Day Trip #2

Wednesday (1/27)
Today rocked my socks off. Both pairs. It was a long (almost 13 hour!) field trip but so cool. We visited Brighton, Hastings (Battle Abbey), and Rye (random).
Brighton – amazing, gorgeous, and right on the southern coast of England. I hadn’t seen a beach in so long! Although this was very different from California. There was a pier though. First we visited the Royal Pavilion (Brighton Palace) which was built in the 1820s as King George IV’s “pleasure palace.” I loved it! It was built with Indian architecture on the outside, with Chinese design inside. My favorites. I was seriously drooling. The gardens were so pretty! I bet they’re even prettier in spring bloom. The outside reminded me of the Taj Mahal (which I’ve visited in my dreams), with an onion dome. The inside was filled with Asian decorations and pagodas and Chinese paintings and sculpture and trinkets etc! (Asian obsession warning. I was Asian in another life. Clue: my Asian eyes). I was so sad that I couldn’t take pictures inside! It was all very gold and colorful and ornate and beautiful, with dragons everywhere. The banquet room was fantastic. There was a massive chandelier filled with crystal and jade and flowers and dragons galore. The walls were covered in Chinese art. All of the rooms were beautifully decorated. *sigh…

Afterwards we went to the beach (rocks not sand) and strolled down the pier. It was icy cold! We were taking a group picture when a seagull landed on a girl’s head hahaha. There was an arcade area and a mini-amusement park at the end of the pier. It was deserted though. I loved seeing the ocean! Or the Channel.

 haha.

Fun on the pier

Next we visited Battle Abbey at Hastings, which commemorates the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066 – when William the Conqueror led troops from Normandy to defeat the Anglo-Saxon/English. It was all quite interesting and while exploring the battlefields I saw lots of pretty English countryside (and lots of sheep and sheep poop). There was Battle Abbey (like a medieval castle) and the ruins of an ancient monastery, as well as a long tour through the Battlefield area.

fight! (I won)

On the way home we stopped at the town of Rye, where I hoped (in vain) that we'd tour some museum/factory where we would get free rye bread (it was late and I was hungry). It was a random stop where they dropped us off for an hour or two to explore the town (very old/historical and quaint) and get dinner. We mostly explored and I bought some chocolate. :)

We got home and a group of us went to Khan’s nearby for Indian food! Amazing! :)