Brighton was an interesting place. It was a mix of the typical narrow British winding cobblestone streets with quaint historic architecture, along with the Coney Island carnival atmosphere on the sea shore.
The Brighton Pier has all the trappings of a carnival - games of skill where you can win stuffed animals, a video arcade, food booths, and rides. Heck, they even fit a flume ride and a small rollercoaster on that pier! It reminded me of an amuzement park called Rocky Point that was on the ocean near where I grew up in Rhode Island.
Down the beach from the glitzy pier is the torn wreckage of another pier. Apparantly it had been destroyed by gale-force winds several years ago. It was a nice quiet contrast to the other pier. Yin and yang on the ocean's edge.
After taking a wander about the trendy shopping district of Brighton (including a stop in Starbucks for an obligatory hot chocolate), I was pleasantly suprised to find myself in front of a Lego shop.
For a while I had this obsession with Lego, perhaps because I never had any as a child. And now, after thinking I was over this mania, I found myself in front of a whole store dedicated to them. So of course I had to stop in. Bins of loose Lego pieces lined one wall - like a candy store. You could fill different sized cups with the pieces and pay a fixed price. There was also a large barrel filled to the rim with Lego minifig body parts. It was a build-your-own minifig for something like £l. I managed to escape the store having spent only £6. Phew!
As I was leaving Brighton, it was getting dark and the pier was now all lit up in its full carnival glory. I tried to get a snapshot of it, but my mobile phone doesn't do too good with pictures in low light. At least you can get an idea of how large the pier is.
I think I took a few too many pictures of the Royal Pavilion...
*yawn* Ok... that's enough pictures of the pavilion. You can wake up now.