Cuba, Colombia, Hartford, and More in August ActiveTravels Newsletter

In the world of exhibitions, there are juxtapositions of talent and space that just work brilliantly. Take Chihuly’s twisting and curving glass, now a mainstay at botanical gardens across the country. Putting contemporary fashion into five medieval cloisters is another gem of an idea. The Cloisters, at the tip of northern Manhattan, is now the uptown branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Take the A-train to 190th Street, grab an elevator up, and you’ll soon be walking through Fort Tryon Park high above the Hudson to the monastery-like buildings that John Rockefeller donated to the city in the 1920s. Living in the city for close to a decade, I only made it up here once to see the celebrated Unicorn Tapestries and Medieval manuscripts in the towering buildings. Now there are crowds coming to see Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Balenciaga and more than 50 other designers presenting their interpretations of a Catholic theme in the show titled Heavenly Bodies, on view through October 8th. Dresses created with the imagery of Bosch’s "Garden of Earthly Delights," from Japanese designer Jun Takahashi, was a favorite of our group. Just as impressive as the show and the architecture, including massive wooden doors from the 15th century that lead to each room, are the outdoor terraces. My niece, Sarah, who goes to school at Teachers College at Columbia University, about 70 blocks south of the exhibition on 120th Street, showed me around a Medieval garden of intriguing curiosities straight of Shakespearean times. Definitely worth the effort to make it up here!