We call it a cable car... they call it a tramway

This is the view from the cable car/tramway
from Roosevelt Island to Bloomingdales 

Our second day in New York was sunny, like the first. There was no need to queue to go through customs and we could cross the busy road... traffic seemed endless until it stopped and the "little man" invited us to cross, counting the seconds till the red hand appears to stop people crossing. This time we could access the subway from the "ticket holders" entrance. We made our way to Roosevelt Island. At the time Helene Hanff wrote her book on New York, Roosevelt Island didn't have a lot on it, but a "tramway" in New York terms, or what we would call a "Cable Car" was built over to the island. This was such a novelty for New Yorkers, that families packed picnics to take the tramway over to the island to spend time there. Because there were no public facilities on the island, they left their food rubbish and human waste there and the few local residents complained. Roosevelt Island has since been developed with homes, shops and restaurants. We met chatted to a resident on the four minute ride to the terminal at the back of Bloomingdales. This chic lady was going shopping and taking advantage of the ease with which she could reach the shops from her home on the island by the tramway/cable car. She told us it was quiet on the island. Anywhere would seem quiet after Manhattan.

Bloomingdales. New York