Saturday in Brooklyn - Burger Quest

I keep forgetting it's Saturday, I thought it was Sunday.  Too many days off in a row, I guess, without having gotten into the routine of things at work...

After Leena called on the phone, I ate a quick breakfast of some yogurt and cereal.  Then I got dressed and went up to the grocery store and bought most of what I need for the coming week.  It was so blazing hot out that my clothes were soaked through after just a three block walk (one block up, and two over) each way.  So I stripped down and took a nap for a few hours under the open windows (good thing I haven't bought a bed, sleeping on the floor means the low, open windows are above me).

Later when I woke up I was hungry, so I googled for "hamburgers Brooklyn" and it turned up a few.  One I saw was 5 Guys, which I'd had in Washington D.C. the night my cousin, Gary picked me up a couple of years ago and it was a good burger, plus they consistently get good reviews.  I used their store locator and found one 30 blocks to the south in the Bay Ridge neighborhood, and another 47 blocks to the north in Park Slope.

I figured I'd head south.  I walked a few blocks, then at 59th hit the subway.  The N train was at the R train's platform and I thought that with no R service in Brooklyn this weekend the N would follow the R's route.  But it didn't and quickly turned east...

Realizing it wasn't going to take me to Bay Ridge, I figured it was as good a time as any to go to Coney Island, the N train's destination.  My mother grew up in Coney Island and often tells the story of how when she and her sisters were kids there their mother made them wear sweaters, even in the hottest summers, to go out and east ice cream.  Plus I figured there's a famous Nathan's Famous there so I could get one of their burgers, and they have a good reputation (although they're more famous for hot dogs, which I dislike).

I got off at the last stop, Coney Island.  The signs on the platform pointed to Mermaid Avenue and Surf Avenue, which sounded like fairly likely destinations for a popular beachfront neighborhood, plus there was a salty smell to the air, like the sea, so I figured I was in the right place...

Out of the station the big Nathan's restaurant was right across the street, but the line of people was out of the restaurant and all over the sidewalk and I thought "no way". So overhead I saw some of the old, famous Coney Island rides and walked in that direction towards to the famous boardwalk.  There was another Nathan's there, but another line, and they didn't have any seats.  I walked up and down the boardwalk, sweating like mad, and then saw another restaurant, The Grill, advertising burgers and knishes so I figured I'd go there.

The knish was just what I expected, a delicious treat, one of those things we used to eat all the time on the east coast, especially when my Mom and her sisters took me and my cousins to the Woodbridge Center mall, but we rarely ever saw after we moved to Oregon, and most of the ones on the west coast weren't the same style as the east coast.  The burger was disappointing, though, it tasted like it was already cooked and sitting in a hot pan of water, sort of like the old college cafeteria did.  Still it was $3, compared to yesterday's $17 one at T.G.I. Friday's that was definitely not five times better (better, yeah, but not that much).  I had a can of Coke to go with it as well, but couldn't get a table in the shade as some woman already had that one...

Taken with Hipstamatic
for the iPhone 4.

After I finished I found the public restroom then took the N train back up towards my apartment.  While the train was waiting at the station I played a bit with photographing the inside with all the shiny chrome, vertical posts for people to hang on to.

I was the only one in the car for the first two stops, then a kid got on, and another stop or two kept filling up and eventually a gigantic, huge, fat lady sat next to me until I got off...

I hung out in the apartment for a little bit, then when it got a little cooler I packed my backpack with the good camera and headed up to Sunset Park to see if I could get some better photos than I got yesterday, like at least one with the Statue of Liberty visible.  I did, too...  I took a bunch of photos from up there, took a few of some gigantic cruise ship leaving the harbor, and some of the Manhattan skyline.

Then I walked around Brooklyn in that general area a bit before getting back to the apartment and taking a nice, much needed shower.

So, that's about how today went...  Hopefully tomorrow's weather will be better, and not so blazing hot.