Ok, I admit it. In coming to the UK at Christmas, New Years, we had expected to avoid the crushing crowds that we found in Venice and Amsterdam this last summer. Hahahaha. Well, guess what? I think everyone else was thinking the same thing! The streets and buses, sidewalks and tubes have been PACKED!
We met a man on the bus who had lived in Toranto and traveled the eastern US frequently and I agree with what he said, which was, that Americans have so much space that it is hard for us to realize these old European cities where it is their history to live so close to one another so what we find hideously crowded they find business as usual.

So…we decide that since we can hardly walk many of the sidewalks in London and would not even attempt to get into an attraction that we will take a break and head to what we believed to be a “small coastal town” for a day break from the city.
It is only just over an hour on the train to get to Brighton and when we are coming into the station, while on the train, our jaws drop to see the size and population of this coastal get away.
I guess we should have known as the city has a population of 273,400 and in 2013 had 409,000 tourist spend the night.
So, once again we are navigating crowded sidewalks in an attempt to find a place to have lunch.
The business owner told us that it was unusually busy for this time of year and although he was expecting a quiet day in his resturant the place was jammed. Now he expects it to stay that way until after the New Year celebration.

After lunch we walked to the oceanside and found a boardwalk and shoreline of rocks rather than sand. We visited the famous Pier which was a big Carny experiance.

I wanted to go on the “wheel” to get a bird’s eye view of the area.

The sun has started to set and bathed everything in a warm yellow glow.

At 4 pm we witnessed a beautiful sunset over The English Channel.

If it wasn’t 31 degrees out watching the sunset you would have thought you were viewing one of the beautiful sunsets that we witness in Mexico.

Brighton is a city, much like San Francisco of hills and walking up and down through those hilly areas took us through some wonderful neighborhoods.

And the Royal Pavilion (complete with ice skating rink) beautifully lit and gorged with visitors.

Walking back to the station, to head back to London, we walked the famous “The Lanes” which is a shopping mecca and where you can find unusual items.

Or just stroll the pedestrian lane and enjoy the windowfronts.

It’s time to head back to the train to begin our journey back to London and that in itself was a journey… With 2 break downs and Tom and I getting separated (him on the train platform and me stuck in the train as it speeds away). But that is a story for later…….