dc4free#13: national cathedral
r's brother, jon, was here over the weekend, and the remnants of ernesto dropped a lot of lot of rain on us on saturday, so we needed some indoor activity.
after b'fast (if it's saturday, it must be waffles), we decided to drive around a few places in d.c. and then head over to the national cathedral. having been there a few times now for lectures or mass, i forget how stunning it is when you first see it -- it's huge, for one thing, and you catch glimpses of it through the trees on the way up mass. ave., plus the stained glass and all the chapels are really beautiful (there are behind-the-scenes and virtual tours of bethlehem chapel and some other features on their website). we made a swing through the bookstore and went up to the 7th floor to see the view of the city, but it was too cloudy to see much.
to be honest, i have some mixed feelings about the cathedral. it makes such a big deal about being "a national house of prayer for all people" that they appear ashamed to be episcopalian @ times. and the vibe i get from the place is that their "gospel" is some sort of vague interfaith celt-ish spirituality, and they may be more proud of darth vader than they are of jesus, but that's just me. still, it's a distinctly american place of worship, and if you're in d.c. it's definitely worth a few hours on a rainy afternoon. good luck parking!
after b'fast (if it's saturday, it must be waffles), we decided to drive around a few places in d.c. and then head over to the national cathedral. having been there a few times now for lectures or mass, i forget how stunning it is when you first see it -- it's huge, for one thing, and you catch glimpses of it through the trees on the way up mass. ave., plus the stained glass and all the chapels are really beautiful (there are behind-the-scenes and virtual tours of bethlehem chapel and some other features on their website). we made a swing through the bookstore and went up to the 7th floor to see the view of the city, but it was too cloudy to see much. 
to be honest, i have some mixed feelings about the cathedral. it makes such a big deal about being "a national house of prayer for all people" that they appear ashamed to be episcopalian @ times. and the vibe i get from the place is that their "gospel" is some sort of vague interfaith celt-ish spirituality, and they may be more proud of darth vader than they are of jesus, but that's just me. still, it's a distinctly american place of worship, and if you're in d.c. it's definitely worth a few hours on a rainy afternoon. good luck parking!
posted by Sammy @ 8:10 PM
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