooo, I had a meltdown this morning when I deleted an album from my Google+ account called Team Starnes Takes London and realized that it deleted all the pictures from my blog. Somehow I was able to restore the album and everything appears  to be normal again, but for a second there, the fury of the universe was upon me and I started to implode. Has this ever happened to anyone else? what.the.fuck? It makes me SO EFFING MAD that Google is somehow directly connected to my blog and without a warning, you can delete every single picture from your blog! W.T.F!! Eff this Google Chromebook "computer" and Eff Google+. End rant.

Happy Monday! xx

TRAVEL LIGHT TO BARCELONA

10 Apr 2014

via
Weather: High 65/Low 55
Synopsis: Warm Days, Chilly Nights. Pack breathable clothing that can be layered from day to night.






DAY ONE: Outfits for comfortable travel and sightseeing and a casual dinner.



DAY TWO: Outfits for a full day of sightseeing and a nice dinner.


DAY THREE: A comfortable outfit for an excursion outside the city.



DAY FOUR: A comfortable travel outfit.

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