Bear in Brighton (by-the-sea) - Part 2

Off Sandy went, searching for the main entrance - and coming around the back way apparently.

For a moment, Sandy thought he might have been transported to India or something! Was that the Royal Pavillion? Well, the bus sure was English... that must be it... but it is quite amazing.

It does look very Middle Eastern or Indian - lots of cupolas and curlicues!

Finally, Sandy found the main entrance and within a short time... Beanie Mouse showed up! A quick transport to a fish and chips shop and...

Beanie had no idea Sandy was so big!! And Sandy had no idea Beanie was so little! And then it was time for the awarding of the Bear Olympics - Farting Contest - 4th Place prize to... Sandy!!

Yayyyy!!!! He'll be very proud to bring this medal back to his team (who are all packed away). And then Beanie passed over the prized collection of Found-Art material that Sandy won a few weeks back. Way cool!

There were a bunch of take-away menus folded in such a way as to form cards and envelopes - very sneaky to get folded back up again! Sandy needs to look through all of this at his leisure... because he was excited to pass over Team Tango's Bronze Prize for the Staring Contest! Photos are on Beanie's blog... coming soon!

Then it was time to eat and fish and chips were the order of the day... oh so yummy!

And gone oh so quickly... Beanie came to have a look too... and yup, all that fish is gone!

Now the predicament... whilst in the restaurant, it had started to bucket rain... but luckily we were just across the street from Brighton Pier (the eastern one) which has arcades and a roller coaster and other fun things.

Sandy took this before meeting Beanie - no rain!

So off we dashed, through the pouring rain, only stopping briefly under an overhang to regroup and shake off some water...

That big circle thing isn't quite a ferris wheel - it has pods instead of seats - but it's not quite as big as the London Eye either. And with another dash, everyone was undercover in the arcade surrounded by flashing lights, ringing bells and the cheers of winners. A Las Vegas of sorts!!

It's a coin shuffle game - played with either tuppence (two pence) or ten pence coins. Sandy would try to explain it... but suffice to say, the goal is to drop coins in at the back, and push the coins forward to the point that the front coins fall into the prize tray... and maybe carry along some actual prizes as well (cupcakes in this case).

Sandy was a bit agog at all of this bling and was looking at a game with no prizes... but then Beanie, who is an old hand at this, led Sandy over to a better game... with prizes teetering on the edge!

In this case, a Volkswagen van... just waiting to be pushed forward... all it needed was a few dozen tuppence coins!

Well, it took a while... but Beanie had great focus and persistence and Sandy learned a lot! And finally... it was gone!!

Hoorayy!!! Beanie won a toy!

And then... right next door was another game with different prizes... Brighton Pier Bears!!

Sandy wheedled some pound coins out of Mama and trotted back with a container full of tuppence... and with a bit of help from Beanie... slowly things moved forward.

It took a while... and a bit of strategy and persistence and luck but finally... success!

And given that there were still some tuppence kicking around, and another bear teetering on the edge... there was a second success!!

So, the two high-rolling gamblers walked away with two bears and a VW van... yay!!! And the rain had finally stopped by then... so there was even time for a photo op outside (before the rain started up again).

And then it was time to bid farewell to Beanie... it was a great trip! But next time... Sandy figures Brighton needs more time - there is far too much to see in one short afternoon/evening!

So... back to the train station...

And onto the train...

And a review of all the great stuff Sandy won/collected/won!

Thanks Beanie!!