Hey dudes! TGIF, big time. I was grateful to have help at work this week, because between the nasty cold and crippling right foot pain, this week kinda sucked. Ne’er mind that, though…let’s go to THE CLOISTERS!

What is the Cloisters, you ask? From Wiki:

The Cloisters is a museum located in Fort Tryon Park in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, used to exhibit the museum’s extensive collection of art, architecture and artifacts from Medieval Europe.

The Cloisters is situated on a hill overlooking the Hudson River, and incorporates parts from five European abbeys which were disassembled and shipped to New York City, where, between 1934 and 1939, they were reconstructed and integrated together with new buildings in the medieval style designed by Charles Collens. The area around the buildings was landscaped with gardens planted according to horticultural information obtained from medieval manuscripts and artifacts, and the structure includes multiple medieval-style cloistered herb gardens.

Of all the things to see and do in NYC, my mother had been recommending visiting the Cloisters for YEARS, so it was on the list of must-sees.

It turned out to be one of my favorite things that we did in NYC. It wasn’t very crowded, which was nice…of course the weather was INSANE that day, that might have had something to do with it.

Many rooms I explored by myself.

Lots of amazing stained glass.

The landscaping around the Cloisters was beautiful, too.

I wonder if it blooms year-round?

This makes me think of that episode of “Ab Fab” when Eddie yells at Saffy, “I’ve got arms!”

I thought this “disappearing” statue was really cool-looking.

Loyal dog, perhaps?

Dreamy.

The spelling on these posy rings reminds me of my husband’s, ha hahahahahaaaaaa.

Beautiful portrait.

OBSESSED with this ring.

Isn’t that interesting? I spent a lot of time looking at the jewelry collection.

The tiny details on these books were incredible.

The apocalypse…is awfully pretty.

Gorgeous tapestry.

What?! Pink flamingos!

Description of the pink flamingo robe.

Look, it’s us!

Outside, we were the only visitors “brave” enough to hang out in the rain.

Beautiful fruit tree.

Josh slipped while posing and scraped his elbow a little. It was his only injury that week…not bad, for him! He went for a run last night with his little friend IN THE DARK and tripped and fell. Sigh.

I like this tree.

We were on our way back to the lobby to leave when we walked through this room–and I’m glad we did! I would have missed seeing “The Unicorn in Captivity” in real life. Obsessed! Obsessed!

I’m glad I took pictures of the description cards during this museum trip.

Poor, abused unicorns! They didn’t stand a chance!

Even the dogs are attacking them!

I love how Josh’s blue hair coordinates with the tapestry.

What the…???

Oh Cloisters! You were so magical! I’m really glad we were able to go. It was definitely special. Join me ONE LAST TIME as we go out for pizza and then dancing at a gay club, where Lizzy and Joshy meet REAL LIFE NYC CLUB KIDS! CAN YOU STAND IT??!!!