We went to Long Beach with DG yesterday. Of the Long Island beaches, I've only been to Jones Beach before, and I was favorably impressed with Long Beach. They had a fun little boardwalk with some truly tacky wares (including hers 'n' hers miniature wooden porta-potties; I'm not making this up ;) and the crowd was a nice mix of people.

The lifeguards were a little overzealous and pulled us out of the waves at 5:00, yelling, "The water's closed!"

Afterward, DG drove us into the city, which was surprisingly short and painless after a little bit of traffic on some route or another (I never bothered to learn NY highways, since I don't drive here; Route 128 in MA, by the other hand, I know by heart). We had Indian food at Madras Cafe in the East Village. They've changed their menu a bit. They now have miniature masala dosas as an appetizer (so cute! a petite fold-over pancake stuffed with potatoes) and spinach with red lentils, so that's what I had. I really like red lentils.

At some point I met a Boston terrier. As I was crouched down, patting it, it put both paws on my shoulders, and then started messing up my hair. I think its owner was taken aback.

Comments

Anonymous said…
You think his and hers port-o-potties are tacky? When i was hiking through a tourist trap town in Northern Spain I saw t-shirts showing stick figures of a couple having sex doggy style. I also saw fluted ceramic jars for drinking wine that were shaped like an oversized penis. Hollowed-out ceramic testicles hung under the penis as a recepticle for the wine. Uggh!
12:02 PM
Bearette said…
Oh my god! I guess Spain really outdoes us in the tackiness stakes.
6:31 PM
Anonymous said…
I think it's all a question of what you look at. Spaniards are much more open about sex in general. For example, there were lots of topless women at the beach I went to with Ana, and there were some women and men who were completely naked, too. Given that Spaniards are more open about sex and nakeness than we are, it doesn't surprise me that Spanish tourists go a bit overboard with jokey things like these t-shirts and ceramic wine pots. I don't want to overemphasize the bad, though; there is lots of art and literature in Spanish that is very refined and not tacky at all. The t-shirt and the wine pots did catch my attention, though, i must say!
5:02 AM
jules said…
Best thing about Long Beach is you can take the LIRR and walk from the station to the beach! (I've just recently discovered Brighton Beach as well - just take the subway & walk 1 blk).
10:14 AM
Bearette said…
groovy! i might go there in the fall just to walk. i have this thing for walking on beaches.
11:08 AM
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