Goodbye, summer Fridays! I'll miss you!!

So, last week was the last of the summer Fridays.  Sigh.  I will miss them so.  I think we should have them all year--it's summer somewhere, right??

Anyway, for my last museum day, I decided to go up to The Cloisters.  I can't believe I have never been there before, but so be it.  I didn't feel all that well, but I thought, it's a beautiful day...go for it!

After a shorter-than-I-imagined subway ride up to Fort Tryon Park, the bus was just pulling up to the bus stop outside the subway station, so I hopped on.  Even though it's only one stop on the bus, it's sort of a long trek to the Cloisters entrance, so I'm glad I took the bus.  Might as well save my energy for walking in the museum, instead of using it all up getting there.  I didn't notice any of my Diner Deck restaurants listed in that neighborhood, so I decided to skip the lunch.

The Cloisters is simply magical.  I'm an idiot for never having been there before and I must go back again.  Soon.  The buildings and the gardens are spectacular and the medieval art is amazing.  There was so much to see, I know I didn't see everything.  It seemed as if around every corner was something amazing and gorgeous.  There were chapels, stained glass, sculptures, tapestries, ancient texts...you name it, it's probably at the Cloisters.  I took over 150 photos and will have to make a separate album just for the beautiful shots I got.  I'll just share a few of them here, though.

When you enter, you climb a drafty stone staircase, and then you're suddenly in a large airy room, filled with art.  I don't know what I expected, but I was certainly blown away by my first glimpses of what was inside.  It felt very hushed, damp and European.  I love that feeling.  The museum was also surprisingly full.  I don't know why I'm always freshly surprised by all the people in a museum, but I am.  It's very heartening.

I picked up a floor plan, but I wandered rather aimlessly through the rooms, stopping for quite a long time in the Unicorn Tapestries room.  I was fortunate enough to see some gorgeous tapestries when I was in Bruges (there may have been one that was part of the Unicorn series, or I'm making that up), and I really enjoy looking at them.  Thankfully, there isn't glass in front of the tapestries, so you can really get up close and look at the craftsmanship and the detailing of the stitching.  Gorgeous.


Also thankfully, you can take photos throughout the museum, as long as you don't use flash.  I gratefully took advantage of that, both with my camera and with my iPhone.  I think my iPhone may have better color than my camera, even though it has less pixels.  God love the iPhone.

I really enjoyed my wanderings through the Cloisters--but, at one point, I was feeling particularly overwhelmed by all the gorgeousness, so I went to sit down in the little cafe.  It surrounds a garden, so there was more gorgeousness there.  I had a tasty homemade chocolate chip cookie, checked the tennis scores, and rested up for some more art-loving.  Before I went back into the building, though, I wandered through the gardens.  They are also gorgeous.  They grow many herbs, fruits and vegetables that are representative of medieval gardens.  There were pomegranates, some lavender, medicinal herbs and lovely flowers.  It was a bit hazy outside, with the humidity, but I did get some very pretty shots.  

I would very much like to go back and take the tour of the gardens and hear about all of the different varietals and how to grow them in a modern garden.  Another time.

After returning to the building proper, I wandered into the Treasury room.  Here were religious relics, along with some secular objects, that needed to be cased and dimly lit, so as not to fade the gold/paint/print/whatever.  It was harder to get a sense of things in this room, since everything was exhibited so closely together, and under glass.  I mean, it was lovely, and I completely understand why texts from the 12th century need to be protected, but it just makes the museum experience for me a little more difficult.  I can't immerse myself as much as I'd like.  And that is my problem, clearly, not theirs.  :)

(fyi, I'm having a hard time linking the photos as I get further into the posting, sorry)

My favorite parts of the museum were the chapels and the stained glass.  I just thought it was all so beautiful and so reminiscent of churches in Europe.  Not that there aren't beautiful churches in America, of course there are. 

But the most beautiful ones I've ever seen were in Europe.  So that's what I compare beautiful art with.  One of the chapels made me feel like I was back in Rome, so that was fun.  Since I'm having such a hard time posting photos now, I'll just put some stained glass and some chapels at the end.  :)     I was at the museum past their closing time--they were very nice not to kick anyone out.  They just didn't let anyone else in.  I was probably there two and a half hours, but it wasn't enough.  You really need to leave yourself at least three hours, if not more, to see and experience everything at The Cloisters.  At least, that's what I needed.  Of course, if I hadn't taken my cookie break, maybe I could've spent more time in the galleries.  But a girl has to have a cookie every now and again. 

I'll miss my summer Fridays.  I think I'll try to do a different experiment next summer--like a continuing education course, or a lecture, or something on Fridays.  Even though I love to lie on my couch, I also like feeling enriched somehow by an experience I've had.  May the summer of 2012 be even more experimental (or something like that).  Enjoy the stained glass...