Saturday was a lovely day, so we decided to use our membership of the Met and go up to the Cloisters. The Cloisters is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to Medieval Europe.
It is about as far Uptown as you can get, set in some lovely grounds. It is based upon a European cloister, built from bits and pieces of churches and monasteries from all over Europe.
A little strange when we are used to complete building in England but they have done a very good job of creating the right atmosphere.
It shows what a young country this is when the tour guide is thrilled to be able to touch a pillar made in the 1200s and John went to a school built in the 900s.
Our favourite parts were the recreated medieval gardens.
We then went a bit downtown to the Hungarian Pastry Shop to indulge in some cake and coffee, it’s a lovely pokey little cafe with a great atmosphere and frequented by students. Maria was thrilled when one of the waitresses spoke to her in Hungarian.
It is opposite the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and a wonderful sculpture garden. There is a large peace sculpture in the center and then a lot of small sculptures.
There is an annual competition for children from kindergarten to high school and the 12 best entries are cast in bronze and added to the garden.
Some were really lovely.
Maria then expressed a wish to go to Bloomingdales and shop for shoes, apparently she did not have anything to wear for walking about in the hot weather (?? what on earth are her other shoes for then?). Personally I was tired and voted for going straight back home, but you know what John is like. So we were off to Bloomingdales.
She liked the third pair of shoes she tried on but that didn’t stop her her trying on another 3 pairs, and the her favourite ones in a different colour, then one of each colour on each foot, then the other way round, then the first colour on both feet, then the other colour……..Eventually she did manage to choose and John went to pay for them. (He’d already bought her a cross at the Cloisters, is he made of money?) We couldn’t find a handbag to match, except a Fendi one, which was somewhat too much for even John (if you have to ask the price you can’t afford it).
So AT LAST we went back to the appartment and a bit of rest. Just as we got back a superb thunderstorm started, making the light on the buildings look very strange.
