Little do people know
that the Cloister in upper Manhattan is a part of the Natural History museum. This is a pretty amazing little piece of history. The castle was brought to America piece by piece. Not all of it is from the same castle yet it all flows as if it were. I can't even imagine all the man hours it took to take apart and ship all these wonderful pieces of history across an ocean and up a hill to piece it back together.
The cloister is on the highest peak of the area. Not really very high at all but still the highest available. As we hiked up the rounding trail we could see across the river the natural state of New York. After being in the city it is hard to see New York as anything else, yet here was the proof. We could see forests and hills as far as the eye could see. In one room we came across these burial coffins I guess is the best way to describe them. At the feet of each likeness was an animal like a lion or a dog. We were curious as to why they each had one. Was this a sign of importance? was it their pet that was to be placed with them? We could find nothing to soothe our curiosity, so I will just chalk it up as interesting.
Once we walked down the main street of little Italy we were overwhelmed with smells of wonderful food cooking. To really hit it home we saw this older iconic Italian grandpa scolding a little boy in Italian while the music in the background could be nothing less than authentic and another man next to them was rolling hand made cigars. The entire scene screamed Italy. I loved it. One the flip side as we turned the corner and came across China Town we were assaulted with the smells that are China town. I was amazed at the enormous difference between these 2 cultures. China Town had this stink to it, the stink of fish, and filth. The people seemed a lot less friendly or maybe just more tired but I found myself wanting to quickly head back over to little Italy. I felt so much more at home there.
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Cathedral of St. John
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| Little Italy |
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| Seinfeld Restaurant |
The cloister is on the highest peak of the area. Not really very high at all but still the highest available. As we hiked up the rounding trail we could see across the river the natural state of New York. After being in the city it is hard to see New York as anything else, yet here was the proof. We could see forests and hills as far as the eye could see. In one room we came across these burial coffins I guess is the best way to describe them. At the feet of each likeness was an animal like a lion or a dog. We were curious as to why they each had one. Was this a sign of importance? was it their pet that was to be placed with them? We could find nothing to soothe our curiosity, so I will just chalk it up as interesting.
This post also has a picture of Little Italy on it. Little Italy and China town are literally a street away from each other.
Once we walked down the main street of little Italy we were overwhelmed with smells of wonderful food cooking. To really hit it home we saw this older iconic Italian grandpa scolding a little boy in Italian while the music in the background could be nothing less than authentic and another man next to them was rolling hand made cigars. The entire scene screamed Italy. I loved it. One the flip side as we turned the corner and came across China Town we were assaulted with the smells that are China town. I was amazed at the enormous difference between these 2 cultures. China Town had this stink to it, the stink of fish, and filth. The people seemed a lot less friendly or maybe just more tired but I found myself wanting to quickly head back over to little Italy. I felt so much more at home there.
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