London Eye and Brighton

On Wednesday night 115 international students rode the London Eye and went on a pub walk. The London Eye is a giant faris wheel (450 feet tall) that towers over most of the London buildings. You can see all across the city when at the top. My camera did not take good pictures, but I did post some of them. Parliament was the most memorable to look at. The building is lite up at night to make it more spectacular than in the day. My pictures do not do it justice.

After riding the eye we went on a pub walk. I was really sick, and only went to the first pub (mainly for the free sandwiches). I was like any other pub, not really special.

On Saturday Erin and I went on a tour to Brighton. Brighton is a very popular 'get away' town on the south coast of England. There are lots of casinos, a large pier, great shopping and lots of hiking trails along the coast.

To get there we rode the overground. It took about 90 minutes to get there. We walked through the shopping districts and then went to the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion was built by Henry IV. He built the Pavilion with Asian architecture. He had never been to Asia, but built the entire thing by copying drawings that had been brought back to him by his explorers. It is known as the most unusual palace in the UK. It had many bright colors inside, dragons and snakes everywhere, and beautiful Asian themed furniture. We could not take pictures inside, but here is a website that has some, it is worth a look http://www.royalpavilion.org.uk/default.asp

Next we ate fish and chips on the pier. It was a beautiful day, so there were many people on the pier. We took some pictures and then headed off to a bus that would take us more east.

The bus took us to Seven Sisters. There are seven huge chalk cliffs right in a row, which is where it gets its name. We walked about 3 miles from the bus stop to the water. The beaches in Brighton and Seven Sisters were all big rocks. I found some really neat rocks that I will bring home. There are some pictures that show the size of the rocks on my Picasa.

Back at Brighton we had just enough time to grab some quick dinner before we went back to the train station. Erin and I had crapes with corn, ham and cheese. They were so good. I think savory crapes have become one of my favorite foods since I got here.

This weekend is Scotland, I will tell you about it next week!