The Wetlands Live Up to Their Name, and a Castle Visit Too

Thoughts of bad weather dominated my thoughts before heading to England in October. Mostly that was a complete waste of time, well really it WAS all a waste of time! Except for one small part of a day, we had a mix of clouds and sun, tolerable temperatures, and of course no humidity. Had we been home, we'd have had loads of rain, barely tolerable temperatures, and humidity like nobodies business. So, I'd say we made out very well indeed.

Fortunately Matt is expert in reading bus schedules, because had it been just the two of us, I believe we'd have been hard pressed to figure out which bus went to the Brighton train station for the next part of our trip. Matt kept asking me before we arrived, what I wanted to do, to which I replied "I don't know, outdoor activities?" Knowing my fondness for birds, he found a town combing both birds and a castle --Arundel, in nearby West Sussex.

Stopping to change trains in Ford, home of England's largest model train store, we toured said store and were surprised at how fascinating it was. An expensive hobby from what we could tell.

Although fairly overcast, we kept our hopes up as we rode in a taxi, driven by a very pleasant woman, by the way, to the Arundel Wetlands Center. So far, so good. After the hustle and bustle of the cities, this was lovely and peaceful.

Behind that stone wall is a nice little covered spot to watch the charming ducks swim in the crystal clear water. These ducks aren't just your standard variety ducks, not by a long shot. Icelandic ducks filled the pond and were they ever cute. The orange beak and feet, while not unique, sure make for a wonderful contrast!

The rain begins. Nothing like a Florida rain mind you, but a steady one. With two umbrellas for the three of us, we continued on:

Instead of "Make Room for Ducklings" in this case it was make room for us! One of the best parts for me was seeing all manner of dried flowers still on the plants.

There was a wonderful little building chock full of dried flowers hanging from the ceiling with information on how many of them are used for medicines and manufacturing. Very interesting indeed.

What would a trip to England be without a thatched roof?

Deciding not to let the rain stop us, slowed by now to mostly a drizzle, we walked to the nearby Arundel Castle, along a beautiful path:

We must have been quite a site all spread out as we were, however, I stopped to photograph both this Harlequin duck,

and this:

Who doesn't love the site of an old stone building with a little waterfall?

Our first view of the castle through the trees:

I don't know about you, but as a young girl, reading stories about castles, I never dreamed I'd be inside of one! 

In another few weeks, this sign will not be displayed as they close for the winter months. Begun in 1067, during the reign of William the Conquerer, Arundel Castle is still in use today as the ancestral home of the Duke of Norfolk. Imagine growing up in a place like this? 

Photography is not allowed of the interior; as you can imagine it is pretty spectacular. Climbing a lot of steep, winding steps, we made our way to the "keep," an old name for a prison like area.

None too inviting, right?

Fantastic views to be had from that vantage point though:

Named for the River Arun, you can see it run through the town and out to sea:

Completing our tour, we mosey down the walk towards the gardens, and chapel on the grounds. Bruce, by now, was pretty worn out, so instead of going with us, he took a little nap on a bench. We were free to take all the photos we liked in the gardens, and oh my, were they gorgeous!! 

Picture overload ahead! 

Fantastic topiaries lined the drive. The photo below shows the blend of the very old, with the newer, in this case hundreds of years new:

Rarely have I visited formal gardens, so it was a real treat, especially now that the weather was pleasant.

Matt seemed to never tire; jacket off, sunglasses on--you'd think he was in Florida!

Dahlias galore!!!

With the Arundel Cathedral thrown in for good measure! Gazebos and a gorgeous lawn. Interestingly enough, they are growing palms here.

A lovely glass house, as they call it:

On the upper right in the above photo, apples are growing on the arbor. 

Pretty much it was all fairy tale like, as it should be when visiting castle grounds.

Bruce and Matt make their way up the hill,

Oh wait, another shot of the dahlias, some of which were the size of lunch plates:

Instead of a taxi ride back to the station, we, you guessed it, walked through town.

And here's what happens after a full day,

on a crowded train back to Brighton. Dinner in the "lanes" at Zizzi,

and an early bedtime. I suspect that announcement comes as no surprise.

Time to head off for today's market---next up, leaving Brighton and back to London and the Shard.

The Pecks Do Brighton!

Originally a moated castle from the 11th century was on the Wednesday agenda, however, an executive decision was made by our son/tourguide to scrap it in favor of roaming Brighton. No doubt it would have been fantastic, but seeing it involved not only a train journey, but a bus one as well, so with our limited time in Brighton, why not just see what there is to see? Here, here!

Generally, when we travel I wake early to take photographs on the street, beach, forest, wherever, before either the crowds or the sun get too intense. In this case, the sun would not interfere, but the crowds definitely would. Roaming the few streets nearby, as well as the waterfront, I like to take my time noticing details. Then too, in the interest of not driving Matt and Bruce crazy by stopping all the time, I can meander at my leisure. Not that they complain mind you.

Down the steps I went to further investigate the ironwork which is so wonderful. Picture men over a roaring fire, bending, shaping and stamping all that iron into beauty...

The sea air takes it's toll, especially, it seems so on the lower level, perhaps because the moist air is trapped? 

I've rarely seen so much cast iron except in Paris;  I was enthralled with how delicate it could be--almost like lace don't you think?

Following a light breakfast in the flat, our first stop was the....

a few blocks away. Matt knows his Mom and Dad love to roam around amongst the old and odd! A case in point:

We came away with nothing but some laughs at the mixture of weird, and weirder. Now it was time to not just gaze at the pier, but go on it! 

Below Matt is photographing Sedric, his "gnome away from home" gift we gave him last year. (The link provides an hilarious review.)

And here is the result of a photograph Matt took of his parents far away from home:

The pier is quite long with shops, food concessions, and rides, none of which we rode. Matt did enjoy some cotton candy, and we did enjoy the views. Some years ago, Matt came to Brighton with a friend who photographed him on the carousel riding a horse called Matthew. Because the rides were not open just yet, he can't get all the way around to find "his horse."

Just in case you need some advice on your love life, or whatever, here's your wagon:

It's all in the cards folks. 

I thought the arcade games were mostly video type, but I thought wrong. All manner of gambling games were there, including slot machines with the biggest payout the grand sum of five pounds. Your blogger won a whopping one pound, or was it two?

Bruce had some fun playing this kind of gambling game:

Because I have almost no experience with gambling, perhaps these are common in the States, but they were new to us. Dropping in your coin, it falls to the first level which is sliding back and forth pushing coins onto the next level, which, if you are lucky, push the next level out into the winning slot. 

Plus there are little figures you can win if you're really lucky. You can imagine how easy it is to think the next dropped coin will do the trick!

I have no idea where we had lunch, but I'm sure we did before going to the Royal Pavilion, a magnificent palace begun by the Prince of Wales in 1787. His later gig was being crowned King Henry IV.  Sadly no photos were allowed inside, but here's a look at the outside:

Do yourself a favor and click on the link to see one of the painted ceilings. Beautiful, beautiful. A closer look without the tops cut off!

What's that you say? A blue sky? Every now and again my friends, every now and again. The stable is now a museum which we also toured. To give you a little scale on the size of things, here's Bruce standing by one of the "stable" gates:

I was pleasantly surprised, don't know why, but I was, by the flowers still in bloom. These are pictured alongside the gate to the Pavilion:

From there we made our way to the area called "the Lanes," where there are plenty of shops, and eateries. Have a look at a few of the ones I found charming,

or colorful,

or crazy.

The missing shoe is placed strategically on the roof! How about a polka dot second floor for you? I know I loved it. What would a shopping area be without a pub?

Note the sign stating it is a Free House, which in pub language means they are free to sell whatever ales they want rather than being tied to just one. Walking closer to this VW van I discovered it is used as a mobile wedding venue.

And, if it's a wedding cake you're after for your mobile wedding, these folks seem to make beautiful ones:

I had a shot of the bakery from straight on, however, looking through my photographs, what I've most been struck by is the blending of the very old, with the modern, evident everywhere in our travels. Make of it what you will. Here's a little shop for more wedding goodies:

Are you tired yet? Hungry? We were a little of both which led us to a very popular Mexican restaurant,

followed by a stroll back to the flat. The pier is not the only place in town offering carnival type fun:

And how lovely does the other side of the RP look lit up at night?

After watching a show called Grande Design, fascinating by the way, we fell into another deep sleep. By now you may have noticed I've mentioned very little about the weather and for good reason--it was just fine, albeit slightly chilly at times. What with my boots and quilted jacket, I was more than ready for anything, which is what Tom's mum told me before we arrived; "the weather can be anything really." And so it was.

A Journey to Brighton

Dear Friends,

Please accept my apologies for the delay in posting. What you did know is that we were scheduled to arrive home on Tuesday night, however, what you didn't know is that my sister Carol arrived an hour later from California to spend some time in Florida. Naturally the here and now takes precedent over the past...

But to the past we go, as Carol still sleeps, and for that I'll start at the beginning of our journey to England. Ready by 4PM, unprecedented for me, we waited for Angela to take us to the airport. Waiting became the word of the day as it turned out. Bruce took this photo of me to kill time!

Arriving at our gate by 5:30, while gazing out the window at our plane, Bruce, seasoned traveler that he is,  pronounced trouble might lie ahead. He was right, of course; as it turns out, our plane hit a large bird during the previous flight. Following much measuring, cleaning off of blood, picture taking, and commiserating with Delta headquarter,s the plane was deemed not safe to fly. In the meantime, whilst all this was taking place, Bruce got on the phone with Delta, and to make a long story short, we got on the next plane, scheduled to leave at 7:30. Sadly, we lost our first class seats which made him none too happy as he used loads of miles to secure that status. Adding insult to injury, we were seated in row 10, with just the open curtain separating us from first class service!

So, the end result was after a delayed take off we arrived in Atlanta with only about twenty minutes before boarding the next flight. I nearly forgot to get our TravelEx card because of the short time span. That card is a story unto itself, but in the interest of reader's attention span, I won't go into that.

We made it, seats 3 and 4! Both of us slept for bits and pieces between extended meal services. Please don't take this as boasting, because it is not intended as such, but I will tell you, if you have to fly overnight, it is mighty nice to be able to lay your seat all the way flat with a regular bed pillow!

The sight of Matthew, after a short time in Customs, was very welcome indeed. And so began our travels on foot, train, bus, underground, escalators, and stairs-- oh my, the stairs!

Taking the Picadilly line into London, Matt is showing Bruce the ropes on the Tube map.

And here we are--Victoria Station, a busy, busy place if ever there was one. By now it was early afternoon, so I can't imagine what it's like at rush hour!

What a nice son to drag his Mom's bag! Although we've visited London twice without Matt's help, it sure takes a lot of the stress out of things with a guide. He's checking the board for the next train to Brighton, which is only about a 45 minute train journey from London.

Taking a little nap on that train, I saw very little of the scenery to tell you about, but I can show you how nice the station is there.

Here's a little entry from Wikipedia about the history of Brighton:

Brighton was a sleepy little fishing village, then known as Brighthelmstone, until Dr Richard Russell of Lewes began to prescribe the use of seawater for his patients. He advocated the drinking of seawater and sea-bathing in 1750. In 1753 he erected a large house near the beach for himself and for his patients. A further factor in Brighton's growth came in the early 19th Century when the Prince of Wales built the Royal Pavilion, an extravagant Regency building designed by John Nash. But it was only with the development of the railways, around 1840, that Brighton truly started to boom

Thus began the making of Brighton as a seaside attraction.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Coming out of the hustle and bustle of the train station, we took a taxi to our flat for the three day stay.

Good thing it had this cool mosaic as a landmark because with attached housing it is easy to walk right past your destination. Because it is rare to find two beds in a hotel room, we used "airbnb" to book a two bedroom flat which worked beautifully. A slight drawback though--five flights up on pretty narrow stairs to get to said flat, but other than that, it was perfect. This is the small, colorful, main room, with a view into the bedroom Matt used.

Once settled, I took a walk down to the sea which I'll illustrate with photos below. Having heard of the English Channel most of my life, it was quite thrilling to see it in person.

What you do is take stairs down to one level below where I'm standing in the above photo, to the next one with shops and a promenade.

 I was crazy for the color of all the ironwork as well as the fantastic lights!

Now I'm on level two, with another set of steps down to the road along the sea.

The photo above makes clear what I pitifully tried to say in words!

Although I'd read it was a pebble beach, the writer's idea of pebbles is not quite the same as mine. I was surprised at how large and dense the rocky beach was--hard to walk on too.

It didn't seem to bother folks at all though:

The earliest attraction in Brighton is the long pier with entertainment, shops, games, and rides which I'll tell you about in another post. Here's a look from below:

To the right of the photo is a large sea wall, or so I think that is what it is.

The ironwork is grand and lovely, especially as mentioned above, painted such a lovely shade of green. Behind all the arches is a wide promenade, or so I'm calling it, imagining the fashionable folks visiting from London, strolling along during the late 1800's.

Trudging up the stairs to join Bruce and Matt, we next made our way just down the street for dinner at a place serving burgers for 3 pounds, which turned out to be super delicious.

Neighbourhood had some super funky decor:

If you thought we might be worn out by now, you thought right! Heading back to the flat, we stopped at a supermarket to buy a few breakfast provisions. We are definitely in England:

Through the narrow streets you can't help but notice the Brighton Wheel, the latest seaside attraction.

You don't have to guess what we did next do you? A bed never felt so good.....

Tomorrow I'll tour you around Brighton, a charming town by the sea.