On a sunny Saturday, for no reason other than it was going to be a lovely day, I decided to go with some friends to Brighton! Bri and Patrick live in St Albans, so the plan was to catch a train to East Croydon, where I would get on the same train as them to Brighton for the day. It went really smoothly, I made it on the correct train, even in the same carriage, and then only one stop away, the train stopped. The train in front of us had a signal failure, got stuck, and we had to stop. Luckily we were at a station, so they made us disembark, change platforms and change to the next Gatwick Airport train so that we could get to Brighton. It seemed like it was going to be a really big disruption, but in the end it was only about 15 minutes. We were lucky enough to get off the train quickly, make it to a good spot on the platform, and onto the very next train! It was even a fast train to Brighton in the end.
When we arrived, we decided the first thing we wanted to do was get lunch, so we walked to the pier. When we got there, however, we had done a quick google and realised that one of the apparent best fish and chip shops in the city was only 10 minutes walk away! So we strolled up and down the pier, as you do, then returned back the way we had come to the Regency restaurant.
The fish and chips was pretty great! I'm not sure that it was the best fish and chips I've ever had, but it was definitely very good and I haven't had excellent fish and chips in ages. Well worth it. Then we went for a stroll towards and around the Laines. We stopped off at my favourites, Choccywoccydoodah and the antique sword shop. They were super interesting as usual!
Then we wandered over to the Pavilion, which of course I had seen from the outside often, but we went inside, which I'd never done. It was really interesting, with lots of beautiful period furniture, and I learnt a lot about George (the 3rd?), including how ridiculed he was... He loved food, and parties, and apparently once had a meal with 100 courses at the Pavilion, so no wonder he ended up obese! Apparently he was one of the first people to use what was effectively a wheelchair because he was so big. Wow.
After that we had some tasty icecream (but not banoffee pie, which we pointed out to the shop was growing mould!), and then headed back to the train. It was a lovely sunny hot day, with weather which is frankly quite Australian.
Then we caught the train back to St Albans, which was much smoother than the other journey, made delicious pasta and drank cocktails while we watched Bake Off. A lovely way to end an evening.
On Sunday morning, we went to Gail's for breakfast. Their brioche French toast was just as good as their cinnamon buns! Then I headed home - and what a delightful weekend.
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