Today we decided to take an excursion outside London to the “beach” resort of Brighton, England because the weather forecast was for warm (by English standards) and sunny. They lied. We got to Brighton and it was overcast and rainy, but we still chose to walk the boardwalk and see the sights. They were having a spring festival so there were many events going on.
Modern rail station in Croydon, England. London to Brighton is 118 miles. We were there in an hour and 15 minutes, the Brighton rail station is about 1.5 miles from the beach and the round trip cost for 2 was $30. Easy, cheap and efficient. Why can’t the US have such efficient train service. Imagine traveling from Dallas to Waco or Houston to Austin in about 1 1/2 hours and paying $7.50 for the trip!!!!!
Passing huge Gatwick airport on the train.
The “beach” at Brighton. See the close-up below. The entire thing is a pebble beach. Would not want to walk barefoot although the tidal changes have pretty much worn the sharp edges off the stones. After seeing this beach, I will never complain about Galveston beach again! I will take tar balls over rock.
The famous Brighton Pier. Much like Navy Pier in Chicago or Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. A little dated, but still fun.
Elaine thought I should win her a “Smurf” in one of the little crane games in the arcade. Fat chance. We should have gotten a picture of us playing air hockey. This air hockey table had a single puck, but periodically, it released 20 smaller pucks onto the surface and you go nuts trying to get as many of those as possible in your opponents goal. As nearly as we could tell, the release is completely random so no way to plan ahead.
Imaginative trash receptacle.
Girls on the beach with their umbrellas. I guess they decided to come to the beach and were not going to let the mist spoil it.
Above is an Indian style palace built by William IV. It appears to be more Moorish than Indian, but William had an engineer from India and designed something larger and grander than the Taj Mahal. It was used by the royals as a beach get away for many years but is now a museum.
They are working on the restoration of Royal Pavilion Gardens.
Above, one of the typical streets of Brighton. Saw a lot of street musicians and generally enjoyed the day since the sun did come out for a bit in the afternoon.
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