Travel

A Journey Through the Real New York

It’s about the journey, not the destination

An interior garden of the Met Cloisters, New York City (credit: Monica Ray)

Everyone interested in museums and NYC is aware of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s perched magnificently atop Fifth Avenue, surrounded by the pizzaz and glamor of old and new money.

But The Met on 5th has a lesser-known sibling, nestled between Washington Heights and Inwood. These neighborhoods grace upper Manhattan on the West Side. I’m talking about the Met Cloisters.

The distance between the Met on 5th and the Cloisters is around 7 miles (source: Google Maps). There are many ways to get there faster, but I wanted to try a bus because I love the idea of looking out and observing, especially when I have time on my hands.

Anyone with a ticket to the Met gets free admission to the Cloisters too. But its distance means many people don’t venture that far north unless they’re really motivated.

I knew that there was a local bus, the M4, that goes directly to the Cloisters. I read somewhere that there are 78 stops between the first stop (32nd/Madison) and the Museum. Perhaps there is an express bus, I don’t know. But I had time and decided to board…