Brighton

Way back at the start of October G booked us a night away in Brighton.

This came about after a conversation we had had about not spending much on each other at Christmas and instead using the money towards a couple of trips away during the year.

 The end of January seemed a long way off when the plans were made but it was lovely having such a treat to look forward to.

Last Saturday morning the day dawned for our jaunt along the coast.

The plan was to take the train as far as Hove and then explore the huge amount of charity shops there before walking along the front into Brighton.

The shops did not disappoint and we both made a couple of purchases we were extremely pleased with.

Once done with spending we were hungry and seeing as we were at the seaside it seemed only proper that we bought a bag of chips and made our way to the front.
Goodness me that wind was cold as we strolled along the prom but the sights and sounds made up for it.
A beautiful stretch of beach huts on our left

including this one which reminded me of the old candy stripe bed sheets and pillowcases we used to have.

To the right of us the waves were crashing in and as we neared the derelict West Pier we turned off and headed into the town centre and towards our accommodation.

Everywhere you look there are examples of beautiful architecture, so many eye-catching features to feast your eyes on but I couldn't keep stopping as we were being met at the B&B at a specific time so I had to keep moving.

We passed a handful of statues on the way and I was able to take a quick snap of them as we passed.

Top left is clearly Queen Victoria and the top right The Bugler and he is dedicated to Royal Sussex Regiment.

Bottom left is the back of the angel known as the Peace statue, a memorial to Edward VII and in something completely different to the others bottom right is of the comedian Max Miller.

I don't have any photos of where we stayed which is a shame. G found it through Air BnB. Our host, Andrew, was so welcoming, we had a lovely relaxed chat over breakfast on Sunday morning, nothing was too much trouble. The converted basement where we stayed was spacious and had everything we needed. If you ever want a recommendation for somewhere to stay in Brighton let me know and I'll send the details. 
Once we had dropped off our bits and bobs we went out again in search of the Theatre Royal and that's where we came across Rowlf from the Muppets playing the piano, as you do.

When G had contacted Andrew about plans for our arrival he had mentioned he would be going off to the matinee show of The Mousetrap I got quite excited as this is a play I have wanted to see for the longest time. Saturday was the final day and we went along to the box office to see if we could get tickets. Thankfully they had a few left and so I left G paying for them so I could take a photo of these toadstools and fairy door painted onto one of the exits from the theatre.

I had to take a photo of  this graffiti as as well as being beautiful the woman's face on the right looks so much like G's god daughter it's uncanny. You'll have to take my word for it.

From the theatre it's just a short stroll to the Brighton Pavilion. As you can tell from these photos the light was starting to fade as we got to it.
It's something we will explore further on our next trip for sure.

The light was fading past as we made our way around the perimeter of the Pavilion which meant the lights on the pier could be seen twinkling in the near distance and that's where we made our way to next.

We stood here for a while watching a murmuration of starlings as they swooped around the pier and sea, it really was a spectacular show and I would love to have stayed for longer but it was so cold by then.

After our relaxed breakfast time on Sunday we had an hour to ourselves before we needed to go for the train home.

We planned to walk to the station via the Lanes.

There was plenty to see on our way to them.

I liked the art work on the outside of the corner shop.

There is a scheme in the City to help combat illegal and unattractive graffiti on phone junction boxes by commissioning a local art group to paint them with mini artworks.

We both loved this Ewok one.

The Prince Albert pub did have a Banksy on it's wall but as this article explains the original was removed and sold in America and a copy is now in it's place.
As well as the Banksy copy the wall is home to a mural of a plethora of singers,

a list of who's who can be seen here.

Well done if you've made it to the end of this post, there are just a final couple of photos of things which caught my eye that morning.

During breakfast Andrew mentioned a place we really should investigate before we left called Snoopers Paradise he said it was chock full of vintage items and vinyl. We could have spent ages in there but had to make do with 10 minutes. 
I'll share our Brighton buys in another post, I had to take something home as little momento now didn't I.