NYC Day 15: The Cloisters and a rained out Midtown evening

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MET CLOISTERS TALK: Medieval Frescoes with Sigrid Goldiner
I went to the Cloisters in plenty of time to start this tour with an elderly and very anorexic looking Sigrid Goldiner. Maybe I'm being too harsh on Sigrid, but by god she was thin to the point of being invisible! I listened to the first 15 minutes of her talk with great interest, and then wandered off on my own for the next couple of hours.

I toyed with the idea of heading home for the evening, but on a whim I decided to take the M4 bus all the way to 42nd Street, and waste some time there before getting something to eat. As it happens, the heavy rain showers that had been threatening all day, decided to let loose just after I had entered a Pret A Manger for something to eat, and I sat out the deluge inside away from the rain. However, the rest of the evening did not look like it was going to escape without the occasional downpour, so I walked back to Madison Avenue and caught another M4 bus back to The Heights. 

A poisonous Mandrake plant in the Cloisters Medieval garden

And that, dear reader, is a summary of my second week highlights in New York City. Here, as near as I can calculate are my daily expenses for this past week.

Week Two Expenses (Figures in brackets are Australian dollar amounts)
Museum Memberships $19.15 ($25.15)        | Ongoing
MTA Pass $28.00 ($36.80)                            | weekly expenses
Accommodation $152.00 (200.00)                | $199.15 ($261.95)
Sunday 25, June | Expenses $49.00 ($64.55)
Monday 26, June | Expenses $77.00 ($101.20)
Tuesday 27, June | Expenses $72.50 ($95.30)
Wednesday 28, June | Expenses $38.37 ($50.10)
Thursday 29, June | Expenses $0.0 ($0.0)
Friday 30, June | Expenses $103.95 ($135.20)
Saturday 1, July | Expenses $29.50 ($38.35)
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TOTAL: USD$569.47 | AUD$746.65

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General view of the Cloisters from the Medieval Garden

NYC Day 8: The Met Cloisters, and Week 1 Expenses

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THE MET CLOISTERS
Yet another first visit, this time to the Met Cloisters, a Medieval museum located in Fort Tryon Park, at the top end of Manhattan. I timed my visit to catch a midday tour/talk entitled Wings in the Middle Ages: Birds, Beasts, Angels, and Altarpieces, led by Michael Morris an expert in this particular area. Between now and the end of August there are another eleven different gallery talks/tours that I could participate in. These take place on weekends at 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM. There are also daily Highlights tours (at 3:00 PM), and daily Gardens of the Met Cloisters tours (at 1:00 PM).

Among many other treasures, the Cloisters Museum if famous for its numerous medieval tapestries, and the most famous of these are the magnificent tapestries that are known as the Unicorn Tapestries.

Even though I have only managed to visit each of the museums and their offshoots once each to date, purchasing memberships to MoMA and The Met Museum is fast turning out to be the best thing I have done in preparation for this visit. Since I feel no obligation to exhaust myself trying to see as much as possible each time I visit one of these institutions, I find my outings are much more relaxing and less stressful than they might have otherwise been if I was trying to pack too much into each visit.

WEEK 1 EXPENSES: USD$483.00
As near as I can work it out, the weekly spend for my first week in New York was just $483, which averages out to a daily figure of $69.00. This includes transport, accommodation, food, recreation, and shopping. For readers coming late to these updates, my expenses are so low due to the fact that I am apartment and cat sitting for a friend, and I am contributing a very nominal amount to help offset costs associated with maintaining this apartment. Hence the biggest expense of any trip, accommodation, is turning out to be my least expensive cost, something for which am incredibly grateful for.

Farewell, New York (for now)

Image: New York Skyline

So what is a man to do on his last night in New York City? Of all the hundreds of potential activities I could have chosen to do, I decided to go for an evening walk to Fort Tryon Park, which is just 10 minutes from the Washington Heights apartment I have called home during my New York stay.

The park is also the location of the Cloisters, that fantastic branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see The Cloisters: Fort Tryon Park), and it is literally the highest natural feature on the island of Manhattan. Massive walls of schist, the bedrock underpinning all of Manhattan’s buildings, push high out of the lush landscaped gardens, and large areas of natural land formations that make up the park.

Wide paths wind their way high above the broad flowing waters of the Hudson River. It is the perfect place to promenade with your partner, set up a camera for a sunset shot, have a picnic, jog, walk the dog, play ball with your kids or friends, watch tugboats push barges up river, or simply relax and contemplate life in general, and life in one of the most exciting and vibrant cities in the world.

The ever present thrum of traffic rises up from the Henry Hudson Parkway, which follows the contours of Fort Tryon Park and further along, Inwood Hill Park. In the distance, the George Washington Bridge is silhouetted against the evening sky, its fourteen lanes channeling thousands of vehicles an hour between Manhattan and New Jersey.

…Image: The Cloisters standing tall on Manhattan schist

My stay in New York has been a real pleasure. I could have done without the heat and humidity of July and August, but since everyone else in New York had to put up with the same conditions, there was nothing for it but to head out and make the best of a less than perfect situation.

From New York I head to Greece for an extended stay of… who knows how long. It could be a month or it could be three. I hope to use Greece as a base for forays into Europe and even into Asian Minor (do they still call it that?). I have so much still to write and document about my U.S. visit, that I don’t know when I will get time to do that. My impressions will filter out over the next weeks and months, and hopefully will still be as interesting then as they were when I was experiencing them for the first time.

A friend of my cousins in Tucson, Arizona asked during my stay, what I thought of Americans and I guess by implication, America. For the record, I can honestly say, I have not had a bad experience during my three month stay, nor during my two month visit in 2008. I have not met anyone I couldn’t get along with, and in fact, I have made several new acquaintances who I hope over time will turn into good friends.

It is almost impossible to pick a favourite moment out of all the great experiences I have had during my stay. While New York tends to overwhelm the senses, the Grand Canyon overwhelms the soul and should be on everyone’s ‘bucket list’ – you know, that list of things you’ve always wanted to do before you ‘kick the bucket’!

I have still to write about my trip to Grand Canyon, but for the record let me state that two nights and a day and a half are nowhere near enough to fully soak up this true Wonder of The World. Instead of crossing the canyon off my list of places to visit, I have left it firmly in place, since I have every intention of returning for a longer, more appreciative stay.

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Image: Sunset over the Grand Canyon

Most of all though, it was the opportunity to strengthen family ties that helped make this stay extra special. I have had a chance to meet some American cousins and their children and partners (most for the first time), and those family connections have been a real joy to make. To Patris and Tom in Philadelphia; George and Jan in Raleigh, North Carolina; and to Mary and George (and George Mc) in Tucson, thank you all for your overwhelming generosity, your open arms and warm welcomes, and your delightful hospitality.

I’d especially like to thank Chris and Judy for giving me the opportunity to stay in their apartment in return for caring for their two cats and plants, collecting the mail, and providing a deterrence of sorts to potential ne’er-do-wells who could see by my presence that the apartment was being occupied and watched over.

Let’s do it again some time.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image: Hundreds of visitors spill out onto the front steps of the Met at closing time

I haven’t done a lot of gallery or museum visits during this New York stay. In fact, after six weeks I have only managed to visit the Museum of the City of New York, and the Museum of Modern Art (both for about an hour each), and put in extended visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters (an off-shoot of the Met). It’s not that I have no interested in art or artifacts, I do, but I have been into other things this time around. However, I may yet squeeze in one or two more museums before I depart this great city.

So anyway, I did get to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the ‘Met’ for short), where I spent four fruitful hours getting lost amongst several thousand years worth of sculptures, paintings and jewellery; iconography from all the major religions; Egyptian burial items, hieroglyphics and massive sarcophaguses (see image); medieval tapestries and great suits of armour; modern and contemporary art, as well as folk art from every continent; photographic exhibitions; and musical instruments – ancient and modern – including Ringo Starr’s gold plated snare drum!

Image: Massive sarcophagus. Better hope you are well and truly dead when that lid goes on!

I also headed up to the roof to take a look at the Doug and Mike Starn installation, Big Bambu, a massive structure built entirely of bamboo on which only a fortunate few get to explore via bamboo ramps that weave and climb over the whole edifice. Unfortunately, timed tickets for the guided climbs are in high demand and therefore hard to get. As interesting as Big Bambu looked, it was a bit of an anticlimax to only be able to walk under the installation rather than over it.

I couldn’t help thinking, as I wandered through room after room of priceless object d’art: at what point did ordinary objects begin to assume greater value and importance than their makers or original owners gave them? Presumably it is because certain objects have survived hundreds and in some cases, thousands of years that they acquire their worth.

For example, a modern $500 wedding ring, as sentimental as it might be to its owner in 2010, is still ‘just’ a reasonably priced wedding ring. However, if the ring was to survive 500 years – instead of say, 50 – it’s value skyrockets way beyond its initial price. Now it is not ‘just’ a wedding ring, it has been transformed into a rare and precious thing – an artifact from the 21st century, no less. But after 500 years, isn’t it really just an old worn and battered gold ring? Does it automatically become priceless, simply because it has survived 500 years?

Image: The Sphinx of Hapshetsut (circa 1473 – 1458 B.C.)

And another thing. It seems to me that every major museum in the world contains massive collections of Egyptian artifacts. Some are tiny ornaments, others are massive slabs of marble and granite that must have taken great effort to excavate, pack, and transport around the world. I couldn’t help thinking as I examined room after room of the Metropolitan’s Egyptian collection that there can’t be much left in Egypt itself for visitors to look at.

I mean, apart from the pyramids, are there any artifacts left in Egypt worth making the trip for? And what about the locals? What do Egyptians think of the massive plunder that took place during the 1800s especially? They can’t be too happy about the loss of antiquity they have suffered.

Ok. I’m rambling, I know, but these things played on my mind as I wandered through the Met. Besides, someone has to ask the questions.

Anyway, I feel much better now that I’ve shared them with you.

Really.

Image: “We are the knights that say, Ni!”
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P.S. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is well worth a visit, and the admission price of $20. Just make sure you allow plenty of time to explore its extensive treasures. Even after four hours I still missed out on vast areas of its collections.

The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan

Image: The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan
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Finally paid a visit to The Cloisters, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. The Cloisters is literally a 10 minute walk from my accommodations, and I’m glad I went there. It houses the most amazing collection of art from medieval Europe, dating from about the ninth to the fifteenth century.

The building itself was assembled from architectural elements that date from the twelfth through the fifteenth century. The structure and its cloistered gardens are treasures in themselves, and perfectly complement the approximately five thousand works of art housed there. The collection at The Cloisters is complemented by more than six thousand objects exhibited in several galleries on the first floor of The Met’s main building on Fifth Avenue. The collection at the main building displays a broader geographical and temporal range, while the focus at The Cloisters is on the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Renowned for its architectural sculpture, The Cloisters also rewards visitors with exquisite illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, metalwork, enamels, ivories, and tapestries. [Source: The Cloisters website...]

Image: Floor plan of the main Cloisters building

Located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan's Fort Tryon Park, the building incorporates elements from five medieval French cloisters—quadrangles enclosed by a roofed or vaulted passageway, or arcade—and from other monastic sites in southern France.

Three of the cloisters reconstructed at the branch museum feature gardens planted according to horticultural information found in medieval treatises and poetry, garden documents and herbals, and medieval works of art, such as tapestries, stained-glass windows, and column capitals.

I must say, not having a map of the floor plan during my visit made the experience of exploring The Cloisters and interesting one, in that it felt like I was walking through a rabbit warren of old passageways, dark subterranean vaults, and hidden rooms. This was especially the case when examining the exhibitions in The Treasury section of The Cloisters. Housed on a floor beneath the main building, the Treasury is particularly dark and sparsely lit, presumably to help protect the precious works of art on display there from deteriorating any further than they already have. It is for this reason too that flash photography is prohibited, as well as the touching of any sculpture or stonework.

Image: The Unicorn in Captivity

I have a book about the folklore of unicorns back home in Australia, and the image seen here of The Unicorn in Captivity is in that book (as are several of the other unicorn tapestries in the Cloisters collection). I had no idea the original tapestry was hanging in The Cloisters and was delighted to see this work as it should be seen – hanging as it might have been hundreds of years ago in a castle somewhere in medieval Europe.

Of course, the image does not do the original work justice at all. Dating from around 1495–1505, and ‘standing’ some 3.6 metres high and 2.5 metres across, The Unicorn in Captivity is a stunning work, woven in fine wool and silk with silver and gilded threads that vividly depict this elusive, magical creature.

There are seven individual hangings known as "The Unicorn Tapestries," in the Cloisters collection, and these are among the most beautiful and complex works of art from the late Middle Ages that survive. However, it is thought that The Unicorn in Captivity may have been created as a single image rather than part of the collection in The Cloisters or any other series of tapestries depicting unicorns.

Daily Garden Tours
The Cloisters museum has an extensive program of guided tours and talks scheduled throughout the summer. In addition to exploring the beautiful Cuxa, Bonnefont, and Trie gardens, these hour-long tours highlight botanical motifs in works of art. Garden Tours are offered at 1:00 p.m., Tuesdays through Sundays, and are free with Museum admission. Read more about medieval plants and the gardens of The Cloisters on the official blog, The Medieval Garden Enclosed.

Address:
99, Margaret Corbin Drive
Fort Tryon Park, New York
Ph: 212-923-3700
Hours:
Monday: Closed
March--October: Tuesday to Sunday: 9:30am to 5:15pm
November to February: Tuesday to Sunday: 9:30am to 4:45pm
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day

Admission
There is a recommended admission fee of: Adults $20; Seniors (65 and older) $15; and Students $10. This includes same-day admission to the main Metropolitan Museum of Art building on Fifth Avenue. Members of The Met enter free as do children under 12 (when accompanied by an adult). There is no extra charge for entrance to special exhibitions.

However, having arrived at The Cloisters 90 minutes before closing time, I was clearly never going to visit the main Museum building ‘on the same day’. I mentioned this to the cashier and she seemed happy to accept my contribution of $10.

If was to make one recommendation to The Met, it would be to extend the ‘same-day admission’ offer to at least two days, since a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue would easily absorb a full day. Trying to visit The Met and The Cloisters in one day would be exhausting and only help diminish the pleasures to be had from devoting as much time as possible to the magnificent collections in both buildings.

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Images courtesy of The Cloisters website...

New York Promenade

Image: The Cloisters commanding the best views, high over the Hudson River

~ Went out in the early evening for a walk up Cabrini Boulevard towards the Cloisters, which is only ten minutes from the apartment I’m staying at. The Cloisters is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of the European Middle Ages, and is located in Fort Tryon Park near the northern tip of Manhattan.

By the time I reached the park the building itself was closed, but the park was alive with activity. I quickly realised I was walking into a typical New York summer night. While it may seem like a movie cliché, to me it was everything I expected to see on a hot summer evening. Given that the vast majority of residents on Manhattan live in apartments, very few have access to anything resembling a garden or private yard. This means that in the evenings they spill out onto the streets and into neighbourhood parks (of which there are more than you might expect).

Tryon Park had its fair share of picnicking families, strolling couples and joggers, dog walkers and book readers, and bird watchers and sunbathers. Several paths afforded great views of the Hudson River, which were spoilt only by the fact that you had to squint into the lowering sun to see anything.

A large children’s playground is located at the corner of Riverside Drive and Broadway, and this was packed with families: adults, teenagers, children and grandparents. Streams of water were spraying high into the air in one central play area and young kids squealed with delight as they ran through the mist and showers of cooling water. Ice cream vendors with small three wheeled carts walked around the area plying their wares, and Latin music boomed from passing cars.

I sat for a while enjoying a $1 cup of ice cream, before deciding to walk to the end of Manhattan. Not the bottom end of the island, you understand, but the top – or northern – end, which was less than a mile away.

That iconic thoroughfare, Broadway, runs from the southern end of Manhattan up through its centre and continues on way beyond the end of the island. It is my wish to walk the entire length of the Manhattan section of Broadway, but now that I am here experiencing for myself that much talked about New York summer humidity, I will have to adjust my goals and complete the task in stages rather than one long walk. I have nothing to prove (apart from my stupidity) by walking 22 kilometres in 95 degree heat and 80 percent humidity – and the last time I looked, I wasn’t that stupid!

Image: Evening view of the Bronx over the Harlem River
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Anyway, since it was close, I set off to walk to the end of Manhattan, and I was happy I did. Along the way I passed Dyckman Farmhouse, a Dutch Colonial style farmhouse built by William Dyckman in 1784 (or thereabouts). The Farmhouse is an extraordinary reminder of earlier Manhattan and an important part of its Inwood neighbourhood. It was of course, also closed, but I will certainly return for a good look before I leave New York.

At the corner of Isham Street and Broadway stands the Church of The Good Shephard. In the garden on the Isham Street is a steel cross similar to the better known 20 foot high (6.1 m) cross salvaged from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Though much small in size, this blackened cross and the memorial garden it watches over is a poignant reminder of that terrible day. Wherever you go in New York City you will find memorials, large and small, to the thousands of victims of that terrible event, which – as you might expect – continues to have a huge impact on the lives of all New Yorkers.

Continuing along Broadway, I soon came to that narrow body of water which separates Manhattan from the Bronx. The Harlem River is spanned by the Broadway Bridge, which may be unique in that if it needs to be raised for small ships or other craft to pass beneath, it rises parallel to the water, as one long platform. Having walked across the bridge to the Bronx – and mainland America – I began my return walk back to the apartment.

Image: Iconic New York street scene, still encountered today
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Somewhere up a side street in Inwood, I encountered another image I associate with New York: someone had turned on a fire hydrant just enough to send a curtain of water cascading across the road so that local children could play in the shower of ‘rain’ it created.

It would have made a lovely picture. Just the same, it was a great way to end my evening promenade through the top end of Manhattan.