Every city in the world has a place where its residents could easily escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
The usual suspect in Manhattan, NYC is Central park, but there is a gem located about four minutes away from midtown via aerial tramway.
At Roosevelt Island, there are no blaring horns, wailing sirens, construction noises and millions of people walking on the street like zombies.
It is quite an irony that New Yorkers now visit Roosevelt Island to seek tranquility, as this narrow island sandwiched between Manhattan and Queens used to house the city’s most unwanted residents (back then) in its mental asylum and smallpox hospital.
There are a few ways to get to Roosevelt Island. The boring ways are by bus, car or subway (F line). I would suggest getting to the island via NYC Ferry (details here) or the Roosevelt Island Tram (details here). The great thing about taking the aerial tramway is it’s considered as part of the MTA fare structure, hence it is counted as a transfer if you were to take a subway or bus ride before or after taking the tram. Plus you will get to see midtown and East River from an elevated viewpoint.
I’d explored most of the island’s landmarks in 2015, but I visited the island again recently when I was in US for a self-imposed sabbatical.
Here are the photos that I took using an Olympus film camera that is around 40 years old:
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