Bear in Brighton (by the sea) - Part 1

Hooray it's off to Brighton!!! Sandy bought his ticket and he is more than ready for this adventure...

It is about an hour train ride down to Brighton and Sandy tucks himself in a corner between a seat and a window...

This was still in the train station at London-Victoria - during the train ride, the outside was a blur and Sandy decided that he was prone to train-sickness and sat down in a seat while his queasy tummy calmed down. Finally he arrived in Brighton and toddled down Queen Street towards the seashore... can you see sea (ha-hah... see the sea!) in the distance?

There are still quite a few hordes and crowds here in Brighton, but it is marginally better than the London Olympic crowds. On the way into town, Sandy had noticed (or rather - Mama had noticed and pointed it out to Mr. Queasy Tummy) the chalk downs that the train traveled through as it neared Brighton. They looked like the cliffs of Dover, which should mean that there is lots of flint around Brighton. Sure enough... Sandy found flint almost immediately in a church wall built out of it!

See the round stones - those are flint nodules - flint is very hard breaks into very sharp flakes - it was used for arrowheads (but maybe not by the English).

Finally... there is the beach!! Yay!!!

The sign says the beach is not dog-friendly, but it doesn't mention bears at all - so Sandy feels quite free to trot down and explore the beach!

Brighton was promoted by Queen Victoria as a seaside resort, so some of the things look very old. Even the wooden railings look old and well-worn.

There are some piers that stick out into the water. One of them, the West Pier, burned to practically nothing back in... 2004! (Beanie checked the date for me!)

You can see the remains of the West Pier in the background. The beach is composed of pebbles and rocks - and some of them should be flint... so Sandy went on a hunt... and sure enough, he found quite a few!

They are black on the inside but can be grey or white on the outside. Sandy is pretty excited and even tucks a little pebble into his pocket to take home as a souvenir!

There are so many interesting things to see along the Beach Walk... tourists and shops and artists and food stands... Sandy doesn't know where to turn first. The artists are quite good and Sandy wants to see if Beanie has any stuff there!

There is a boat painting... very pretty colours...

There is one of a carousel... oooh... is there really a carousel on the beach??

There are some cards of maple leaves which makes Sandy think of home! But nothing by Beanie from the looks of it...

A little farther down the beach, Sandy finds a food stand selling... jellied eels... errr... that doesn't sound very yummy... but maybe it's a British delicacy?

Behind the food stand, Sandy finds all sorts of oyster shells on the pebbles.

But there aren't any oysters! Mama says that maybe the food stall guy throws out the used oyster shells for the seagulls to pick over...

There are even some boats on the beach and Sandy is all excited thinking he can go out on the ocean for a boat ride!!

Tally-ho!!! Mush!!! Forward!! Ahoy!!! Hmmm... nothing is happening and then Sandy looks inside the boat... this one isn't going anywhere soon...

It's all full of pebbles and rocks! It's just a prop on the beach. Poor disappointed bear!

There are some old pieces of machinery on the beach too. This one looks very interesting...

It looks like it might have been used to wind up cables... maybe to haul boats up on the beach?? Or... it could be an exercise machine for a little bear...

Sort of like a hamster wheel - except you run on the outside instead of the inside! It could be...

Off in the distance, Sandy sees the carousel!!! Oooh... that looks like fun... but it's only for little humans... not for little bears.

Sandy wants to take it up with management of the Beach Walk... but he looks kind of imposing...

There are lots of people on the beach... and you can even rent beach chairs to sit in... but we don't have much time before we have to meet Beanie - so no resting for Sandy!

If we had more time... we could even buy some things at the shops - like pails, shovels, flip-flops, nice flags and little wind twirling thingies.

Sandy was thinking about dipping his toes in the water - but luckily there isn't time for that! Plus... the waves look pretty strong and there are signs warning of various dangers at this beach...

Whew... and then Sandy sees something really cool - a mirror ball - like they have in the discos (or used to have)... Can you see Sandy reflected in there?? (me neither)

And now Sandy had better run to the Royal Pavillion to meet Beanie!! Which will be Part 2!