Trip to Northeast

August 22
Faced with an overcast, misty day, the four of us decided to do something indoors. We were zipping through maniacal traffic when, suddenly, Rob whipped the car into Fort Tyron Park. Looming over the tree tops was a Medieval monastery, the Cloisters, an outpost of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is made up of 5 French monasteries that were disassembled, transported to N.Y., then reconstructed from 1934 to 1938 on land donated by John D. Rockefeller. The whole museum is devoted to Medieval architecture and art.

It's always a thrill to me when I see works of art in person that I've only viewed in the past in art history books. In the museum is a HUGE tapestry titled Unicorn in Captivity; it is the last of a series of tapestries about unicorns. I'd seen this particular one many, many times but only as large as a book page or even smaller so that made seeing the real thing for the first time even more impressive. The museum also houses a small, carved wood crucifix scene that was amazing because of the intricacy of the details. The whole sculpture was probably no more than 18 inches tall but contained multiple figures in addition to Christ and the two crucified men. All the figures had unique, believable facial expressions; the figures were dynamic, some writing in agony.

Outside the museum are meticulously kept gardens of flowers, trees, shrubs, medicinal herbs. There were also benches where we sat to just enjoy the day (when it wasn't raining!). We had lunch under the arcade right beside one of the gardens.

On the way back home, Rob drove us around parts of the city while he and Cassie pointed out various sites to us. That evening, Jerry, Rob, and I watched more home movies while Cassie did homework. I also think that was the night she went to practice with the "Queens of Pain" Roller Derby team.