(German beaches in a nutshell)

Since Nico has already mentioned it in her comment on part 1 (https://opensimworld.com/post/85841), and since this has been my plan from the very beginning, here's the other part of my "beach talk". What about beaches that aren't in the tropics?

Way too many beaches are a) tropical with lots of naturally-grown palm trees and b) flat. It's a trope that's commonly known in Second Life as Tropical Beach Paradise (http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Tropical_Beach_Paradise). The reason for the abundance of these may be that most beaches are built by people who only know beaches from TV and have never seen one in real life.

But there are so many other ways to build a beach, at least in theory, sometimes actually carried out. Beaches that may be more relatable to especially those of us who know beaches.

Something that has been done, for example, is the kind of beach you often find in Mediterranean coastal towns in southern France. A seawall with a more or less wide beach in front of it and something that could qualify as a promenade on top of it. Destination Fécamp (https://opensimworld.com/hop/86967) has quite a good one, realistic to the point of only one lounger on the entire beach being free and so much surf that you start asking yourself if you should actually go into the water (which you can because Fecamp does that right). Les pieds de sable (https://opensimworld.com/hop/79417) used to have a somewhat different one with less sand and more seawall.

The North American boardwalk beach has been done more often than you may think. For one, there are the many iterations of Linda Kellie's Boardwalk Amusement Park; Lucia Island (https://opensimworld.com/hop/83640) and AMSmediterrania (https://opensimworld.com/hop/87777) both make use of it. One of the best examples, however, has to be scratch-made Coney Island (https://opensimworld.com/hop/87886) where the rides alone can keep you busy for quite a while.

Most of TexLand (https://opensimworld.com/dir/?grid=texland.no-ip.biz:8002) is somewhere in-between because it mimicks islands on the South Texan Gulf coast. There are palms, yes, but there are also seawalls, there are no traces of Tiki style, and it still feels very close to the U.S. mainland.

What I'd like to see done on a somewhat larger scale than at Gridtalk (https://opensimworld.com/hop/78056) are the various styles of northern German beaches. Gridtalk mimicks what formerly West German Baltic Sea beaches often look like, and that's an interesting style, but it could be taken further. In this style, the dunes behind the beach are a given, but they need grass on top and maybe the occasional seagull nest. Speaking of fauna: seagulls, seagulls, jellyfish (which fortunately aren't available on the Hypergrid; I hope it stays that way) and more seagulls (notice how I didn't mention mosquitos).

Unless it's a natural beach, have a promenade behind the dunes with fences between the promenade and the dunes and all kinds of amenities from small shops to hotels (I recommend at least one big hotel tower, even if it's just a few textured prims) on the land side of the promenade. If you're daring enough, build an indoor pool right behind the promenade as well. Just because it's a beach, doesn't mean it's perpetual summer. Instead of lifeguard chairs, install one DLRG station for the entire beach. Also, LOTS of beach baskets. If you want to take the German-ness to the logical extreme, make tiny parcels for the beach baskets which can be rented.

The formerly East German variant would combine this with a long wooden structure between a pier and a boardwalk that extends from the raised promenade across the beach into the water. We call it a "sea bridge". These things were built in times when the wealthy tourists who came there didn't dare to step into the water yet. Somewhere on top of it should be a white-walled wooden building with at least a café/restaurant and an event location in it.

The North Sea variant usually doesn't have beach baskets and a promenade because it isn't part of a town (unless you want to mimic places like St. Peter-Ording or Westerland which would be beach themes of their own). No trees because the area has probably been treeless for centuries (chances are, part of it was sea until a few decades ago). Replace the dunes with a dyke. Optionally, fence the dyke in and add sheep on the dyke to the fauna. (Only sheep because cattle would ruin the dyke.) Add vast mudflats on the seaside which may or may not be under water (set the mud to phantom for extra fun so your feet sink in up to your ankles). Any and all architecture on the sim must be Frisian. Dress code: barefoot (or Wellingtons), rolled-up jeans, windbreaker.

You could make it eerier by building it as a varsim with even vaster mudflats from which sometimes a church bell rings even though there isn't a single church on the sim, much less out on the mudflats.

Also, the North Sea allows for small islands, only that they're called "holms" instead of "islands". Surround the whole thing with mudflats. Don't skimp on sheep. And instead of having dykes, every last building has to be built on a mound no less than four or five metres high.

But let's go back to the Baltic Sea. Natural beach variants should have cliffs. Not rocks, clay. Or white chalk (works both in former East Germany and Denmark). But preferably clay. If it's clay, boulders on the beach are a given. This is the kind of beach where campfires are the most likely.

Something in-between (not quite natural, no beach baskets, no promenade, but the occasional shop and the DLRG station) exists, too. It often comes with a camping site behind it which is a requirement for surf spots. This kind of beach is also the typical German nudist beach. Don't forget "FKK" signs. However, keep the rating Moderate and sex furniture inside the campers or tents. If you really want to go full cliché, fill the camping site behind your FKK beach with Trabants, Wartburgs and QEK campers.

Danish beaches would be similar to German ones, but even less urban, more likely with wooden summer cottages behind the dykes/dunes (per-week rent boxes, anyone?) and always clothing-optional. Oh, and think twice before you put up Linda Kellie's hot dog cart: In Denmark, hot dogs are sold at least from a trailer, if not a snack bar. But one of these is pretty much mandatory. Also, røde pølser (red sausages).