The Little London: Brighton
A cold breeze blows through the grounds of Magdalene college and the sky is a giant piece of dull iron. It is one of the rare cloudy days here in Cambridge and today we are supposed to go to the beach, but the weather isn’t looking good.
Brighton is a city located below London, so that means that the coach going from Cambridge to Brighton must go around London, adding extra time to the trip. We were all carsick by the time we got there.
The famous city wasn’t very appealing at the first look. The sky was still very cloudy. It was very cold compared to where I came from, and the sea was a dark color. The tour guide met us in front of the pier at around 11:00 in the morning, and he predicted it would clear up later that day.
He told us about the history of Brighton, and its splendor and brilliance. The whole time we were looking around, trying to see the so-called “Little London”. We just couldn’t see it in the street-art covered walls and the trash rolling around the pavement.
The first thing we did was take a tour of Brighton, which showed us its history along with famous landmarks. Throughout the whole tour, our tour guide, a Philippine immigrant who fell in love with Brighton, emphasized how much he loved the city. After the tour, we had free time from 12:00 to 4:00. My friend and I wandered around to buy some things and around an hour or so later the sky began to clear up. We didn’t think much about it until we walked back to the beach. It was crammed with people, the ocean a brilliant blue. The sky was absolutely clear and the breeze was pristine. I could understand what drove the Prince here back in the 1800s.
Brighton was like a little London. It had everything a city had, and more, even. There were tons of music shops, the Royal Palace, and many other things. It was also very hot with the sun shining down on the rocky beach. There was the arcade, the shops, and the beach itself. Then, at four we climbed onto the bus and headed back home.
On the bus, it was seriously hot. The air conditioner spewed hot air instead of cooled air and refused to chill the air throughout the whole trip. At around 7:00 we got back to Cambridge. Many of us were preparing to go to the “Big Festival” that was being held in the park here in Cambridge. After dinner, I went and there were two rock bands playing, a lot of toilets being occupied, and thousands of people, sitting around smoking and drinking.
It was really nice to see Brighton, and it sort of changed my perspective that all British cities were the same, cold and drab. I wonder if there are other similar cities in England.