Sights in the Heights

Yes, the title was supposed to rhyme.

I wanted to visit the Cloisters museum today so I headed uptown to Washington Heights.  It's still the roughest neighborhood in Manhattan, but that isn't saying a whole lot because Manhattan gets nicer and nicer with each passing month.  I've mentioned the gentrification of Harlem quite a bit since I live nearby and it looks like Washington Heights is getting the same treatment.  As rents continue to increase, it pushes people further and further from lower Manhattan and they displace the previous residents into even further out accommodations in the Bronx.

Anyway, I snapped a few pictures and it looks nice enough.  I'm sure I would want to move here, but I'm not worried about dodging bullets.

Old fancy building, but abandoned.

175th and Broadway.

Washington Heights does have tasty chicken though.  At 175th there is a restaurant with chickens spinning in the window.  I decided to eat one.

Delicious!

I ordered half a chicken with rice and beans.  I kid you not, my food arrived in 20 seconds.  I suppose that makes sense.  The chicken just has to be sliced in half, while the rice and beans are waiting to be scooped out.  Still, it's odd to have food arrive more quickly than at Taco Bell and be edible.

I never did make it to the Cloisters.  Today was the first day since I moved here that the weather was just brutal.  By Chicago standards, it was balmy at 25 degrees, but the wind and cloud cover was just too much. I'll have to wait for a sunny day or bring hand warmers with me.