Roosevelt Island: FDR's Wish for Our World

Between seeing "How My Grandparents Fell in Love" at 59e59 and opening preview night for "Schmigadoon" at the Nederlander, Don and I traveled by tram to Roosevelt Island. When we stepped into our first theater the skies were blue and temperatures were near 70 degrees. It was a perfect Spring Day. The cherry blossoms are in bloom. I'd seen on social media that the tram to Roosevelt Island is a perfect way to see them.

Two hours later the temperatures dropped at least 15 degrees, the skies clouded over, and there was a threat of rain.

We went anyway.

The tram is only a 10-minute walk from 59e59. It is on 60th Street and 1st Avenue. The line was long. We chatted with a woman taking her injured bulldog out in a stroller. The line advanced, but we missed the tram by about five people. Seven minutes later another tram was ready to be filled. By being in the first group, we had a front row spot, next to a woman who had freed her father from his nursing home on Roosevelt Island for the day. She gave us advice on what to see in addition to the cherry blossoms.

We headed to the left, the shorter distance to the end of the island. After passing the crumbling, creepy looking 19th century Smallpox Hospital, we entered Four Freedoms Park. Note about the hospital: its architect James Renwick also designed St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th Avenue.

Behind a statue of FDR in a wheelchair standing next to a little girl is a lot of marble. Engraved in one are the Four Freedoms for the entire world as identified by him:

(Paraphrasing)

Freedom of speech

Freedom to worship God as you wish

Freedom from want

Freedom from fear

A small group gathered to read these wishes. As we left, a woman said to her companion: whenever I read this I am struck by how he said it on January 6 (1941). 

Oh the irony. FDR wished for all this for the entire world during his lifetime. Instead we've moved quite far away.

As we rounded the corner to walk on the other side of the small island we came across feeding time at a cat sanctuary. It brought me back to our trip to Lima.

The temperature was quickly dropping. Wearing a sleeveless dress, leggings, ballet flats, and a denim jacket I was not prepared for the weather. With the exception of the jacket, it was the same basic outfit I wore in sunny Peru. We had dinner on the island at Granny Annie's Restaurant and Bar.  As someone leaving the restaurant said, it is "adequately average." 

After fortification we hustled to the northern end of the park. The crowds were definitely thinning. We made it to the Nellie Bly Park with the sculptures of Girl Puzzle Monument and the tiny lighthouse. On a nicer day we would have lingered longer. 

We tried to take the ferry back, but it filled and the next one was nearly 30 minutes later. Instead we took the subway to 42nd Street and hustled to the Nederlander theater. As I told Don, we walk faster in the rain.