Thursday, July 12 - D.C. - National Cathedral, Embassy Row and Metro

MAM were quite behind schedule to the itinerary, but that was okay. They had still seen a lot of memorials, historic buildings and such.  They headed to the American History museum in the morning and saw the First Lady's gowns and a lot of groovy stuff there.

When I got back to the hotel from work, we headed to the National Cathedral; another first for me. Dupont Circle Metro stop was about the closest stop, and since I've stayed there on previous trips, I was very familiar with the area. It's also a center point for Embassy Row. I had planned for us to walk by some of the embassies on the way back but the backseat group was not interested in walking. We grabbed a cab at The Dupont (hotel which is a really nice place to stay btw) and it was another tour-by-taxi as I pointed out embassies along the way to the Cathedral.

 What an amazing church.

 

Some facts: it's the sixth-largest cathedral in the world and the second-largest in the United States. Funerals were held there for presidents include Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Dwight Eisenhower, and Woodrow Wilson and Hellen Keller's tomb is located there.  I couldn't find comparison sizes to St Patrick's cathedral in NYC, but in my head, they are comparable. My picture-taking skills are not the greatest, but here are a few shots.

The earthquake in 2011 did significant damage to the church. These are spires that haven't been replaced.

 

 

The intricacy of the work is unbelievably beautiful. This is metalwork over the door to the children's mass area.

MAM in the children's mass area. Mom checking out the chair cushions. I think Megan is texting.

Everything is built small in this area. Notice the door height.

Chair cushions in children's area. Each was a unique hand-made needlepoint.

 

I think the work behind the alter had 110 figures in it.

Bishop seating

A private prayer area.

Ceiling in one of the bays.

I think that light at the end of the tunnel is the main entryway.

 

All windows were stained glass and each has a story.  I really think it would take a couple of days to see and read about all of them.

My photo doesn't do this justice.  It is an incredible combination of blue glasses.

View from the entry toward the main alter at the other end. There weren't any televisions like at NYC's St Patrick's. Not sure how they would see a mass.

Photo of man working on the Cathedral after the 2011 earthquake. Not for the faint of heart!

Girls goofing off...at least they held out until they were out of the church!

Other than trying to figure out the best location for a cab to pick us up at the Cathedral, not much excitement happened the rest of the evening. We stopped at a Panera Bread for dinner the boarded the Metro and went back to the hotel to do some packing.

Thought I'd throw some some Metro pics in for entertainment....

Looks like one of the longest escalators we were on. Thankfully, we only had to walk up one, and it was shorter.

 In case you don't know, on the Metro escalators, you always stand to the right. Climbers go on the left. Abby was so tuned in to the rule that a couple of weeks later at a KC shopping mall, she was about to tell Emily to move to the right on the escalator.

Waiting for a train.

The subway system is excellent.  I've traveled there a lot and had hardly any bad experiences. An escalator down, a train breakdown on the line that I needed to use which added 45 minutes to my travel time, etc.  Almost every Metro worker has been pleasant and helpful. 

Hanging out waiting.

Don't remember the joke, but must have been a good one!

Mark did call to let us know that he got an email from the Metro lost and found that Abby's phone was there.  I looked it up on the map and Abby/I debated on the idea of going to get it. The Metro L&F is in Hyattsville/ Prince George's county which I was pretty sure wasn't a great place to be. But, heck, I got lost in East St. Louis one time so how bad could it be?  We decided to go for it, so I planned a pick up into our Friday schedule.