On Thursday night, after Harry Potter, my parents kept the kids and my husband and I went out to dinner with my sister and her partner for my husband’s birthday. It was an awesome night, but a late one, and Friday morning was rough. We got up late and had a lot to do (like packing for just one night in Brighton to see my good friend of 25(!!!) years). We somehow made it to the Tower of London for our 11am reservation, but it was close.
This is my fifth time visiting London but I’d never been to the Rower of London before. It’s the large fortress on the Thames where the monarchy used to hold power (and torture and imprison and execute people). Also the Crown Jewels are there.
The lines for the Crown Jewels were long but I have to say it was worth it. They were very beautiful. (So many diamonds! So sparkly!) You weren’t supposed to take picture of them though so I can’t share them here. Boo.
There were also tons of weapons on display. Those we could take picture of, and I especially enjoyed the steam punky attempts to combine pistols with other weapons like axes and hammers.
Outside of the Tower of London we took pictures with the Tower Bridge (and eventually crossed it) but we didn’t go up inside.
We ate lunch at this amazing open market with tons of different kinds of food. I had curry and my kids had fish and chips. I also caught this great shot of the juxtaposition between old and new.
After our very late lunch we walked around some more before catching a train to Brighton, where we met up with a friend I’ve known since my freshman year of college (and his family). We walked around town before settling on a spot to eat.
We headed to bed early in Brighton because we were still a little wrecked from my husband’s birthday dinner the night before. The days are long and packed and honestly I don’t think we could handle more than the eight full days we have planned.
Our day in Brighton was very low key. We walked around with our friends, marveling at how many people there were in Brighton on a summer weekend. We played games at the pier and threw rocks into the ocean and bought some shirts at the shops. Then we had a late lunch and headed back to the train. We got home later than we intended and crashed for the night.
Unfortunately all the pictures I took in Brighton have people in them so I can’t post them. Sorry!
