UK Tourist & Leisure Attractions

Here's Mike, waiting to board the little train on the Volks Electric Railway which runs along Brighton seafront between the pier and the Marina.

At Brighton Marina we admired some large yachts, but we thought the Marina complex was all rather a bit of a crammed in concrete jungle really.
 

We lunched in one of the many restaurants at the Marina, enjoying a lovely Italian meal in the place seen here on the right.

This year the sand sculptures were themed Roman Empire and, unlike last year, were under cover rather than out in the open (except for a few).
 

The Roman sand sculptures were huge!  Just compare the size here to Mike!  (Most things are larger than Mike though!)

The first sand sculpture to greet us once inside was Augustus, the first and most important of the Roman Emperors.
 

Belinda took loads of shots!  This one's of Trajan's Column and the foreground illustrates the efficient Roman aqueduct system.
 

We learnt the Roman Empire, which ruled two thousand years ago, was a varied one of a strong, powerful and civilized society and sometimes a violent and greedy one.  This sand sculpture illustrates a Roman army on the march.  Wouldn't want to come across this lot on a dark night!

This sculpture is a illustration of Hannibal marching an army over the Pyrenees bringing war elephants into northern Italy.  Hmm, whatever turns you on!

The Romans also indulged in numerous orgies and there were a number of sand sculptures to illustrate this aspect of Roman life!
 

The famous Roman Baths sculptured in sand.  The Romans had a number of  baths - cold, warm and hot - and they believed they could cure ailments as well as be a social gathering point.  Look carefully and you can see a very modest guy in the background!

We're not sure if it's another orgy or it's depicting the violent side of the Roman Empire!
 

Who looks the scariest here, Mike or the Roman sand sculpture?  Once again we enjoyed our visit to see the sand sculptures at Brighton for the 2nd year running.

On the way out we stopped by the sculptures café and wished we hadn't - the tea was like dishwater!  Also there didn't appear to be a gift shop like last year, bad doos Belinda!