You would think that it's not all that difficult to come up with new activities in a city like this. But the choices can be a bit overwhelming and although I love being a shameless tourist and taking pictures of EVERYTHING I come across it's not exactly a fun idea to join the tourist-stampedes during the weekends and run through the standard sightseeing mill. So I've been trying to find things that are a bit more off the beaten track and appeal to our own interests instead of the masses. One of the interests Bram and I share are abandoned buildings, ruins, stuff like that. (okay, okay, I'll admit I'm the greater derelict-enthusiast of the both of us, but Bram doesn't mind indulging me.)
Completely
by coincidence I came across an article describing New York's most
accessible ruins. One of those happened to be fairly close to us.
It's an abandoned smallpox hospital on Roosevelt Island. That alone
sounded more than eerie enogh to pique my interest!
Wikipedia
says the following about the building;
The
Smallpox Hospital, sometimes referred to as the Renwick
Smallpox Hospital and later the Maternity and Charity Hospital
Training School, is an abandoned hospital located on Roosevelt
Island in Manhattan, New York City. Originally designed by architect
James Renwick, Jr., the 100-bed hospital opened in 1856, when the
area was known as Blackwell's Island.
A
century after it opened, the hospital was closed, and the building
eventually fell into disrepair. It was listed on the National
Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated a New York City
Landmark four years later, the only ruin in the city with that
designation. After the completion of an ongoing $4.5 million
stabilization project, the Smallpox Hospital ruins will be open to
the public.
We
both wanted to see it so last sunday we walked all the way to 60th
street to go to Roosevelt Island. It's one of the islands in the East
River (which, I understand, is not technically a river, but rather a
salt water tidal strait that changes its flow direction depending on
the ebb and flow of the sea. The more you know, right?)
This
was the first part of the route, you can see Roosevelt Island on
the left and Queensboro Bridge in the distance.
It
was a gloomy day, cloudy, warm and extremely humid, but we didn't let
that deter us. We thought we'd be able to get to the island using the
Queensboro bridge, but alas, just when the bridge's incline turned to
a decline we realized we had to walk back because we could only get
off the bridge after we had crossed the entire span of the East
River, meaning we would end up in Queens (Jeez, I wonder why they
called it the Queensboro bridge! *facepalm* )
The view was pretty spectacular though!
Turns out, this would be the quickest way to get there. Yeah, that looks completely safe and not scary at ALL!
Bram finally managed to convince me to take the Roosevelt Island Tram, which
went a bit higher than I would normally be comfortable with.. But my feet hurt and I wanted to get to the island already so I agreed. And squeezed Bram's arm pretty hard during the trip there...
But we didn't crash, burn, plummet or stall, nothing exploded and there were no epic battles between superheroes and villains while we were in there! Only a few instances of cute little kids performing their patented high-pitched banshee screeches later we finally set foot on solid ground again and we could seek out this old ruin at last! It is currently surrounded by a sturdy fence, and seeing the state of the building that made perfect sense. There's not much in the way of structural intergrity left there, and people are idiots, so without the fencing it would be an accident waiting to happen!
More info for all you history buffs out there. I'm looking at you, dad!
Doesn't look that creepy from a distance...
Up close view of the hospital, it's immediately obvious that this must have been a gorgeous building in its hey-day!
What was probably once the front entrance
The fence is real eerie too!
Other side of the building. Reconstructions are underway, so we'll have to check it out again in a while!
Soooo.... Ruins of Lordaeron anyone?
Unfortunately due to renovations we weren't able to walk all the way around the building, but I hope to come back here when the work is complete, there are plans of opening this building to the public and I wouldn't miss it for the world!
The rest of Roosevelt Island wasn't all that interesting, there was a park that we explored and the view of Manhattan was pretty good, so here are some more pictures of that.
View of Manhattan and the Chrysler Building
He's always complaining that I upload all my pictures before he even gets a chance. It's been almost a week Bram! A WEEK!!!
Yeah, you heard me.
Oh hey, look at the pretty skyline with the sun and everything!
Wait a second.. I know that last name!!!
We properly saluted the Big Giant Head. Then my husband decided to get frisky with it.
I prefer Coke, but the sign is pretty neat.
Now, there's something seriously spooky I need to tell you... As I was writing this post I decided to look up more info on Renwick Hospital, you know, to provide you with a little more background. That's when I learned that it is supposedly the most haunted place in NYC. Some would even argue it's the most haunted place on the planet! Now I know that there are a lot of instances where people take pictures of places with high paranormal activity and don't notice anything strange, but once they get home and look at their pics they suddenly spot supernatural apparitions that weren't present while they were taking the pictures... Now, I honestly don't even believe in all that stuff, but after learning about the building's haunted status I decided to take a closer look at the pictures I made, and I couldn't believe what I saw! In at least two of the pictures you can see actual ghosts! There is absolutely no denying it, they fit all the classic criteria and I swear I did't notice them when I was taking the pictures. Look for yourself, see if you can spot them!
*shiver*
If you're as creeped out as I am, here's a little something to soothe your mind. I posted this video on facebook as well, but facebook obviously thinks HD stands for "Hardly Discernible". So here's a better quality video of the legendary squirrel chilling on a trash bin. Awwww, just look at the cute little bugger. LOOK AT HIM!!!
These last few weeks the weather has been hot and humid, but bright and sunny. So Bram and I went to Governor's Island one warm sunday afternoon. I've been wanting to go there for a while now and it is going to be closed to the public again by the end of this month, so we went while we still could. It's a beautiful island that you can reach by ferry from the southern tip of Manhattan.
Pics;
Apparently this wasn't actually the Governor's house. They just called it that, because reasons.
Old, abandoned looking synagogue
If some idiot ever presses the big red button, this is gonna become the place to be I guess..
The kids got a playground with a view of Freedom Tower
Animal rights activists then demanded the geese also get a view of Freedom Tower. They seem appropriately impressed...
Here we see the Jersey City skyline and the Manhattan skyline competing for a spot in the sunlight. Can you spot the winner? That ugly monstrosity towering over Jersey City deserves as little daylight as possible if you ask me.
Hey look, a booth with an old broken typewriter inside. Apparently in olden days, you needed a ticket to ride. You know, in case you were a day tripper. Or maybe this booth was occupied by a paperback writer. Or.. oh forget it. At least it's good Norwegian wood.
"Can I fix this?"
Apparently not..
Yep. That's a building alright.
Obligatory Manhattan skyline pic. Shiny!
Last sunday there was a cultural festival near where we live, so off we went again! It was actually really nice, there were free performances, loads of typical market-merchandise and stands representing many different countries, providing tourist information for everyone. Here's the visual representation of that;
That rug really does tie the street together, doesn't it?
Baby trees, how cute!
I don't care that it's pink and hideous! it's shiny! I need it!
BOUNCY CASTLE!!! We weren't allowed :-(
Single men, listen up. This right here is the most effective woman-trap you will ever see. Just FYI
He looks a bit old for this kind of stand.. I guess life gave him lemons.
Pretty neat, Bram loved it. I told him we could probably replicate this for slightly less than $200 though.
Yeah, let's hear it for Liechtenstein!!!
Thailand Represent
I wonder if she made those baskets herself
I feel like such an idiot now for not trying this stuff...
Ugh, this is the WORST!
/insert corny joke
And here's some bonus material from the obscure "I was bored so I went for a walk in the park last tuesday"-album. Enjoy!
Streetlamp (LeMoose?)
Flowers and buildings and stuff
These cute little guys kept me company
SQUIRREL!
Potato quality video of squrrels playing in a hollow tree. Yeah, I know. You really should have been there.
Guess who is touring trolling New York right now. If you've heard of them, they really don't need any further introduction... If you haven't heard of them, meet the the Westboro Baptist Church. They're pretty much just one family, known for trolling the entirety of America with their hate speech, picketing funerals of fallen soldiers, famous people, and today, even the 9/11 memorial. They are loud, they are obnoxious and they have the most insane "reasoning" anyone has ever heard. Yesterday they were picketing the Huffington Post for being pro-gay, and Harper's Magazine for having their office on, well... 666 Broadway. Satanic to the core! Years ago I watched British documentary maker Louis Theroux spend some time with the WBC, trying to understand them and getting so much backwards logic and circular reasoning in return it almost seemed impossible that an entire family could be so narrowminded and dumb. So when the chance presented itself to go see them for myself, that's exactly what I set out to do. When I got there the WBC hadn't arrived yet, but the opposition had, so I went and introduced myself to them, told them I was on their side and decided not to interfere in anything that happened because the WBC are also infamous for their lawsuits. If you threaten or assault them, rest assured you'll be paying for the next picketing-tour. The WBC also try to piss everyone off any way they can. To be honest, I can't take them seriously even if I try, so none of this upset me personally. A lot of people got angry and some even tried to reason with them but you really can't reason with these folks. So I just stood back and documented everything. Here's what happened:
Meeting the colorful opposition:
...and the hatemongers:
Excuse me, is Satan home?
Well, they sure have a lot of nerve displaying that particular sign in this particular city, you gotta give 'em that..
God loves.. Cupcakes! GOD LOVES CUPCAKES!
A picture sometimes tells a thousand words, but mine are pretty crappy so I filmed everything and made a compilation of what went down, here it is!
What a fun group indeed... Hope you enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed being there, there are a lot of wonderful people in New York if you manage to look past the religious nuts. Oh, and hey! The Huffington Post posted an article about the encounter, I'm actually hidden in one of their pictures, see if you can spot me ;)
