First Day in Brighton

Hello All!

I should have perhaps started this chronicle yesterday, but I was so tired from the trip that I am just now getting underway. Also, now I have pictures to include from yesterday evening when I went walking around.

After a somewhat eventful plane trip and a very smooth transition into England, I am in Brighton. Last night I walked to the end of the pier and around the Royal Pavillion gardens taking a few pictures.

If you are not interested in flowers, do not read this paragraph. The Royal Pavillion gardens are quite nice. I saw some white valerian, which I thought was interesting, along with several shades of pink. Also there were hollyhocks everywhere. Surprisingly, there were palms, obviously planted, but clearly not being dug out to overwinter. So the weather here must always be quite temperate. I had read that before but was quite shocked about the palm trees. Also, there were fuscias, in the ground, that were as tall as me, giant rambling fuscia bushes. The grass, which seems always to be inhabited by random teenage jugglers and a smattering of the youthful punk population of the town as well as the occasional double-knit polyester clad, white-haired, elder lady of Brighton, is rather pale and well worn. It looks sad, as though someone ought to take a little care of it. Compared to the otherwise beautiful landscaping, it is quite an eyesore.

The poppies and pansies are in full bloom so you can imagine the temperature here is not very hot. In fact, last night I needed a sweater to walk around. Nevertheless, my little room, which is a sea-view insofar as I can see the sea if I stick my head out the window, is quite warm. Last night I opened the window when I couldn't take it anymore. The seagulls, since the sea is about 100 yards from me, are so deafening that I had a terrible time sleeping last night. The mournful wail of the gull made me want to give the gulls something to mourn about! I even contemplated whether it would do any good to throw things at them but decided it wouldn't and that my aim is probably not particularly good at moving birds from a third story window anyway.

The room is about the size of my bathroom in Syracuse, just enough room for a twin bed and a little desk with about 1.5 feet between them, but it serves my purposes and is quite clean. While it is true that the bed is at a 10 or 15 degree slant from one side to the other, it is rather comfortable anyway and I used the blanket- unneeded in the heat-- to prop my right side up even with my left. The sheets are quite nice though and that is something very important to me so I am happy. Also there are 2! pillows. So I feel like I've found a bit of luxury here.

Last night I had dinner at the attached French bistro, which I knew would be good when I entered and the other three diners were all speaking French and the waitresses were speaking fluently with them. I could pick up a little of what they were saying here and there, but I am worried about going to France now because I realize just how quickly everyone speaks. I immediately after dinner went back to my room and looked up how to say "please speak more slowly" in French.

The dinner was fantastic. I had salad lyonnaise, with bits of side pork (they called it bacon) and a poached egg in the middle. Then I had a chicken quarter which was unbelievably juicy with a red wine sauce. I cannot describe how good this chicken was. The skin was crispy but the sauce was creamy. Oh so delicious! I was persuaded by the first two courses to try the dessert. Creme brulee the way it is supposed to be. Wow.

This morning I had a very full English breakfast and walked over to the Royal Pavillion and went inside. I never use the audioguides at musuems, don't know why really. I guess I feel like you see then only what they direct you to see and cannot find the little things for yourself. My favorite room was not the extremely elaborate music room or the banqueting hall, which were amazing of course, but the kitchen. It was enormous and they had all the copper kettles original to the place. So many copper pans in all shapes and sizes, and a fascinating contraption for roasting (and turning) hundreds of small game birds over one of the fires. I am bringing home a poster of one of the meals they served there, a very famous meal honoring Tzar Nicholas I. It is unbelievable the amount of food they prepared, hundreds of dishes, including lobster and shrimp "pyramids" and a pastry replication of the Royal Pavilion. Perhaps that was one of the most lavish meals served in the history of the world. I thought of you Jenny Penny when I was reading about it and at the kitchen itself. You would have loved that place, a combination of two of your loves-- history and cooking! Mom too. I think you would have really marveled at it.

Having watched the movie Young Victoria on the plane, I was particularly interested in Queen Victoria's apartments. They were quite beautiful with a type of yellow wallpaper that had just been invented a few years before the rooms were decorated.

Throughout the Pavillion there were black glass butterflies, an exhibit which the city of Brighton, owner of the Royal Pavillion since Victoria sold it to them, has commissioned. The exhibit is to symbolize the fact that this palace was made at a time when much of England was starving (around the turn of the 19th century). Extravagance in the face of so much need. Nevertheless, the palace remains a beautiful beautiful and somewhat unique fantasy world. And yet also, the world it depicts is only possible because of the terrible orientalizing which was done by the British at this time. The building mixes influences from India, China, Japan and Egypt, exoticizing everything. It is its own act of colonization by the way it interprets the East to the visitors of the palace. The black butterflies, beautful and light and so gorgeously snuck into the Regency decorations of the place, are meant to suggest both the terrible excesses of the time and the great beauty created through excess, a not-straightforward ethical problem of historical grand architecture. The exhibition suggests that we should all reflect on this complexity in our own excesses. It made me think of how lucky I am to be able to come here and see all of this and how I have a responsibility because of that "excess" to do something with my time here. And so I continue to ponder it all and try to use my experiences to shape the thinking I do in my own work. A very interesting exhibit especially given the history I have with the symbol of the butterfly.

This afternoon I intend to sit on the beach, although it is quite gray and a bit cold here, and read or watch people walking. I might try to do some more sightseeing at some of the churches in town this afternoon later, but mostly I am relaxing as there is a great deal more to see on this trip and I don't want to expend all my energy at once.

I am quite tempted to go to the bistro again tonight because I have rarely had such delicious food. Since it is 15 pounds, however, I may just eat fish and chips on the pier. It is my own black butterfly decision.