Brighton Beach Memoirs, or, Game-Time Decisions

Mike and I planned all weekend to attend check out The Roots at Celebrate Brooklyn last Sunday, but when we awoke at 11 am (whoa! I think the heat has been taking it out of us), another free concert just didn't fit the bill. Game-time decision: we decided to hit the beach instead. This is another particular delight of doing free stuff - guilt-free last-minute mind-changing.

We wanted to explore a new spot we hadn't yet been to, and the Q train's direct route to Brighton Beach was an enticement. This was a good decision. The beach is HUGE - no fighting for space here, despite big crowds - and the sand is soft and clean. The water is a perfect temperature at this time of year, and the (very) Russian neighborhood offers plenty of post-swim snacks for super cheap - think piroshki for $1.25 at any of the stands along Brighton Avenue (gluttons that we are, we tried three to compare - meat, cabbage, and potato...and then followed it up with blueberry and cheese pastries, for an extra $1 each).

If you aren't hungry (then I'm not able to relate to you), there's plenty of free entertainment in the form of window-shopping (trivia: the literal translation of this phrase in French becomes "window-licking")...

...and wildlife observation...

...but more than anything else, a day in Brighton Beach, away from friends and neighborhood and grocery lists and computers and obligations and other people's air conditioning units dripping from above, helped us get back to us. Good day.