Washington National Cathedral, Washington D.C.

Favorite thing: - walking along its nice and clean streets;
- admiring its huge and impressive monuments;
- dining at "Childe Harold" restaurants;
- visiting its numerous museums;
- paying a visit to the ghistorical part of the White House;
- staying at "Governor's House" hotel,
etc.

Fondest memory: My friend Dorothy took us to Washington National Cathedral that is also called House of Prayer for All People.
It is located at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and Massachusetts Avenue on mount St.Alban from which you can have a wonderful view of the city and its neighborhood.
More about it here:
www.cathedral.org/cathedral
So many gods,
so many creeds,
so many paths
that wind and wind
while just the art
of being kind
is all the sad world
needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
American poet,
1896
The trip to National Cathedral became one of my favorite parts of our time in Washington D.C.
It was cold and windy, the choirs were practicing and one could feel the unity of Christian spirit.

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Favorite thing: The National Cathedral is a beautiful building in addition to being a premier house of worship. Their carrillon is still rung by a musician, the stained glass windows are amazing, the cathedral is enormous, the tours are informative, the services are inspiring. Pay a visit. It's on the trolley tours. You won't be disappointed.
Stained glass at the National Cathedral

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Favorite thing: I decided to visit Washington National Cathedral as soon as I had seen it from a roof terrace of Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington, Virginia, I stayed in. The huge building stands on the top of the mount St. Alban in the Northwest quadrant Washington, in the neighborhood called Cleveland Park, the sub-neighborhhood of Cathedral Heights. The edifice dominates its skyline.

What was I amazed by?
1. The location on the top of a green hill covered by gardens, forests, parks and pretty residential houses (hmm... it's an expensive neighbourhood, I guess).

2. Huge size of the sixth largest world's cathedral. The main nave is 180 m (591 ft !) long.

3. Amazing Gothic style of the edifice built of sandstone from Indiana, with towers once hidding behind once brakiing through thick fog. The exterior and underground interiors reminds old English or Scottish castles I have watched on Travel Channel.

3. Mysterious, vast interiors and suprisingly huge (it's the USA!) underground chapels linked up with a tangle of narrow corridors.


More details and pictures in my Cleveland Park page.

Favorite thing: This particular image of the Great Seal of the U.S. is on the National Cathedral's floor near the entrance. I spotted the Great Seal in many places I visited, and not only in Washington D.C. I was quite amazed by how often the American national symbols were used in various types of buildings.
Another example of the American pride in its symbols and history, that I often found in various places, was a plaque commemorating George Washington's visit to that place.
It all made me think of how consistent America is in 'building' its heritage and national pride.

Favorite thing: You must visit the Washinton cathedral and all of the monuments. Do not miss the Roosevelt Memorial.

Fondest memory: My fondest memory of this lastest trip to Washington was the time we spent watching the graduations of the Cathedral schools and then the next thing we know they are wheeling this huge pipe organ down the aisle to make room for the next activity which did not require this instrument-I did not know that they could do that- I mean move the pipe organ that easily.

Favorite thing: The National Cathedral, located north of Georgetown along Wisconsin Avenue. Nice grounds and nice example of Gothic architecture.

Helen Keller is burried in the crypt at this cathedral.