Husband Hunting

Brighton Pavilion

A briny beach

     This morning, we woke up bright and early and traveled to Brighton, the famous vacation spot in England. Our professors told us there was a beach in Brighton, so we all got so excited to go! In Pride & Prejudice, one of the characters says that Brighton is the place to go to find husbands :) After a two hour coach drive we get there and it's about 46 degrees and windy. But at least it wasn't raining! We went to the Brighton Pavilion first, which was built by King George IV. His dad is George III, who was the king during the Revolutionary War, and who ended up going crazy. George IV built this huge pavilion on the beach in Brighton to get away from his wife, and his insane dad. The Pavilion was huge! I heard "pavilion" and thought of the little dinky thing behind our stake center back home, but this place was like a palace! Some rooms had pink carpet, pink wallpaper, pink furniture... It was designed in the oriental style, so there were dragons all over in the rooms. It was pretty cool actually! This is pretty random, but we learned that makeup back then was made of beeswax, so if the women got too hot, their make up would slide right off their face! This is where the phrase to "have a long face" comes from. Bet you're so glad you know that now! After touring the palace, we went to the beach. It was freezing and windy, but still kind of fun! I've never walked around on the beach in my rain jacket and rain boots, so it was a new experience stepping in the ocean in my boots. There were people swimming in there, which blows my mind, because it was so cold! We walked around Brighton Pier for a little bit, got some food, and watched a parade that was going through town. At first we thought it was a protest, cause we've seen a lot of those lately, but this was just some fun parade with floats and little kids.

Canterbury Cathedral

     We got back on the bus and drove another two hours to Canterbury, to see Canterbury Cathedral. This cathedral is famous, because in medieval times a priest was praying inside at the altar and was murdered by four knights from the king. You can even still see the blood stains on the stones! Just kidding, you really can't :) But, you can see where the stone is worn down in front of where his shrine used to be, where people would crawl on their hands and knees to worship in front of it. The cathedral has been in use for over 1,400 years! I couldn't get over how old it is. We got to do something pretty unique while we were there. We went to a service called Evensong, which I think they do every night. This choir of boys from ages 8-13 sang to us, and we got to sing a hymn with them at the end. I tried to imagine my little brother wearing a robe like those boys and singing like that, but I just couldn't! The boys were actually pretty good. They could sing super high! As part of the service, the whole congregation recites a written-down prayer together, and we read along until this part that says, "We believe in the Catholic church." It was really interesting, and I'm glad I got to go to that. It was cool singing inside a chapel as old as that one.
     Tomorrow is my first day in my new ward! We were supposed to get an email with our callings, but our bishop never sent it. I guess we'll find out tomorrow, though. Church starts at 9, and we've got about an hour of travel to get there, so it's going to be another early morning. I'm excited though! I think this is going to be one of the best things about the program. Cheers everybody!