Monday, June 01, 2009

New York Day 3 (part 1)

On the third day, some of us went to the Cloisters. It is a branch MET that is devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. It sits on four acres of parkland that is absolutely stunning. It was as if we were not on Manhattan Island at all.

Here is our first view
One of our group, Katie, has a frog that she has had for about ten years. He came with us and decided to pose for a few pictures.
Here is one of the inner courtyard gardens. We were there on a nice warm sunny day.
Another view. The columns that support the archways are all topped with different carved gargoyles (for lack of a better name)
They are all very different.

One of the highlights are the Unicorn Tapestries. We were allowed to take pictures but no flash. Apparently one flash can be as bad as months of sunlight. Which is why this photo is so blurry. I was also told that note taking could only be done with pencil. Pens are not allowed. There were about 6 school tours happening simultaneously while we were there and so I was able to follow them around for a few minutes and listen to some of the explanations and descriptions of some of the artwork.
There were many stain glass windows
Here is the Italian Cloister walk.
It was about this time that I figured out how to use the panoramic setting on my camera.
Two different views of the same building.

Tomorrow....Day 3 the afternoon.

4 comments:

Julia said...

I wouldn't mind being cloistered in a place like that. It is absolutely beautiful.

The top of the columns reminds me of the Roselyn Chapel in Scotland. Every stone carving are different.

Valerie said...

Looks like a lovely trip! Have you read Tracy Chevalier's book The Lady and the Unicorn?

I listened to it on cd while weaving and loved it. There's a lot of weaving/dyeing stuff woven into the story.

Jackie said...

Valerie, I did read the Lady and the Unicorn! It was a few years ago but I remember well the amazing sense of place and time that Tracy C. managed to instill in the book. She must have done an amazing amount of research into the times.

Jackie said...

Julia (aka Mamoo) The Cloisters were MUCH MUCH warmer than Roselyn Chapel! But the same sense of workmanship.