I was drawn to Brighton by a photo of its Royal Pavilion.

Photo above - A view of the Royal Pavilion as seen from the garden

With its oriental stylistic architecture, the Royal Pavilion of Brighten certainly stands out from the other tourist attractions of Britain. It was George IV that build the Pavilion and help to establish Brighten as a world fame st beach resort.

Photo Above - Brighton Beach.

Today, Brighton is still a major British resort, specialty shopping, top restaurants and art galleries are in abundance. But, from what I can gather, the real attraction is the inclusive nature of the crowd in Brighten. A visitor to the city can often observe the cultural and economic extremes side by side in the shops, cafes and clubs.

Photo Above - Brighton From the end of Brighton Pier

As a thriving vestige of the beach resorts of the late 19th century, Brighton retains one of its two pleasure piers.

A third pier, destroyed about the time as the Brighton "Royal" pier was build, has some entertainment associated with it, but it was primarily a working pier.

Pleasure Piers were establish in Britain in the mid 1800's to allow vacationers to have a nice view of the ocean at low tied, apparently visitors found it disappointing to go to a seaside resort only to see an expanse of sand and seaweed where water should be.

During Victorian times, these seaside resorts with their amusement park piers, represent the ultimate"holiday" experience.

Photo Above - Brighton Pier.

Extending a rather far distance from the beach, the pier is much longer than one realizes on first approach.