Royal Pavilion, Brighton, Sussex, England

Well most people know the story of Prince Regents extravagances, and this must be one of his biggest ones at the time when he was broke.  However the Pavilion is magnificent to look at, well from the back anyway.  I was gutted to find that when we walked to the main road to take the view below some idiot had placed a huge restaurant/café in the gardens and ruined what was once a wonderful view.  Below is what I had hoped I would see.  Instead today there is a Ice Skating Rink (not a problem) and .......I doubt I can really describe the hideous café whatever were the people of the Royal Pavilion thinking??

 

 

http://austenonly.com/2011/06/22/the-royal-pavilion-brighton-and-dress-for-excess-part-2/

 

Due to not been able to get a font view of the Pavilion I found this photo on  another Google blog.  The link is above and it tells about the history and celebrations of 200 years.  It is a website about Jane Austen and very worthwhile looking at.

 

Now for my photographs from the back towards the front.  I hope that my son will enjoy the different types of architecture.

 

 

 

These first few photos are of the Theatre and the back of what is now a museum.  It is all in the same type of architecture as the Pavilion.

 

I am not sure, however this looks like the main gate to the back of the Pavilion where you can view the gardens and outside of the buildings for free

 

 

This is as much of the front of Pavilion that you can view from a side road, sadly the rest is behind an very ugly café they have built.

 

 

The museum

 

From the gardens

 

Close ups to show the fantastic architecture

 

 

A rather odd tree in the garden

 

 

 

Another huge gateway

 

loved the tulip effect at the bottom of the columns

 

A view from the main road....I think

 

 

Another view from the side road, sadly not spectacular

 

A view from the main road over the overgrown hedges to one side of the very ugly cafe

 

Another view from the same road

 

 

Well that is about all.  for this post until I find my other photos, a bit thanks to Zillah for taking some of these, her camera is much better than mine to say the least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Brighton walkabout

Saturday dawned with snow flurries and a freezing cold wind.  We decided not to take Oxford and Shawna with us due to them having no coats, well that was Zillahs excuse, really she didn't want to get on a bus with them........hehehe

We arrived in Brighton at about 10.30 am and headed for the Lanes.  Not really knowing what I was in for, it seems a bit like the little lanes you can find in Chester and York (The Shambles) where the building nearly touch.  There were old parts and newer parts and we walked for hours, stopping for coffee and a bacon sandwich.  Meeting Vincent a gentleman who was brushing the rather wet footpath, now he was adorable.  Photos to follow.  The guys at the coffee shop run a healthy eatery, and I can tell you it was divine, I even had my photo taken with them.   Whilst in there I found a bag of Guinness Crisps (Chippies in NZ).  Well that was the most unusual thing I found and no I didn't buy any.

 

Vincent who obliged us with a photo. :)

 

The Guinness Crisps

 

The young men who served us coffee and bacon sandwiches

 

The next lot of photos show the lanes and some of the lovely buildings that surround Brighton showing off the historical history from different eras.

 



 

 

Oldest pub in the Lanes

 

 

Next it was on to the main town and then the pier, well actually we did do the pavilion in between however I have decided to do another post for that.

 

 

 

The Town Hall.  Well so it said on the  entrance

 

 

You can see some of the Royal Pavilion to the right of the photo

 

I have never ever seen so many Singer sewing machines all in one spot before 

 

 

The Quaker Meeting House still in use today

 

Can you imagine living here?

 

Loved the contrasting colours

 

This church is now an art museum

 

 

 

Back on our walk about again.

 

 

The Big Wheel on the sea front. 

 

Memorial Clock Tower to queen Victoria

 

 

As you can see each side of the clock had a royal painting with this plaque describing the story behind the clock tower.

On Brighton Pier.  Sadly the photos have decided not to go in the order that I wanted them too.  Anyway enjoy the mixture.

 

 

 

It was freezing on the  pier, my fingers went numb

 

The sea front with the Big Wheel

 

 

Tarot card readings on the pier

 

They had a fair ground on the pier which included a Hotel of Horrors, a ride what we used to call the Octupus and  my favourite a Helter
Skelter

 

View from the pier

 

Apparently there used to be two piers, the one I was standing on and this is the burnt out structure of the West Pier that burnt down around 20 years ago.

 

The Entrance to Brighton Pier

 

Me at the Merry Go Round

 

The Haunted Hotel

 

Helter Skelter Slide

 

Thought my children would enjoy looking at these beautiful horses

 

It snowed flurried on and off all day

 

Well I think that is all the photos of our walk about except for the Royal Pavilion, that will be on the next post.  Enjoy