We are finalising this blog on the train to Paris. I know, I
know we said we’d have all the blogs up by France but we were in London – what
we believe to be our second home and there is toooooo much to see and do!
After we left Denise’s we headed down the English south
coast to some classic and famous coastal towns.
Winchester
We woke to the most perfect winter day with the sun shining
and beautiful blue skies. This can be a little deceiving and lets you get your
hopes up that maybe today you won’t freeze… then you walk outside. We started
our day driving right down to the Jurassic coast, to the picture perfect Durdle
door. Durdle door is an archway in the rock hewn by the ocean. People were
braving the cold and taking a dip, we decided to keep our clothes on. We took
some time to relax on the beach lying down on the sand (in this case it is very
smooth little rocks) and enjoy the glorious sun.
We made our way to the town of Winchester and was surprised
to find a gorgeous and alive town with cobblestone streets, market stalls and
delightful shops that we enjoyed exploring.
Winchester is known for its cathedral (yes another one!),
not for its outside but for its inside. It is one of the largest cathedrals in
England, with the longest nave and greatest overall length of any Gothic
cathedral in Europe, with some of the most fantastic Norman, Middle Ages and
Gothic architecture on display as the cathedral has evolved over nearly 1000
years. This cathedral has survived through adversity including destruction by Oliver
Cromwell where are the stained glass windows were smashed. Luckily the people
of the town picked up the broken glass and hid it away and years later they
took what was left of the glass to create new windows. There is something very
special about this window once you understand how it has come to be. The big
draw card for mos is where Jane Austin has been buried inside, as you can tell this is not a big deal for us.
Brighton
We weren’t sure what to expect from Brighton. We knew it was
a once very popular seaside holiday location for the English in Victorian times
and it had a pier. The drive there was uneventful and as we drove into Brighton
towards our hotel we saw the most magnificent structure illuminated in purple
and blue. What we would come to discover as The Royal Pavilion. Making it to
the coastline again we saw Brighton Pier lit up in all its glory looking every
bit the cliché pier fair from a movie – probably because it is in a lot of
movies.
Going for a walk that evening we wandered the pier and its
amusements and rides. We froze. Well Simon did anyway. It was SO cold right on
the water that Simon was shivering and we ventured into the games hall to get
into some warmth to find it was 90% gambling. Such a shame but I guess they
need to make money to keep the lights on somehow.
Brighton it turns out is still a trendy seaside town that
knows how to have a good time. With plenty of bars, clubs and pubs there is
heaps of nightlife. We found a nearby pub and enjoyed a bottle of wine to warm
us up and chatted the night away.
The next day we went out to explore the grand building we
had seen on the way into town. It is the most bizarre and out of place looking
thing in all of England. It is the creation of one of Englands most prolific
playboy princes, George the IV. Built as a pleasure palace on the coast a days
ride from London the Prince would spend weeks here, hosting banquets that would
go for hours through dozens of courses. The Prince cared not for the balancing
of books and lived an incredibly lavish lifestyle, even by Royal standards.
However by the time he became King he was so fat that he required aids to walk
and even built a tunnel from his palace to his stables so no one would see him,
he feared ridicule for his weight. We were not allowed to take photographs of
the inside of the Pavilion so here is a Google images search.
The Pavilion truly is spectacular inside and out! We have
seen our fair share of palaces and castles but this one blows them all out of
the water (excluding Neuschwanstein, Germany) for its completely unique
grandeur with Indian architecture outside and a Chinese theme inside. After
George IV died Queen Victoria decided it was too small and did not provide
adequate privacy for her growing family so she sold it to Brighton Council and
is possibly the only former royal residence now privately owned.
Brighton is home to a district called The Lanes, these are a
maze of small laneways and winding paths housing all manner of shops but mostly
jewellers and high end boutique shopping. We put this down to Brighton still
being a great weekend getaway for Londoners, a bit like our Batemans Bay back
home with higher end shopping. After exploring the laneways and shops we went
back to the pier and the ‘beach’. I think Brighton is where this stereotype of
rocky British beaches comes from. It’s like they’ve dumped the entire country’s
river stone on the beach. It absolutely awful to walk on and can imagine it’s painful
to sit on.
Heading out after dark we walked the boulevard and explored.
Seeing things lit up at night gives another dimension to their magnificence. It
is actually very difficult to get an unobstructed photo of the Pavilion and due
to an ice skating rink being put up right outside for the season effectively
blocking the main view we struggled. Trust us when we say though it’s well
worth a visit and make sure you come back at night to see it lit up.
Dover and Canterbury
The next day we set off for the deep south of England,
Dover. We checked into our hotel and proceeded to spend the rest of the
afternoon, planning and booking things for further down the road in our trip.
We awoke to a rare blue sky day and to make the most of it we
headed outdoors to see the white cliffs of Dover. There is a trail along the
top of the cliffs that looks down on the port of Dover bustling with
semi-trailers from every nearby European nation and the ferries that carry them
to France. From up so high the port looked like a child’s play centre with
ramps, overpasses and trucks everywhere. The cliffs themselves are spectacular and
because it was a clear day we had views right across the channel to France
sitting just on the horizon. The chalk that makes up the cliffs is remarkably
brittle. You can crack it off and crumble it with your bare hands. There is
also a magnificent castle on the hill at Dover but being low season it is only
open on weekends.
Checking out the next day we had some ground to cover.
Heading all the way back to Windsor via Canterbury was a bit of a task. Canterbury
is most famous for its Arch-Bishop, a prominent figure throughout history. We
got on a walking tour and due to the appalling weather, typically British, we
were the only ones on it! So we had a fantastic walking tour with Lyn our guide
and just us. Perks of low season. She took us around the ancient streets of
Canterbury and explained its history that runs right back to the Romans in
~AD50. We did not get to take pictures due to the weather which was a shame but
Lyn was an excellent guide and lifted our spirits with great tales and stories
about the city.
Just a note that we were pretty disappointed that the
Canterbury cathedral is ridiculously expensive ($40AUD) and you cannot access
even the outside without paying. Whilst most cathedrals charge for entry
inside, we have not found one where not even the outside is free. We appreciate
that churches need to make money, but at the same time should it not be the
very nature of a church that all people regardless of how much money they have
can have access? We personally are a fan of cathedrals where they ask for a
donation and give you a recommended figure, this promotes equality. On this
basis we did not enter.
Thoroughly chilled we retreated to a delicious Italian lunch
nearby before we set off to Windsor. Our accommodation was rudimentary but
sufficient. With no Wi-Fi we found a Maccas and spent 2.5 hours using theirs, we
were super productive and managed to get 6 episodes of Homeland – cheers Maccas!
Windsor Castle
The Queens weekend home. Its stateliness, size and
magnificence is amongst the best, if not the best, we have seen on our travels. The Queen was there at the same time as us, however unfortunately we did not meet her, nor were we invited for tea. We saw the changing of the guard in their grey overcoat uniforms which is
always impressive with the precision and theatre that only a military routine
can provide.
Audioguides on our ears we wandered through to see the impressive Queen
Mary’s Doll house, noted as the largest, most beautiful and most famous dolls
house in the world. Outside there was a sign advising of long queues were
likely, however there was not a single person - perks of low season strike
again! We browsed part of the
royal gallery which contains artwork made by the royal family themselves. Some
of it very impressive, mostly landscapes and watercolours, turns out Charles
has marvellous artistic talent.
 |
| A good example of the low season lines |
Eventually we
came to the main event, the castle apartments. Although apartments is sort of a
misnomer as some rooms are much much bigger than most people’s homes. We saw
the rooms where the Queen hosts formal banquets with heads of state, the
receiving rooms, the guards rooms which are full of trophies from the time of
the British Empire from India, America, France and others. The rooms are all
beautifully decorated fresh and vibrant. This is due to an incredibly
destructive fire in 1992 that destroyed a lot of the rooms and damaged others.
Many rooms have been redone to their original look making them all the more
grand.
Finally we visited
St George chapel home of the order of the Garter and the burial place of some Royals.
The chapel is a bit of an understated title, it’s on par with some cathedrals
we have seen. Again no photos inside but we saw the tombs of Kings and Queens
and other important people throughout English history.
Parting Thoughts
South of England is gorgeous, quite patriotic with local
stores boasting quality English home wares and design pieces all with the Union
Jack proudly upon them.
Apart from the accent, the south of England from our
perspective seemed to differ from the north in that everything appeared to be a
bit upmarket. People seemed more classic cliché British with the posh accents,
the tweed everything and everyone seemed to be walking either their cocker
spaniel or sausage dogs.
The beach side towns are a bit like Australia’s in that
everyone is a little more laid back. These towns exude past Victorian glory
from the age of British seaside holidays. There are some magnificent old
structures and buildings such as the Brighton pier and Royal Pavilion but there
wasn’t much new. Walking through these sea side towns you could almost imagine what
it would have been like back in the day, and how these places would have been
the height of fashion and glamour and anyone who was anyone was holidaying
there. It was sad to look around and realise those days were gone, and whilst
some towns like Brighton still grab the Londoners for a weekend or summer break
some of the others have been left behind completely.
Whilst some of the beaches are beautiful, much more so than
we expected, pebbles are no match for sand between your toes.
Simon and Amy xoxo
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