26/1/13 – Central Park Winter Jam and FDR

Today was the Winter Jam Festival in Central Park (a winter sports program hosted by the NYC Parks Department to get people out and exercising) so we rugged up and went west to check out the action. The ‘jam’ turned out to be good fun if you’re into snowboarding or quidditch but we enjoyed our walk around the lake that was now (for the first time this winter) completely frozen over. We had a light lunch with the rich and famous at the Boathouse before setting off for Roosevelt Island.

Note - there is a great little bar at the Boathouse with a cosy fireplace overlooking the lake that looks worth checking out more thoroughly next time we’re passing.  

Saturday seems to be the day that the locals do their shopping here but generally NYC is reasonably deserted on the weekends (except that is for guys doing repairs to the roads).  No big trucks zooming down the avenues and few taxis on their horns. It does seem to be true what they say about the aftermath of 9/11 – New Yorkers are more tolerant of each other and feel closer (or at least less combative) after facing disaster and more willing to work with each other in the face of adversity to build a more cohesive sense of community.

The cable car ride to Roosevelt Island was interesting and provided a great vantage point from which to take photos of the East River. The island has a fascinating history – from vegetable patch for the Dutch, to a smallpox hospital, to a jail (where Mae West was put once for ‘lewd behaviour’ on stage), to a ‘lunatic asylum’ and now to low cost housing co-ops. We did the 25 cent circular tour on the ‘Big Red Bus’ and then took the return trip on the ‘ariel tramway’ that gave a great view of a massive traffic jam over the Queensboro Bridge – oops so much for the no honking agreement!

Inspired by the magnificent views of Roosevelt Island and the FDR Freeway we were keen to know more about the FDR the man, so we decided to finish the day with the movie at our local Clearview Cinema on 62^nd Street. The movie we chose – ‘Hyde Park Hudson’ looks at incidents in the life of Franklin D Roosevelt in the period just prior to the start of WW2. What an exciting time it must have been to have a philandering President who couldn’t walk because of polio, under the constant scrutiny of his domineering mother and continually juggling the demands of his three mistresses, a lesbian First Lady with her entourage of ‘friends’ whilst hosting a visit from the newly crowned ‘King of England’ (George VI) who had arrived looking for American support against the Germans in WW2!

I guess we’ll never see another President like FDR if only because they wouldn’t be able to keep such secrets in this day and age.       

That's our place just in front of the big black building on the left.