Flying NYC
Best Cheap Thrill in NYC: The Roosevelt Island TramBefore a wintry chill set in, I played softball on Roosevelt Island (technically a part of Queens) a few times. To get there, I'd always hop on the F Train near my office and emerge into daylight on the island. For the cost of a subway fare, though, you can instead take the commuter tram at 59th and 2nd. That's how I got home after the games.
The tram has got to be the awesomest cheap thrill that New York has to offer. A friend remarks, "it's like a helicopter ride through the city," and he's right. From high in the air you can see the MetLife building, the Chrysler building, and the Empire State building. You sail over the East River and the Queensboro Bridge, with an excellent view of a part of Yorktown to the north. The whole thing only lasts a minute or two, but, come on, you only paid two bucks for the privilege.
Here's what I don't get. People who live on Roosevelt Island take this ride every day. Every day! They sit there and read their papers, they forget to look out the windows, they get annoyed that the trip is taking so long. I mean, I know this is a part of the daily commute, but come on. We people are so easily jaded, so swift to be discontented. I'd like to think that I would look out the windows every day if that were my commute. But then, I note, I don't pay attention to the subway which I do ride every day.
Still, flying high above the city seems somehow different than shuttling around deep within its tunneled-out bowels. It's freer, more open... and more unusual.
posted by Skay @ 11:34 PM
3 Comments:
Personally, I'd be looking out the windows every day if that was part of my commute. I like to watch life go by out the windows, see what has changed, what never changes and just to see what I can see. What can I say? I am a looker. No, not that kind of looker. Say instead, an observer.
What is there to pay attention to in a subway besides the other passengers? The concrete flying by outside your window, replaced by more concrete?
No offense, but I thought jaded was part of the New Yorker's character.
No offense taken. I don't yet identify with "New Yorker," so I guess the comment doesn't bother me much. Though plenty of New Yorkers are not jaded. (A cynic would say, "they are all under the age of eight.")
I love to be high above everything. Planes hold great fascination. We're not built for flying, but we've managed it anyway--in myriad ways, in fact. Isn't that splendid? The view is so different from the air. Perhaps what I mean is, there's much more of a view. Anyhow, I like it.
It occurs to me that I'm completely fascinated by the world, but perhaps I don't pay people enough attention. (Perhaps that's true of you, too, crag. :) I mean, why should looking at buildings and streets and traffic patterns from a tram be more interesting or uplifting than looking at other passengers from a subway car? Yet this certainly is the case (for me at least). But why? And is that normal? (Could be. Simply, I don't know.)
Well, I tend to make passengers too uncomfortable by paying attention to them. They give me odd or irritated looks if I do more than nod and smile at them. In fact, many people find that small pleasantry very disconcerting. I’m not sure why.
However, I do people watch, in malls, in restaurants, when having coffee… it is important for me to see what is going on around me when I am in a public place.
I think if we pay too much attention to our fellow passengers, we intrude on their privacy, regardless whether it is public transportation. In the cities where we are all crowded together, we create an illusion of privacy about us. Other people’s attention too easily pops that little bubble.
As for being high above everything, I agree. I love flying back to my parents’ in B.C. It is a short flight, so the plane doesn’t go too high, but I get to see the Rockies spread below me like a rumpled bed. Beautiful.
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