Rats, cloisters, churches, museums & parks

I was in New York City and Princeton, NJ, last week, visiting friends and my college roommate. Saw some cool stuff in NYC that I would recommend -- the Cloisters, a collection of 3,000 works of Catholic art from medieval Europe, dating from about the ninth to the sixteenth century; the Church of Our Savior, where Fr. Rutler (of EWTN and Magnificat fame) is pastor; and the Morgan Library & Museum, home to many Catholic treasures (an original Gutenburg Bible, for example) as well as original works from Mozart, Dickens, Brontë, Beatrix Potter, and many others.

My friend and I were on our way back one evening and came across some real, live NYC rats... she said, oh, look at the rats! Sadly, I had taken the rodents for chipmunks. LOL. 

Inside the Cloisters.

The Cloisters feature stained glass windows, statues, iconography, exquisitely carved marble and stone doorways and so on.

A restored altar.

Fort Tryon Park, outside the Cloisters.

Church of Our Savior. My camera went on the fritz at this point, so this is sadly the only un-blurry photo I have of the interior. This photo doesn't do the church justice. It was quite lovely, very Eastern Orthodox feeling. If you're ever in NYC and looking for a reverent novus ordo Mass, I highly recommend attending Mass here (no shenanigans!).

Streets of NYC.

Painted ceiling in the Morgan Library & Museum.

Another ceiling in the Morgan Library & Museum.

Obligatory shot of the Brooklyn Bridge.



The sun was setting as our plane took off in NYC.