One of the joys of catching the subway is all the performers at the different stations. Today the black acapella group were performing on the shuttle train to Times Square. Then the ebony hillbillies were playing up such a storm on the concourse that they had people dancing. My favourite today is the Mexican group performing on the A station, their music is always so happy!

I am going way north on manhattan island to Inwood. What's at Inwood? First of all a wild and rugged park that follows the ruins of a stone fort along the Hudson river. It's beautiful and very peaceful, and I walk for about 10 minutes until I reach my destination - the cloisters museum, part of the MET group (so free as I am a member). It is a beautiful building in its own right, but inside are replicas of different cloisters and chapels to hold the museums collection of holy relics and religious art from european monasteries. It's done beautifully, sparsely displayed and in a quiet reflective environment not overrun with crowds. You can see everything in two hours, and that's with plenty of time to sit and enjoy the cloister gardens. My favourite artwork was this extremely rare tapestry of a unicorn. It's part of a series, depicting a unicorn hunt, and sadly the unicorn does not triumph over all the kings men and dogs.

There is a stone inn restaurant called New Leaf in the garden grounds, and it is my lunch choice today. The food is not cutting edge - more American classics, but the old world atmosphere, the dark wooden roof and bar, the arched windows and the old fashioned formality make it unique.
It's cold so i have a glass of Syrah , and a burger, which is delicious!

I continue two stops to the terminus of the A line - I'm here to see dyckman farm, the last of the Dutch farmhouses originally found in the area. It's only a tiny museum and sadly the opening hours have been pulled back to 3 days a week (they only charge $1), so i cannot see inside the farmhouse. The gardens are lovely so I have a look around at all the external heritage items - mostly civil war army relics - and appreciate the wild beauty of the garden. It's a strange neighbourhood to me - Spanish speaking, poor, run down, and the farmhouse is very out of place with its surrounds. There are lots of loitering men and my camera feels conspicuous, I don't feel safe lingering so I think that will be as close as I get to seeing the Dutch farm house.

An interesting day in an area seldom visited by most who come to New York.