Day #11 in DC: Washington National Cathedral
[Photos from 09 AUGUST 2015, posted shortly on 28 October 2015. Aaalmost there!]
The main events I recall from this day were me going shopping with Anna, and then all of the Icelanders driving over to visit the Washington National Cathedral, which looked like so many other cathedrals, except for being weirdly young. (29 images total)
Hey, look, it’s a huge building!
Ah, but before I begin, how about a tiny insight into mother-daughter bonding at Starbucks, before spending an hour in next door Barnes & Noble (a huge bookstore).
Anyway. At the church, we’d just missed the last guided tour of the day, so we were on our own. The first thing we did was take the elevator up to the 7th floor.
Destination: Floor 7.
There were pretty views to be had up on the 7th floor, and a nice exhibition about a 2011 earthquake which damaged the building significantly.
I think that black-roofed building houses the cafe we visited afterwards(?).
The kids weren’t very impressed, even when I tried to tell them why there are flying buttresses.
They started building this church in 1907, and “finished” it in 1990, so some of the stained glass windows have different motifs from your regular standard cathedral. This window for example, has embedded an actual rock fragment from the moon.
We were visiting right about the time where there’d just been a big hoopla regarding the confederate flag in the US. Hence the sign.
The window in question.
Tall walls make men small.
I don’t recall visiting a church that had a special little room for kids. It was rather adorable.
Adorable seat cushions.
More cuteness.
Sitting around, Emma messing with things as usual.
Scaffolding, probably due to the earthquake damage?
It’s always hard to articulate just how big these buildings are. Here’s one try.
Kids bored to tears, and time to head out.
This church is modern enough to feature Darth Vader as one of their gargoyles. Sadly, I didn’t have a zoom lens to really capture it.
Impressive facade.
We then walked next door to a cafe that also served ice cream. Here is Emma asking for something.
I took the two younger ones to a small playground next to the cafe.
Fancy buildings everywhere!
We got lucky and found a couple of toys to play with. Also, this park featured the very strange plastic mulch we’d encountered in a few other places.
Emma hitting peak whine, and time for a nap.
I wonder if they were chatting between themselves?
Yes, the cafe was literally right next door to the church. Very convenient!
Back at home base, and mom horizontal, as she should be!
Bjarki being interrupted doing his favorite thing: playing on the computer.
