Brighton Rock
Trip Start
Jun 20, 2009
1
8
21
Trip End
Aug 01, 2009
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Besides having an extensive rare books collection, it also features the King's Library, a glass tower of 65,000 books, maps, and other manuscripts collected by America's favorite king, George III. Most impressively, though, it has the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, which I visited. The Gallery contains some of the most treasured and valuable books and manuscripts in the world. While I was there, I saw a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, the original Alice in Wonderland, a Gutenberg Bible, the Magna Carta (there were actually 2 copies), Beethoven's tuning fork, works composed by Purcell, Haydn, Handel, and Mozart in their own hand, a pre-America map of New York, pages from da Vinci's notebook, and countless beautiful religious texts
King's Cross Station
. They had the Anglo-Saxon Lindisfarne Gospels, which is an ancient Bible with the most elaborate and beautiful hand-drawn artwork that I have ever seen. They had the Codex Sinaiticus, a truly ancient, 4th century Bible that is almost on par with the Vatican's Codex Vaticanus in terms of age and importance. They had the original manuscript of Handel's Messiah and the sole remaining copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I had my iPod handy, so I was able to listen to Mendelssohn's"Wedding March" from A Midsummer Night's Dream while I read the original music. I also listened to The Beatles's "Michelle" while reading the original lyrics written on the back of an envelope. It was a fantastic experience.That night, I went to see All's Well That Ends Well, one of Shakespeare's lesser-known comedies, and a surprisingly dark play, at the enormous National Theatre. It was a fantastic production with an incredible set, all subsidized by the British Taxpayers. Thanks British Taxpayers!
On Friday, I had made plans to visit the one of my UK Relatives. My grandmother on my father's side was English, and as it turns out, I have an enormous family here. I left on Friday morning from St Pancras to see my father's cousin (my cousin or my great cousin?) Andrew, and his wife
St. Pancras Station
. They live close to Brighton, (in Hove, I believe), so I got off at Brighton Station. They found me, greeted me, and took me to see my great-uncle Gerald, his father. All of us went out to an enormous Chinese/Japanese/Thai restaurant in Brighton with the biggest selection of food and especially desserts I'd ever seen. This was especially nice, since I've been pinching pennies in London and the very idea of an all-you-can eat was incredibly appealing.After dinner we visited a pier, which housed a mini-amusement park. These piers actually used to be very common in America, especially in Florida, but have long-since vanished. I was pleased to see the pier, therefore, as tacky and expensive as it was, thriving. The pier (and Brighton in general) was particularly popular with bachelor and bachelorette parties (respectively called 'stag' and 'hen' parties here). Stags or Hens would wear matching outfits, sometimes just a customized T-shirt or sometimes an entire costume.
On the pier, I decided to ride a tall, swinging ride called the "Booster." It was probably not a well-advised decision immediately after dinner, but I saw it as a one-time chance. I strapped myself in and went for a 'spin.' There was a great view of the pier at the top, but suffice to say, I had to keep my mouth closed
The British Library
. On our way off of the pier, I played a couple of the coin-pushing machines and slot machines, my first gambling. I bet about 2 pounds combined, and won back 2.50. I called it a victory and quickly tore myself away from the machines. Make no mistake, those 'cheap' games are dangerously addicting.I also bought some Brighton Rock at a small shop. If you haven't been to Brighton, you may have heard of Brighton Rock as a book by Graham Greene or a song by Queen. It's actually a candy. It's a very simple candy, a large rod made of pure sugar (it isn't 'rock candy'). You can buy it with lettering that says 'Brighton Rock' or your name or a sports team that doesn't disappear as you eat it. I have yet to try it, but I'm pretty sure I know what to expect. An interesting, unrelated side note on Brighton: it's apparently the San Francisco of England. I won't say any more on that.
I ended up spending the night with Andrew and his wife at their home in a nearby town, who were extremely gracious. They prepared me a large English breakfast and we looked at old family photos together. Eventually, they dropped me back off at the train station and I headed back to St Pancras station. Since St Pancras is right next to King's Cross, I paid a quick visit to Platform 9 and 3/4, which you can find if you know where to look.
I'm working on bringing this log up to date, so I should be caught up by tomorrow.
Happy Travels!
