...continued
Beautiful buildings:
Next stop was a little shop on East 62nd Street, just a block or so along from Serendipity called 'Tender Buttons.' The shop had walls filled with pretty buttons including little coloured kittens, roller skates, a picture of the Empire State building and a Mickey Mouse head. These are the ones I remember as these are the ones we bought. We spent $12 on five pretty little buttons as souvenirs and had enjoyed ten minutes or so perusing all the display cases. I managed to snap a photo of the shop as we left
We walked to the Subway station at 1st Avenue / 60th Street to get on the Roosevelt Island tram. On the way we had what we call a 'New York moment': interesting or funny little incidents that we think could only happen in New York. We had to wait at a pedestrian crossing to cross a road. A yellow cab was pulled up at the red light, and he was stopped next to a fruit stall at the edge of the road. While he waited, he must have called to the vendor that he wanted to buy some bananas, as the guy took some cash from him and then pretty much tossed a bunch of bananas through his cab window as he was getting ready to pull away. At the crossing behind us, a young lady commented to the man she was with, 'That guy is literally going bananas'
We loved the tram ride over to Roosevelt Island and it's just the price of a Subway ride (included on our Metro Card.) There was a fantastic view of the city from up there and I snapped away the whole time we were going over the bridge
Mat was a bit freaked out by the height I think but we would definitely do it again. There were lots of locals on the tram just making their everyday commute to work with their heads buried in their phones or newspapers. I don't know how you could ever get bored of that view and stop looking out of the window. Mat and I often talk about how we would jump at the chance to move to New York if it ever came up through work but I think we'd always walk around like excited tourists, totally in awe. Despite trying to act like a native in NYC, I always seem to walk the streets either with a dropped jaw or a massive smile on my face, so don't exactly blend in as a local
Once we exited the tram on Roosevelt Island, we tried to get our bearings as the Rough Guide had given us a vague idea of a touring strategy for the island. We got confused straight away, heading in the wrong direction towards the park area rather than the landmarks
It was very hot and sunny now, so we stopped to apply suncream and then headed from the bottom of Roosevelt Island where we were in the direction of the north of the island. Roosevelt Island used to be where smallpox sufferers, lunatics and criminals were sent as a sort of 'quarantine' in the many hospitals and asylums. By the 1920s, it was officially known as Welfare Island. By the 1950s much of the island was deserted and unloved. The NYC mayor commissioned a couple of architects to demolish the old buildings and create new residential living areas. The first inhabitants arrived in 1975. Yes, I may have swallowed my Rough Guide to NYC, but I find that kind of stuff fascinating
Roosevelt Island has a population of 13,000 and only two miles long and 800 ft wide. It's a small, insular community and has a very different feel to Manhattan, it was very quiet and more small-community, but a little soulless as it's mostly apartment tower blocks. Apparently the residents are quite protective of their island, and there is a two year waiting list to snag an apartment there as they are cheap. It definitely didn't feel like we were just across the river from Manhattan Island, but my favourite thing about our visit to Roosevelt was that we walked the length of the island along the promenade so were looking at our favourite city across the river the entire time we walked
The first landmark we saw was this old white clapboard house, called Blackwell House. The exterior has been restored but you can't go inside. It was very pretty but there were two teenage girls having a bit of a photo session on the porch so we didn't get any closer than this
We carried on along the promenade on the west of the island, heading for the lighthouse that was at the north end. We must have walked up the edge of the island for about 15 minutes and kept thinking we would reach the top when we came around the next bend but it never happened. We did see this political artwork in the water
but all we could see of Roosevelt from the edge of the island were apartment buildings. As beautiful as Manhattan is, it was becoming a bit disconcerting that we were walking so far north and could see the Empire State Building in Midtown (and therefore our hotel) getting further and further away across the water. It was very hot, and Mat and the girls were all moaning about the heat and the time it was taking to get to the top of the island. We had a dinner reservation near our hotel, so we decided to cut our losses and head back along the promenade to the Roosevelt Island subway station
Continued below...