Roosevelt Island (Or How I Left Manhattan Without Leaving Manhattan)

Somehow we were blessed with an unseasonably warm 68 degrees in the middle of January. I took advantage of this blessing by venturing to Roosevelt Island. While part of Manhattan, it is situated in the middle of the East River with Manhattan to the west and Queens to the east.

While one can access Roosevelt Island via the F train, I opted to make my way to Second Avenue and East 60th Street to take the aerial tramway. It was the first time I had travelled above ground in over five years and was quite the sensation in all of five minutes.

What struck me most about Roosevelt Island was how it could be so quiet and uncrowded. There was no honking of horns, no shouting and not even a traffic light making for quick movement. Somehow I left Manhattan without leaving Manhattan.

I began by making way to the Four Freedoms Park on the southern point of the island before ambling north. Although Roosevelt Island affords a great view of Manhattan's skyline much of the architecture is not so pleasing. I suppose one must expect this of a place once called Welfare Island which housed a Smallpox Hospital and an insane asylum. Much of the housing looks neo-Stalinist and there is not much in the way of amenities. It's a good thing if you want to save money, but not so good if you need to use the bathroom. Such a place could feel like a prison yard if one wasn't free to leave.

But there is much to be said for peace and quiet and open space. Upon making my way back to Manhattan proper, the noise level went up noticeably and so did the anger. While walking west on 59th Street, a man blocked a truck from moving and the truck driver stormed out of his vehicle to confront this man. While the confrontation did not end violently, it escalated my stress and brought me back to unpleasant reality.

Roosevelt Island is no Walden Pond, but it is somewhere one can get away from things and slow down for a couple of hours in a city where slowing down seems impossible.