To have the first UK-experience in Brighton on a sunny day is a pretty gentle introduction into Britain. Based on movies, books and knowledges from schools I expected a foggy, rainy, grey country, my bag was full with pullovers but I arrived to a warm and sunny England. After London I spent some time in Brighton which on the map looks much farer or the trains are really fast int he UK.:)
Brighton on this bright sunny day looked rather like a French city in Normandy like on some paintings of Claude Monet. Without the left side traffic, the bobbies, the duble decked busses, the strange brown uniformized houses and without that very British accent everywhere I would think I was in an other country.
Actually Brighton is called Brighton&Hove recently since a couple of years ago Brighton and Hove have merged and got the status of city. A few hundred thousand people but still the largest seaside city of England. In a way it seemed to me that Brighton is a place to drop out from London for a weekend. But the city has its own, very active life, too. Two universities and 35.000 language school students from all over the world makes the place very alive.
I really loved the atmosphere there. I know there are a lot of tensions around immigrants in Western Europe lately, but I find these new colorful image of Europe very amazing. When it comes to students and youth this is even more visible. Brighton is totally vibrant some maybe would say „annoying” in this terms. In the evening I found a lot of students on the streets drinking and eating in pubs and restaurants or just simply being noisy around.:)
I guess the Royal Pavilion (which belongs to the city now) and the Brighton Pier are the most famous sights of Brighton, though to me every churches, the old workhouse on the hill or the traditional British houses were also very historical and impressive.
Modern lifestyle on the old stones. Thats my impression on Brighton and maybe on the United Kingdom, too. Some things they hardly change, but everything has totally changed around them.
