Way Late Update – Part 2

 As promised, the second part of my I-don’t-know-how-many-part updates. I’m hoping to cover my second trip to London, on 14 November, and my trip to Brighton, on 18 November.

London

This time I went to London with more people, namely Kristin, Kévin, Alessandro and Samantha. And instead of taking the train, as Kristin and I did the first time, we took the bus. Or coach, if you want to keep things English. Being poor students and all, taking the coach turned out to be cheaper. So, getting up way too early (since the bus would leave at 8.20am, and we’d have to be there 15 minutes prior to departure, and there would be no busses going from uni to the bus station, which ment we’d have to do the half hour walk to Canterbury Bus Station) and getting breakfast to-go at Rutherford, we set off towards London. According to the schedule we would be in London at about 10:30am, but since we didn’t have to stop along the way we were there earlier, at 10am. We’d arranged to meet Samantha at the National Gallery (Trafalgar Square) at 10:45am (she took the train, she had some sort of special ticket) and because we were in London earlier than planned, we spent more time being a tourist at Buckingham Palace. We’d arrived at Victoria Station, and Buckingham Palace was on the route to Trafalgar Square.

The National Gallery was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, you weren’t allowed to take pictures (as opposed to the British Museum), but I did buy some postcards at the end with the paintings that really impressed me. It’s so strange to see paintings in real life, that you’ve only seen in books previously. I remember seeing one painting from John Constable in my CKV2 handbook, “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” (1831), and seeing it for real in the National Gallery was….beyond words. So detailed and beautiful, I just stood in front of that painting gaping. I know a picture can’t fully show the impact of that painting, but well, that way you guys at least know which painting I’m talking about.

John Constable - Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831)

 Other paintings that really impressed me where “Diana and Actaeon” (1556-1559) by Titian, “Lake Keitele” (1905) by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, “Self Portrait in a Straw Hat” (1782) by Elizabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, and “The Execution of Lady Jane Grey” (1833) by Paul Delaroche. Especially the latter was breathtaking. It looked incredibly realistic, as if it wasn’t a painting at all, but a snap shot photo of that execution. It’s a huge painting as well (246 x 297 cm), and all you can do is stand in front of it and have your breath stolen from you. I know it sounds like an incredible cliché, but no words can describe how impressive and absolutely beautiful that painting is. No picture can capture the true feeling of the painting. It’s, again, beyond words. If any of you guys ever happen to go to London, and you have a few hours to spare, go to the National Gallery and see this painting. I hope it will amaze you, just as it amazed me.

So far for my gushing. I can go on for hours about all the beautiful paintings in the National Gallery, but I fear I will bore you guys too much. I can be a terrible geek at times, and ramble on and on about things that will probably matter very little to you people. All I can say is: go see for yourselves. It’s absolutely beautiful, both the paintings and the building. And it’s free entry, so what could possibly be better?

After the general amazement of the National Gallery, our stomachs started to complain a little, so we decided to get our lunch at Crème de la Crêpe (Covent Garden), where Kristin and I had coffee the first time. I had a lovely crêpe filled with mature cheddar, ham and mayonnaise-mustard sauce, and a mixed-fruit smoothy. Lunch was definitely yummy in my tummy.

After lunch we went on to a shop called CyberCandy, where they had all sorts of imported sweets. Kristin was very happy to get her Root Beer (which isn’t an alcoholic drink, in spite of the “beer” part) and I almost died after seeing Pocky and the Fruit Drops from Hotaru no Haka (Grave of the Fireflies – Isao Takahata, 1988). Otaku, I know.

Since none of us where in the mood for cultural stuff after our long stay at the National Gallery, we decided to check out Regent Street and Oxford Street, the two massive shopping streets in central London. They were already decorated with their Christmas Lights, so there was quite a festive spirit. We wandered around a bit on these streets, and went to Piccadilly Circus through SoHo, since Alessandro was convinced he hadn’t seen it yet even though we’d already passed it thrice. I convinced the others to go to my personal heaven, the massive Waterstone’s just off of Piccadilly Circus, and went bookshop crazy there. Knowing that my parents were coming to pick my up by car assuaged my guilt of buying more books. I am now the proud owner of the official sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, namely Dracula, the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker (great great grand-nephew of) and Ian Holt; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson; Caroline & Other Stories by Neil Gaiman; American Gods by Neil Gaiman; and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. My Neil Gaiman collection is almost complete now. Am I happy? Y-E-S!

London Eye and County Hall at Night

We decided to have dinner at McDonald’s, since we didn’t want to miss our bus (departing at 8.30pm) just because our food would take too long to arrive. After finishing up there (you can’t really go wrong with a McChicken) we wandered through London at night, all beautifully lit. Houses of Parliament and the London Eye look quite impressive at night. We took the route past Westminster Abbey, and on to Victoria Station, where our bus would leave. Samantha caught her train back to Canterbury, and again our bus only took 1 hour and 40 minutes to get back to Canterbury. Funnily enough, we met up with Samantha in the UniBus, which we’d caught from the Bus Station, and Samantha from the stop nearest to Canterbury West. All in all, though tiring, it was another day well spent in London. I am truly and irrevocably in love with that city. There’s no place like London, indeed!

Piccadilly Circus at Night

 

Brighton

Having my Wednesdays off can be quite handy at times, since this allowed me to go to Brighton on a somewhat dry day, 18 November. I had thought of going to Brighton the Saturday after that, 21 November, but the forecast was ‘heavy rain’, for that day, as opposed to ‘partly cloudy’ on the Wednesday. Cheyanne had her Wednesday off as well, so together we took the train to Brighton. It took us about 2,5 hours to get there, changing trains at Ashford International, but it was by no means punishment to travel that long. I’m used to traveling 2,5 hours by train when going back to visit my parents, and when you have the ocean right next to you at some points, and racing through the rolling English landscape at other times, it seems as if time flies by.

Getting of at Brighton Station made it clear that we were quite close to the ocean, for the moment we set foot outside, the stormy wind attacked us with a vengeance. And the closer we got to the ocean, the more my hair was whipped in front of my eyes. But I didn’t care, not in the least, for the ocean was right there, in its grey, foamy and roaring glory. To say I was happy would be the understatement of the day. I didn’t really know I’d missed the ocean untill I was actually there, smelling the salt in the air, having the sea wind blow through my hair and seeing the specs of salt on my glasses. Just thinking back on it makes me sigh.

Brighton Pier and the stormy Ocean

We explored Brighton Pier first, which is kind of empty during the day. The fair rides at the edge of the Pier aren’t open, so it can feel quite deserted. The arcade in the main building feels wrong. It’s such a beautiful building, yet it’s filled with nothing but big machines blinking with bright colours, screaming to have money put in them and gamble your savings away. The architecture of this building (beautiful ceiling) was what got me through it.

To savour the feeling of Brighton Pier, we decided to get a cup of coffee in one of the cafés on the Pier. I’ve completely forgotten the name, but it boasted to have “the most interesting ceiling” in the whole of Brighton. I have to say, it was certainly interesting. All sorts of oddities where dangling from the ceiling, and looking at all the weird things was a good way to drink a cappuccino.

The Most Interesting Ceiling in the Whole of Brighton

Caffeine now freshly in our bodies, we ventured to the Royal Pavilion, where I was a bit dismayed to find it was a payed entry. Going to museums for free in London spoiled me. Fortunately, the audio tours were free, so they weren’t complete money hoarders there. The outside of the Pavillion looks just like an Arabian Castle straight out of 1001 nights. Or, as some critics said: “several square boxes topped with overturned turnips.” I love that analogy.

The Royal Pavillion

The inside, however, was mostly in Chinoiserie style (that’s Chinese style made by people who had never set foot in China themselves), though some rooms where Regency, and the upper rooms where Victorian Style. The most impressive thing of the Royal Pavilion was the dining hall. It’s absolutely massive, with Chinese decorated panelling on the walls, and a beautiful (if somewhat garish) chandelier of a Dragon holding the chandelier in its paws, whilst the smaller dragons hold candle holders in their beaks, in the shape of Lotus flowers. You weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but even if you where, I don’t think you would’ve been able to fully capture the beauty and grandeur of that room. I got a general map of the Royal Pavillion, for my scrapbook, so should you be curious I can show it to you later.

Since the Royal Pavilion was really impressive, we spent quite an amount of time there. So it really came as no surprise we were quite hungry after that. We found our way through the Lanes, which is a small maze of tiny streets with funky shops. One shop was too cool for words, “Fizziwigg’s Finest Sweet Emporium”. Filled with too many sweets to name (and one almost empty jar with “Fizzy Vampire Fangs”), bright colours and a very friendly shop keeper, it was a children’s dream and a dentist’s nightmare. In other words: Brilliant.

A Dentist's Nightmare: Fizziwigg's Finest Sweet Emporium

We got (late) lunch at an Italian restaurant, which was promoting a ‘Credit Crunch Lunch’, for only £3,60. Being poor students and all, it was a bit of a no-brainer. You can’t really go wrong with pizza anyway, and it saved us from having to buy dinner later on. After lunch we walked through Brighton, as the night was slowly falling. We eventually made our way to a shopping mall, where they had a massive Christmas tree in the centre. It’s so strange seeing all these Christmas decorations, knowing that you’d have the Sinterklaas decorations first in the Netherlands. No need to grieve about Sinterklaas, though, since I will be celebrating that here upcoming Saturday. Hopefully by that time I’ll be up-to-date with this blog, so I can tell you guys about it on Sunday .

In the end we went back to Brighton Pier, to see it at night, when it’s all brightly lit and the fair is actually working. The stormy seas had ended by that time, and you could finally see how high up the Pier actually was. I tried making pictures of it, but my zoom is really bad at night. The flash doesn’t really work from such a distance. The Boulevard was also beautifully lit (if somewhat spooky, for those of you who don’t like that sort of thing), and I did manage to get pretty pictures of that, so all was not lost.

[I wanted to have a picture of Brighton Boulevard at night here, but every time I tried to insert it, all my text was deleted. No idea what is happening, maybe it'll work if I try again later. But for now: no pic. Blame WordPress, not me!]

Having seen enough of Brighton, and being quite cold, we made our way back to the Station, where our train was slightly delayed, unfortunately. Thankfully we only had to wait for about 10 minutes, and the rest of the journey back to Canterbury went on without a hitch. I was quite strikingly reminded that this wasn’t the Dutch railway system, since we had to wait for half an hour untill our train to Canterbury would arrive at Ashford. I don’t think you ever have to wait more than 15 minutes while changing trains in the Netherlands. But, apart from that minor thing, my trip to Brighton was a huge success. Happy to have seen the ocean, to have had the salty wind blow through my hair, and quite exhausted from all the walking, we found our way back to Campus.

And boy, did I sleep well!

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There you have it guys, the full details of my second trip to London and my trip to Brighton! Stay tuned (oh wow, that sounds terrible actually. *Shrugs* Right now I don’t care) for Part 3 of my ‘Way Late Update’ series, where I will discuss my third trip to London, last Thursday (26 November) with Jordi, and my trip to Rochester and Chatham last Saturday (28 November). Part 4 will hopefully contain all news about my Academic Endeavours here in the UK. Because, believe it or not, I also have to study. It’s not just fun and games .

As always, feel free to comment, and ’till next time!

Love,
‘Mix