Day 3 in New York City, and I find myself getting ready for
my flight to Stockholm tonight. That
means checking out of the hotel and leaving my luggage with them until I can
pick it up later on in the day for the trek to the airport. Hotel staff are very accommodating and allow
me to leave the bags there ‘til I’m ready to pick them up. No matter what time and at no cost.
With a full day left to play, I decide to head to The
Cloisters. I forgot to mention that I
downloaded a Subway Map App to my iPad, so I am able to share it with the
people at the front desk and verify the route I’m supposed to take. They are very helpful, and especially when
they know which trains stop where so you can catch the next one. There are people who work in the subways behind
glass booths, and when you ask them a question, they are very difficult to
understand especially when there is a lot of traffic and train noise around
you.
The Cloisters are up near 190th Street, and I
have been staying at 79th in the Upper West Side, so it’s quite a
trek. You have to take two trains to get
there, and it’s important to know where to stop on the first train to catch the
next one. It isn’t always as easy as it
sounds, and horror of horrors, sometimes the trains change their minds and decide
they’re going to do something different (more on that later).
With all the information under my belt, I head off to the
Starbucks a couple of blocks down to have a quick breakfast and a couple of
cups of coffee and the free WiFi to catch up on the news. I have an hour to kill before the museum
opens. Catching the appropriate trains
works like a charm, and before I know it, I’m on 190th Street
looking for which direction to go to the museum.
There is a direct “street” walk to the museum, or you can actually
go through Ft. Tryon which offers a more
scenic route. I chose the latter. The Hudson River is on my left as I meander
towards the museum.
Once again, I am blessed with a beautiful clear warm day
(it’ll get hotter and more humid as the day wears on) and lots of people are
out enjoying it.
Ft. Tryon Park (http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Fort_Tryon_Park
) is great for a walk, and there are people of all ages enjoying the flowers,
the meadows, the cliffs, and all those trees.
Great views of the Hudson too from a variety of stopping points. There are people walking their dogs, jogging,
sunning, and playing. Lots of school
kids too working their way to the museum as well. I wonder who uses the street access?
I haven’t mentioned all the crazy people I’ve encountered
during my adventure. NY has a fair share. Whether on the street, the subways, the
parks, or just THERE – they are everywhere – colorful, loud, and sometimes a
little scary or funny – I give them a wide berth.
A few minutes later, and I’m at the Museum. It’s very imposing and looks a little out of
place, but it really is worth a visit.
The fee to get into the Metropolitan Museum also gives you entry to this
museum as well (within 7 days), so it’s really just a matter of getting there.
According to Wikipedia:
The 66.5-acre Fort Tryon Park was
created by the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr. beginning in 1917, when he purchased the Billings Estate and other properties in the Fort Washington area and hired Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., son of one of the designers of Central Park, and
the Olmsted Brothers firm to create a park, which he then donated to New York City in
1935. As part of the overall project, Rockefeller also bought the extensive
medieval art collection of George Grey Barnard, an American sculptor and collector, who had already established a
medieval-art museum near his home in Fort Washington, and gave it to the
Metropolitan along with a number of pieces from Rockefeller's own collection,
including the Unicorn Tapestries. These became the core of the collection now housed at the
Cloisters.
You can read more about it here: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/The_Cloisters#
It was a nice way to spend the first
part of my daylong excursion before the airport. Photos follow.
Afterwards, I headed back to the edge
of Central Park – downtown – and worked my way back to my hotel to pick up my
bags.
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