Simply the Best Lovely Jubbly

This weekend we took advantage of the fact that England is, against all odds and evidence of history, having an actual summer. It has been warm and sunny for two weeks straight now, so what better to do than visit the beach? For our beach visit, we picked Brighton. This is a small, summer holiday spot that has been popular with the Brits for a few hundred years, though it's not on many Americans' visit lists. Since we are trying to live at least a bit like locals, it seemed like a good fit.

The beach itself is a short walk from the train station, and is stone rather than sand (a fact that my wife mentioned a few dozens times out of sheer shock.) It's really more gravel than anything else, which just is not at all what she expected. All along the beach are various bars, restaurants, and shops all catering to the vacationing crowds. When we arrived fairly early in the day, things were just opening up and were still quite quiet. The beach had only a few folks on it, and the bars and food stands were sparsely populated. Both beach and bar filled up quite a bit as the day progressed, so we were happy to have come early when it was less overwhelming. Can you guess what Lovely Jubbly is? We discussed it to some extent and decided that it is definitely a pudding/jello hybrid. I even suggested a method for making simply the best lovely jubbly which entailed freezing a pudding ball and then making a jello mold around it. We were disappointed to learn that it is, in fact, an expression meaning "great".

Another draw of Brighton is the pier. This is similar in ways to Navy Pier in Chicago, but much more historic and -- in my opinion -- more charming. It can be seen in the first picture of this post stretching out into the channel. It has arcades, restaurants, some carnival rides, and all sorts of delightful junk food vendors. It's been a center for amusement since at least 1911, and it definitely has a fun old-timey charm without overdoing it. And now, a transcript of the conversation had about the World of Donuts sign: Mary: How can the Uranus donut be earth shattering? That doesn't make any sense. Bill: You're right. That donut would shatter Uranus.

The other main draw in town is the Royal Pavilion. This is a pleasure palace that started construction in the late 18th century to house the Prince of Wales at the time. It was built in a strange, Indian-inspired mash-up style that was intended to show that even though they lost the US, they still had some awesome colonies. We had seen pictures in guidebooks before coming, but it didn't really prepare us for the absurdity of this overwrought Indian temple plopped down in this little seaside resort. It's very striking, and just covered in bizarre details for the eye to take in. The inside is even stranger, covered in primarily Chinese-style decorations and furniture. It was a real shame that they did not allow photographs, because it was one of the most over the top, amazing interiors we had ever seen. The main dining hall had a twelve foot dragon holding up the chandelier!

After wandering a bit in the shops around the Royal Pavilion, we headed back down to the beach for a last stroll before heading home. Things had definitely picked up. The beach was blanketed with picnicers and sunbathers, and the bars and cafes were in full swing. Quite a few ships had even anchored off the beach and were likely mocking the crowds they were glad to be avoiding. As we walked we reflected on our day and commented on the hilarious and daring bathing outfits of those around us (we spied a few topless women and a man in a pair of skimpy, skin-tight, neon yellow trunks.) We had expected a nice day, but it really turned out to be a fantastic outing. I would not be at all surprised if we made a return trip later in the summer to see it again, and this time brought our own picnic supplies.