Thing 38

[just_the_things]

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.






Listening to the tour guide




Pipe organ (more than 10,000 pipes)


Flying buttresses!!!!


Bird's nest, I think because it was by Saint Francis' window.


Norman Prince, member of the Lafayette Escadrille flying corps


Hellen Keller & Anne Sullivan Macy


The bishop's garden


The children's chapel


Underground hallway


Stained Glass in the War Memorial Chapel


Gargoyle


Another fan was taking a photo of this and it caught my attention too!


My man Peale got remembered in a knealer also! Going to the Peale gallery was on my 101 Things list #3 :-)


Amazing stonework


St. Mary's Chapel


Space window, commemorating the Apollo 11 mission to the moon.

Comments

[melydia.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous. I've never been there, but I really should someday.

Oh hey wait a minute, don't they have pews?

[just-the-things.livejournal.com]

Well, your book made it, even if you haven't yet! It's absolutely gorgeous both outside and inside (have I mentioned I love gothic architecture? *swoon*). After 3 hours I barely scratched the surface. There are also quite a few statues and plaques throughout that are most definitely snarfs. There's even a Darth Vader gargoyle, so they sell Darth Vader Funko Pop figures in their gift shop; I was not expecting to see that! LOL There was a tour I passed while I was walking around in the crypt where people were passing back flashlights they'd been given on the tour so they could get a better look at some of the plaques in the darker portions of the crypt. There's also apparently a Gargoyle Tour I'd love to go on one day that requires a lot of walking/climbing, but you get a closer look at many of the gargoyles.

The main portion of the cathedral is a level floor in a Roman Catholic cross formation and there are chairs instead of pews. In several of the smaller chapels, however, there might be pews, though I mostly saw chairs in those as well. Probably makes it a lot easier to reconfigure the space for different functions. Our tour guide said the place is usually set up to accommodate about 1,300 people and the space itself is able to hold a little more than 3,000 according to the notice outside the door. He said for some large events like state funerals there have been upwards of 6,000 people in attendance, just packed right in. There are old church choir pews(?) that aren't used any more for the choir, just for special functions/events.