Trip to London - Jan 10th 09

Helen had arrived the other night and we had decided to do our first trip to Brighton. We arrived and walked into town in the best morning sun. We passed the Brighton Museum, the former stables of Prince Regent George (later George IV) and entered the park to the Royal Pavilion which I had longed to visit since I read G. Heyer. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures from the interior. What a shame! It was extraordinarily beautiful!



Especially impressive was the Banqueting Hall with a magnificent chandelier held by a dragon; more dragons were holding the light and, because in George's time oil lamps would have been lit, it would have looked like the dragons breathing fire. Some of the guests invited to dine with him would even refuse to sit under that beautiful chandelier. I also quite liked the story of the young Prince Regent being in love with the catholic widow Mrs Fitzgerald whom he never could marry. He did though in secret aged 23, but was forced to marry a Princess 10 years later. Mrs Fitzgerald, however, was his mistress for quite a long time even after his political marriage. Only in Brighton his mistresses were the lady of the house, never his wife who only once visited the palace.
The next very impressive room was the Music Room. In here George brought his guests at the end of an evening; he even had his own orchestra (60 men!) and sometimes he even sung himself. The room was colored in dark red with dragons and snakes covering the walls and holding the curtains. The dome was decorated with thousands of small pieces of gold shingles.
George was not only fond of eating, woman and music, but he was also interested in the newest developments regarding his kitchen. He took care that his kitchen was up-to-date: They therefore had a automatized roaster as well as a steam table to keep the dishes warm, before they were served. He even brought his guests into the kitchen!
After all guests had left the Pavilion and George had returned to London, the servants would have cleaned the whole palace which included wiping the tapestry, washing curtains and carpets (some of them had to be sent back to the factory to be cut) and closing the place done, until he would come back...


We followed the street down to Brighton Pier which is now an amusement park.




We strolled along the coast and stopped at the old West Pier which had been cut of from the mainland since 1975 awaiting reconstruction. But in 2003 the building burnt down and couldn't be reached from the mainland to allow being preserved. Arson was suspected...



We then found "The Lanes", the center of the former village Brighthelmston after Brighton had become popular as a healthy resort and before the Prince Regent came to the town. The narrow lanes were beautiful and remembered me of Marburg. We had our lunch at a pub, before we turned back to the Pavilion to watch in after dark.