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38. Visit the Washington National Cathedral again
I last visited the National Cathedral when I was in elementary school... long enough ago that I don't remember much about the place except for a gorgeous mosaic, gargoyles, and flying buttresses (I'm still a huge fan of flying buttresses; ask anyone who was in my group during the last day of the Dublin convention when I fangirled a dozen of them throughout the day heehee!). So I put this on my list because it's a place I enjoyed going to (I'll say I was inspired as well, back then) but one I wanted to revisit as an adult.
I decided to go today, because admission and the parking garage are both free on Sundays. I was hoping for the 4pm Evensong, but that was cancelled for the day; drat! So I might have to go again sometime. I did get to hear the bells, though, so I managed to get some music in. I spent a little more than 3 hourrs there in all, enjoying both the inside and outside of the cathedral. I'm a sucker for gothic architecture.
I managed to arrive about 30 seconds before the 1:15pm highlights tour began, so I jumped right in on that. Had a hard time hearing the guide a few times (he had a tendency to mumble through the ends of jokes and off topic comments--such as bringing up Jack the Ripper), but I feel like it was a pretty unique tour and we definitely hit the highlights on the main level well. I went back through again afterward and took a closer look at it all, then I went down to the crypt level, bought some things at the gift shop, walked around the building, went to the bishop's garden, went back inside again for a last look at the stained glass windows and to release a BookCrossing book, and then finally tracked down the Darth Vader gargoyle outside.
The place is definitely a thing of beauty. So much care and detail went into it, and I can appreciate how many lives it has touched over the years.
( More photos! )
I last visited the National Cathedral when I was in elementary school... long enough ago that I don't remember much about the place except for a gorgeous mosaic, gargoyles, and flying buttresses (I'm still a huge fan of flying buttresses; ask anyone who was in my group during the last day of the Dublin convention when I fangirled a dozen of them throughout the day heehee!). So I put this on my list because it's a place I enjoyed going to (I'll say I was inspired as well, back then) but one I wanted to revisit as an adult.
I decided to go today, because admission and the parking garage are both free on Sundays. I was hoping for the 4pm Evensong, but that was cancelled for the day; drat! So I might have to go again sometime. I did get to hear the bells, though, so I managed to get some music in. I spent a little more than 3 hourrs there in all, enjoying both the inside and outside of the cathedral. I'm a sucker for gothic architecture.
I managed to arrive about 30 seconds before the 1:15pm highlights tour began, so I jumped right in on that. Had a hard time hearing the guide a few times (he had a tendency to mumble through the ends of jokes and off topic comments--such as bringing up Jack the Ripper), but I feel like it was a pretty unique tour and we definitely hit the highlights on the main level well. I went back through again afterward and took a closer look at it all, then I went down to the crypt level, bought some things at the gift shop, walked around the building, went to the bishop's garden, went back inside again for a last look at the stained glass windows and to release a BookCrossing book, and then finally tracked down the Darth Vader gargoyle outside.
The place is definitely a thing of beauty. So much care and detail went into it, and I can appreciate how many lives it has touched over the years.
( More photos! )
