Morningside Heights is the academy on the hill — Columbia, a half-dozen seminaries and a cathedral all crowded onto the same plateau above Harlem, the most concentrated stretch of high-mindedness in the city. Three kilometres walks the institutions and the streets between them, which are where the actual life happens.
Start on the Low Library steps, the centre of Columbia's Roman-revival quad; walk through the gates — they're open — and down to the Cathedral of St John the Divine, the largest Gothic cathedral on earth and proudly unfinished, its south tower simply stopping in mid-air. Across the street, the Hungarian Pastry Shop has hosted more dissertations than any seminar room; take the strudel and a back table.
Then east to Morningside Park, the cliff Olmsted hung a park on, and north to Riverside Church, whose tower holds the heaviest tuned bell ever cast and where King made his case against the war. End at Grant's Tomb — bigger, quieter, and more moving than the old riddle lets on — looking out over the Hudson. The 1 at 110th takes you down.
