10-30-2022: Roosevelt Island

We had an uneventful flight from Athens to JFK and even arrived about an hour early. We got through passport control after moving through quite a line. Then with luggage in hand we took the JFK AirTrain to the hotel shuttle stop and arrived at the Hampton JFK. I had booked this hotel thinking we’d arrive later in the evening and I hadn’t wanted to mess around with getting us to Roosevelt Island (RI) in the evening since I had planned to transfer via subway to RI. The other reason was that the Hampton was half the cost of the RI hotel and I’m a cheapskate. At any rate, we got settled in to our room and got to bed. Our bodies are on Israel/Greece time so it felt like 5:00 a.m. and we were exhausted.

This morning we debated our transfer to RI. There was a way to do it via subway with only one transfer, but with luggage and not knowing if there would be working escalators or elevators at the stations we needed to go through, we made the better decision to take an Uber. Quite frankly, I’ve never used Uber before so this was a first. It was a great decision, even though I am a cheapskate, it was worth every penny.

We arrived on RI at the coolest hotel, the Graduate Hotel. Since it was only noon, we figured we’d have to store our luggage and wait until later in the afternoon to check in, but surprisingly, they had an available room so we could dump our luggage and start our visit with Joe Aboulafia. Our room on the 13th floor had a very wonderful view looking south down the East River. The Graduate Hotel is in the Cornell Technology Park on RI and, in addition to being Roosevelt family themed, it also is all about being a student. Everywhere around the lobby and restaurant are shelves containing textbooks. And the room key cards are replicas of famous people’s college IDs. We got Toni Morrison and Ruth Bader Ginsberg!

We called Joe and he came over to the hotel, a 5 minute walk from his new apartment on RI. We had lunch in the hotel’s restaurant and enjoyed catching up and talking about our visit with Carol and David. After lunch, we took him up to our hotel room to show him all the neat things in the hallways and in the room. We then walked over to his apartment and he showed us around. He seems to have settled into his new home nicely and he says that he loves it and is happy to be on RI. There really is something about RI, you can just feel something about being on this very nice island. You can see big city life all around across the river, but on RI you get a lovely sense of calm and laid back living.

We then set off for some touring taking a ferry from RI down to Wall St. We have had great weather the whole trip, and today was no different; lovely sunshine and moderate temperatures.

We strolled around the Wall Street area and Joe pointed out some of the buildings in which he worked over his career. I asked him about his experience on 9/11 and what he recounted was horrifying. He was making his way to his office 2 blocks away from the Towers. He actually walked past a jet engine lying in the street and experienced all the debris floating down from the building. He also witnessed many people falling who had jumped from the building. It was an awful, awful thing and Joe was up close and personal with the whole thing. We did make our way to the 9/11 memorial pools, which I have always wanted to see. It was a very moving experience.

We saw some other notable sites walking around the Wall Street area.

We then ended up at the Winter Garden atrium at Brookfield Place. The atrium is a 10-story glass vaulted pavilion. The atrium houses various plants, trees, flowers and very swanky shops. It opens out onto World Financial Center Plaza and a big marina. We sat out in the plaza, a waterfront patio, enjoying a drink and the late afternoon sun. It’s a really lovely spot.

We then walked through the Oculus, the World Trade Center transportation hub. Wow, an amazing space!

We took the subway back to RI and to Joe’s apartment. Joe made a wonderful chicken, pirogi and green bean dinner for us with a fantastic chocolate mousse cake for dessert. His apartment is on the 7th floor and he has a great view looking east. So we relaxed and chatted and enjoyed the view. It was a very lovely evening spending time with Joe and talking about all sorts of things. He’s auditing a course at Columbia on philosophy and how philosophical concepts shape modern thinking and science – very fascinating – and he’s loving the course. So, for sure, that led to good conversation.

By 9:00 p.m., Christine and I were having trouble keeping our eyes open, so we had to take our leave. Joe walked us back to our hotel and we said goodbye. I really like Joe. My relationship with Christine has brought so many wonderful people into my life – lucky me. We’ll look forward to seeing Joe again soon on one of our trips to NYC for Christine’s doctor appointments. We’re really glad to see Joe seeming to be creating a new chapter in his life, having lost his husband of 43 years not long ago. What a huge hole that has left for Joe, but he is working towards finding things that he enjoys and he does seem happy to be living on RI and getting into the city to see plays and shows and engaging in lots of satisfying activities.

Back at the Graduate Hotel, we enjoyed our view before collapsing into bed. What a great day we had with Joe!

Tomorrow we’ll be getting to Port Authority (via Uber – no more subways for us when we have luggage!) and taking the bus home. It will be so nice to be home.