The other day my friends and I decided to go to Brooklyn. We wanted to see Smorgasburg, which is a weekly showcase of different foods and restaurants across Brooklyn and New York. It's in Williamsburg. At least, half of us did.
The other half wanted to visit Central Park for Pokemon Go related adventures. We also wanted to see Dumbo, an picturesque neighborhood to take picturesque pictures. The other half wanted to visit Central Park for Pokemon Go related adventures.
We ended up compromising.
The day started at the train station where nothing eventful happened, except for the usual arguments about travel plans and cost-cutting. (For those who want to know, we figured out that an Uber is more expensive than the subway from Manhattan to Williamsburg, which is in Brooklyn.) After about an hour, we landed in Brooklyn. Smorgasburg. Picture a rectangle of stands with canopies all selling delicious food. (Delicious is subjective, but in this case it isn't.)
The lines are long and the people are impatient. My disposition was greatly helped by the sweltering humidity. (Of course later the heat subsided only to be replaced by enthusiasm-extinguishing rain, so who's the loser there?)
I ended up ordering some sort of waffle-pork sandwich and a spritzer. It was the most refreshing thing I've had. It was encouraging. The price was not. I remember one of my friends ordered something called a "Mofongo." It was basically a small bowl of plantain "potatoes" with pieces of beef or some other meat arranged enticingly on top. Someone else ordered Green chile fries which were neither spicy nor that green. We also managed to receive several Charmeleons and Squirtles. Luckily, we were near the waterfront so we were able to take advantage of the 10 ft. tall tree next to the fair, which was the only shade around.
After the fair, we went some coffee shop whose name I don't remember. This was because a very different detail obscured the less important information from my mind. About 15 minutes after entering and admiring the foreign cuisine which I had no intention to buy, I saw two people sit at the front of the shop and start rolling some sort of crusty plant into a small piece of paper. And that's all I have to say about that. It was interesting. It started to rain. A slight teasing at first, and then a heavier type.
Remember I said half of us wanted to go to Dumbo and the other half wanted to go Central Park? Well that was all planned without factoring in the rain. With the rain, we couldn't really do either. In the end, we compromised and went to the Natural History Museum which had the double benefits of being close to Penn Station and directly ... next to Central Park.
Nevertheless we had the potential to still enjoy that place. It is a Pokestop after all. Of course, like all the best plans, we had to quickly abandon it to catch the train back home. Half of our group missed that first subway back, but later caught up.
As I went home, I thought of that day of experiences. I came to one simple conclusion. Rain is terrible for travel.
