my cold, cold vacation: part 1

It's now been exactly one week since I returned to France from Amsterdam by way of London by way of Brighton. It was a long, full and sometimes crazy trip where each destination seemed to be in the middle of an exceptional cold snap. I ended up wearing most of the clothes I packed all at the same time in layers: several tights followed by pants, sweater over dress over sweater, two scarves at once (the french do that all the time anyways). Nonetheless I had a truly excellent time. Highlights include drinking lots of delicious tea (and eating delicious cakes) with my good friend and gracious host Marketa in colourful, wacky Brighton; Being with in spitting distance of Sir Ian McKellan (!!!) at Waiting for Godot in London's West End; Taking an overnight ferry to Amsterdam (where I had a private room with a private shower: untold luxury)...

One un-amazing thing that happened was that while I remembered my camera's battery charger, I forgot that European sockets do not accept North American plugs and my adapter was left safely back in Arras. As a result I have only photos from England for the moment with Amsterdam photos to be developed from a disposable camera in the week ahead. Kind of exciting. I admit I'd forgotten the feeling of suspense you get when you "develop" photos from "film."

On the digital side of things, I'm still sifting through mountains and mountains of pictures, so for now here's a photographic description of Brighton, with photos of London to come later this weekend...

Miss Marketa


Brighton Beach


Brighton Pier


The other Brighton Pier


Brighton snow flurries :)


Super cool tea room/antiques shop (hence the amazing and over the top furniture)


Best meringue of my life (including french ones - don't tell the French i said that!)



Taking photos of people I don't know without their knowledge is probably wrong on many levels, but these women were too amazing...


Looking like a gorgeous seaside town in the sun... (it was -5)


The Lanes: fun funky shopping


Scenic stop on the drive to Seven Sisters.





At Seven Sisters - so beautiful, so cold...


Brighton was fun, young and colourful. I would have loved more pictures, but my hands kept freezing! Thanks again to Marketa for putting me up and for being my tour guide :)