Field Trip Day

I am wildly happy to report that I am feeling better - praise God!  So...since we've been stuck in the house for what seems like forever, I decided that today would be a great day for a field trip.

We've been studying the Middle Ages in history, specifically the building of cathedrals across Europe.  And it just so happens that we live less than an hour from the sixth largest cathedral in the world, the Washington National Cathedral.

Since Stephen's office is just a short drive from there, we dropped him off at work this morning and then drove up Embassy Row.  The kids were fascinated by all of the foreign flags we saw.  I was rather excited to find free parking in front of the cathedral.  It's the little things, you know.

Construction on the cathedral began in 1907 during Teddy Roosevelt's term in office, and the final stone was laid in the year 1990, during George H. W. Bush's administration.  While eighty-three years is a long time, the tour guide reminded us that most of the cathedrals built in Europe during the middle ages took several hundred years to complete.  So this one was relatively quick.

The cathedral suffered damage during the August 23rd earthquake that shook the east coast.  Interior repairs were made, and nets were put up to catch anymore falling stone or mortar.  The exterior tower is still being repaired, but the building reopened in November. 

We took a highlights tour and snapped a bunch of pictures. Our tour included the Nave (where President Woodrow Wilson lies in a crypt!) as well as the children's chapel where everything was paid for by a family who had suffered the loss of a child.  They indicated that every part of the chapel was to be made to fit a 6-year old child, even the organ.  We also saw several other chapels underneath the Nave.   

We also took the elevator up to the 7th floor where we had a neat view of the city, including the Capitol building and the Washington Monument.

Gorgeous stained glass windows with the morning sun streaming through



In the center you can see a astronaut in space.  One of the former choir boys (I think) was the third man on the moon, and the architects honored him this way.  They also designed a stained glass window with a space theme - earth and moon.




I particularly loved this stained glass window - it had a Revelation 4 theme.





The bishop's throne...the word cathedral comes from the Latin word cathedra which means chair. A cathedral is where the bishop's chair is located.





The view from the 7th floor observation deck.




Construction on the highest tower after the earthquake




The flying buttresses which give support to the outer walls



After touring the National Cathedral, we munched down a quick lunch in the car and made our way over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  There we took a short tour and saw how paper money is printed and cut and quality-checked.



Bureau of Engraving and Printing