Our last full day in DC we headed out to see the National Cathedral. This meant a Metro rail and Metro bus combination to get there. It was worth it for sure. It is the 6th largest cathedral in the world. We took one of the tours so we could hear all about the building of it and about the windows and other things. It took 83 years to build. Amazing. There are 3 schools there and we found out the only way to have a wedding there is to have gone to one of the schools or given a lot of money to them and then our guide said you would need about $25,000 or more for the wedding. He told us about one wedding where live cherry trees were brought inside. The Rose Window below has a few clear pieces of glass in the center to represent the scripture "Let there be light". The red needlepoint pillow is a kneeling cushion. There are cushions that represent every president and other notable persons. They were all quite interesting. There are flags from every state hanging along the inside and we were told they pray for a different state every week, and then one week they pray for DC and US Territories and the final week is for our country which is always the week of July 4th. Then they start over.
The photo above with the 3 stained glass windows is the crypt of Woodrow Wilson. Also buried at the Cathedral are Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan (their ashes).
This Space window below commemorates space exploration and the first steps on the moon. Michael Collins was one of the three astronauts on that mission and he went to school here. There is an actual piece of moon rock in the center of the window. This had special meaning for us being from the Space Coast of Florida but even more importantly because that is the day my daughter was born.
We left the Cathedral and headed to the National Zoo. Of all things we did this was probably our least favorite. In fact for those of us living here locally, we like our Melbourne zoo much better. First time either of us have ever seen a Pringle vending machine. Too funny.
