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| Me ice-Skating At The Royal Pavilion |
I was lucky enough to spend a few days at my friend's grandparents' house in Brighton recently and had a great time. Here is what we did...
Ice Skating
First of all, we took the bus to
Brighton's Royal Pavilion to go ice-skating. One problem - I can't ice-skate AT ALL! After putting on skates, I slowly went out onto the ice and did a few laps, soon realizing that I wasn't as bad as I thought. Although I definitely wasn't the best person on the rink, an hour was enough for me to (kind of) learn to skate.
The Pavilion in itself was beautiful - the grass was green, there were loads of flowers and the building looked like a miniature Taj Mahal. It created the perfect atmosphere. The open-air rink is open only in winter, and is somewhere you should really go to, whether you can skate or not...
We also had lunch in the pop-up tent by the rink and were not disappointed. I had a delicious fish finger sandwich and chips, and the whole place smelt amazing. The service was good and the atmosphere was warm and friendly.
The Pier
Obviously, the part I was most looking forward to in our whole trip was Brighton's famous
pier. Unfortunately, when we went it was absolutely pouring with rain (far too common in England), so we mainly stayed inside. The first thing I noticed was that the food was ridiculously overpriced. Although I only wanted a stick of candyfloss, you had to pay loads of money, so I ended up walking away from the food empty-stomached.
I am a bit of a cynical person, the kind of person who usually realizes that it is impossible to win arcade games and doesn't even try. Yet somehow, the stupid games inside the pier stopped me from being my usual self. After an hour, I had ALMOST won four radio-controlled minions, a professional camera, a tablet and I managed to cut half the string off a gigantic pacman toy. All my mini angry bird toys had been dropped by a giant claw just before they fell down the hole and all the money I won from the penny falls was wasted by going straight back into the machines. Oops.
Although I had a fantastic time at the pier, I ended up wasting £14 (!) and walked away ashamed and empty handed. If you do go to Brighton pier, make sure to pace yourself!
The Brighton Wheel
The Brighton Wheel is 50m high and is placed right between the sea and the rest of Brighton and Hove. Although it is quite pricey (£6.50 for children), I had fun looking at the fantastic views and taking pictures on my phone. The wheel is quite fast, and you are allowed three complete turns on it, which takes approximately 12 minutes. I loved most of it, as there were stunning views over the sea, and it was fun to see the people in the other pods. On the other hand, the other side of the wheel is just buildings and is not very interesting to look at, so there are only really two good spaces to sit in a pod, as otherwise you cramp your neck by trying to look at the sea!
There was some commentary while going round the wheel, and it was incredibly interesting. I was fascinated with the story about the old pier, and there was something for everyone. I did also notice that there was a cool looking mini golf place next to the wheel, but we didn't go on it.
The Beach
We didn't go to the beach as the weather was terrible, the sea was cold and the waves were colossal, but it was still absolutely gorgeous. It is a pebble beach, which was nice for a change and I bet that it is lovely in the summer...
Overall, I had a fabulous time in Brighton, even though the weather was terrible. There was always loads to do - shops, museums, restaurants and attractions are in abundant supply. If you live in the UK, you should definitely visit Brighton, whether it is the winter or the summer.
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Labels: Brighton, Brighton wheel, ice skating