Where's GrrlScientist?

I went on a little day trip to Roosevelt Island to look at birds and to learn a little about a company known as Verdant Power. Roosevelt Island (formerly Welfare Island, and before that, Blackwell's Island) is a small island that is roughly two miles long located in the middle of the East River, a tidal estuary that flows between Manhattan Island and the Borough of Queens.

This is the on-site office for Verdant Power, and it has a poster on the side that describes their research project. Verdant Power is researching and developing new technology to generate ecologically safe electricity;

To generate this power, Verdant Power has designed a series of underwater turbines whose blades are turned by the rapidly flowing water. As these blades turn, they generate mechanical energy which is transformed into electrical energy. The turbines are capable of swinging around like a weatherwave as the water flow changes, so they are always generating energy, regardless of whether the tide is coming in or is flowing out to sea.

Outside Verdant Power's on-site office is a series of buoys. These buoys mark the outermost locaation of the rotating blades of the turbines that generate power, which are located between the buoy and the near shore. As you can see from this image, the water really is moving fast through this channel (when I took this picture, it was flood-tide: the tide was coming in from the ocean);

Looking north from the Verdant Power on-site office towards the suspension bridge, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial (Triborough) Bridge. The Triborough Bridge carries vehicle traffic between Manhattan and Queens, and you can see a second bridge there, too (the orange one is the Hell's Gate Bridge), which carries railroad traffic. These bridges span Hell's Gate, a tidal channel formed by the confluence of the East River, Harlem River and Bronx Kill;

After looking at a few shorebirds and gulls, I walked the length of Roosevelt Island from north to south. Along the way, I stopped to take a few pictures to share with you. This is a park on Main Street, with a water fountain in it. I was tempted to jump in;

This is a picture of the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. It is an historic church located at 543 Main Street on Roosevelt Island;

This Chapel was originally an Episcopal chapel, but is now it is known as the Good Shepherd Community Ecumenical Center and is used by various groups. It was built in 1888 and restored in 2003. I liked the juxtaposition of old and new in this image.

Here is a view of Manhattan's Upper East Side (UES) neighborhood from the park on Roosevelt Island;

Here's a look northward at Manhattan from Roosevelt Island;

The East River is a busy shipping lane, as you will quickly surmise from seeing numerous barges that travel the waterway;

I love tugboats, and here's one with a lovely view of Manhattan behind it;

Another picture of that tugboat;

Here's a lovely view of the Queensboro Bridge with Manhattan in the background;

The Queensboro Bridge actually goes over Roosevelt Island, but does not provide access to it. The easiest way to access the island is by the F train, which has the deepest station of all the NYC trains. But instead of returning to Manhattan by subway, I decided to return on the Gondola from Roosevelt Island -- something I've always wanted to do!

A view of the cables from inside the gondola itself;

A mid-river view of the East River from the gondola, looking north. It only costs $2 to ride the gondola, and even better, you get a free transfer to either the busses or the subways after riding the gondola -- what a bargain!

After my gondola ride, I walked across midtown Manhattan from the gondola to the entrance to the west side subways. Along the way, I walked along the southern end of Central Park;

I also stopped to say hello to some carriage horses. This lovely animal is Betty;

I really enjoyed talking with her driver and seeing the affection they had for each other. They are really a team of co-workers, who clearly depend upon each other for their livelihood.

Here is a view of the Trump Tower with the famous globe in front. The entrance to the subways is below this gross display of wealth;