Annaliese, our beautiful niece, is nearly 3 weeks into an 8 month stint as an au pair in London. Today, we spent the day with her at Brighton.
The train took just over an hour through the city suburbs and onto the very green fields of the countryside. Brighton surprised me – I expected some rather tainted, touristy English seaside resort (and this was the case to some degree), however, we discovered beautiful laneways, french patisseries, chic boutiques, peaceful parklands and a charm all it’s own.
The pebbles!! We used to call them ‘lucky stones’! The inhabitants of the English beaches must be very lucky people – there are so many. Where is the sand? It was interesting to see this spectacle at last.
We went for a walk and drink on the famous pier – it was a glorious day.
The local seagulls are on steroids – they’re huge (and loud).
with 100 course banquets and a succession of wives and mistresses!! Secret passages and doorways throughout the amazing building. One chandelier alone in the massive banquet room was designed with a dragon attached with 15,000 crystals.
It was great to spend this time with Annaliese – Anmarie and Paul, you know you have a wonderful daughter, but I’d just like to say it again. Just be aware that the Guinness shot may have been set-up by Bruce!
At the end of the day we made our way to Putney where Matt lives and works and had dinner in a pub overlooking the river.
Seems funny to us Aussies to have a beach with rocks instead of sand. I had a similar exerence in Denmark. Crazy!
So great that you met up with Annaliese, perhaps this au pair trip will make her catch the travelling bug just like Matt did.
Loving the blog and looking forward to your next entry!
Thanks Kath! Yes, the beaches do seem really strange to us! And Annaliese is probably already bitten. x