Led a walking tour over last Saturday to two delectable uptown Manhattan neighborhoods: Washington Heights & Inwood. These neighborhoods are filled with hidden treasures, along with Fort Tryon and Inwood Hill Parks. My favorite spots include Chittenden Avenue overlooking the Hudson River; the Dyckman House, the last remaining farmhouse in Manhattan (built in the 1780's); and the woods of Inwood Park -- the oldest natural forest in Manhattan, with soaring Tulip trees, whose ancestors were used by American Indians to make canoes. Fort Tryon Park's lovely heather gardens were ablaze with flowers and we also stopped by the Shrine to Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, Patron Saint of the Immigrants. Below I am telling the story of The Cloisters - an assemblage of parts of 12th and 13th century monasteries that form the Medieval art branch of The Metropolitan.
