Now, take a look into the courtyard. I think that this used to be a really beautiful building that fell upon some hard times. I don't know whether or not the flower urns are original to the building, but I like them nonetheless. The cathedral shop has some fascinating information on the stone carvers craft. You can see the fruits of their labor all over the cathedral's front facade on Amsterdam Avenue.
Monsters concentrate at the tops of the arches, and there are also spouts up higher.
There are angel figures that fly out from above the arched doorways like spouts- and something about them keeps reminding me of the scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where the spirits fly around and melt all the Nazi's who were trying to steal the Ark of the Covenant. There is a vertical tour available as well, which takes you up into the rafters. I haven't taken it yet, but I plan to. If anybody out there has taken the vertical tour- feel free to write to me with your impressions of it. The West Side is a monster lovers paradise, there is no way I can include them all.