Lived in New York all your life and never been to Govenor's Island?

If so, you are not alone. Thanks to our friend's diligent reading of the Times, we found ourselves on the way to the free Governor's Island Ferry (South Ferry stop #1 train).

The ostensible reason was to see the charming 1900s French carousels and amusement park rides set up there but really it was to take a cooling ferry ride to an island a sneeze away from Manhattan that none of us had seen before. Formerly used for military housing and government offices, it is now receiving the attention it deserves in a major restoration.

The rides are for children or courageous adults (a combination of motion sickness and fear kept us off) but they're lovely to look at. The Orgue Luminaire was a really exquisite piece of delicate machinery with amazingly preserved player rolls from 1900.

We spent a little time listening to a medley from The Merry Widow and trying not to think of "Shadow of a Doubt".

An informative exhibit by the New York Historical Society on New York City's vital and active participation in World War II, complete with a real, but small, Victory Garden, provided a little coolth.

(source: www.warhistoryonline.com)

You can rent a bicycle for one, two, four or six and tour the little island.

The esplanade at the end of the island provides you with the best photos of the southern tip of Manhattan complete with Staten Island ferry.

Be warned: Governor's Island itself and the ferry, too, of course are only open weekends and holidays and then only through September. But on a beautiful day, take a few hours and visit one of New York's other islands.

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