Day 5

Well another fantastic day comes to an end.  Today we journeyed north to Grant's Tomb.  The largest tomb in this hemisphere.  We all remember the old "history joke" who's buried in Grant's Tomb?  Well the answer is no one Grant and his wife are entombed in sarcophaguses they are not buried in the ground. Certainly and impressive place for an interesting man.  Once we all left this site we split up and ventured off to the museums of our choice.  Linda and I had decided we wanted to see a little of Europe in NYC and planned on heading up to the Cloisters.  But before we got there we decided to take a little detour and find "The Grange", the only home ever built by Alexander Hamilton.  What a pleasant surprise we had.  This federal style home has been moved to its third location in Harlem.  It currently sits in the St.Nicholas Park in Harlem looking out over both the East River and the Hudson River, granted today you can't see them but you could in Hamilton's day. We took a tour and learned about Hamilton's early sex scandal, his many political and economic accomplishments and of course the notorious duel.  

The Grange

Once we left the Grange we boarded the M4 bus and road up to a northern point in Manhattan and traveled back in time to the 14th century of Europe as presented by the Rockefeller Family and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The Cloisters is the closest thing to 14th century Europe anyone could find in the United States. The examples of Medieval and Renaissance artwork literally transformed us back to Europe.  I often had to remind myself that I was not roaming through a Gothic Cathedral in Europe but was on the banks of the Hudson River.  The Cloisters is a display of many artifacts gathered through out Europe , transported across the Atlantic and reassembled in Manhattan. The many religious artifacts, examples of Gothic architecture, recreated gardens were just amazing.  But perhaps the most impressive display shows the Unicorn Tapestries which were truly breath taking.  It was well worth our journey from the bottom of Manhattan to the top and back again.

A Garden at the Cloisters