I’ve been to Washington, D.C. a lot. I’ve done most of the typical tourist stuff. So before this visit, I decided that I wanted to try something new that I hadn’t done before.
I found the Angels and Monsters tour at the National Cathedral.
The National Cathedral is relatively new as cathedrals go. Construction started in 1907 and ended in 1990. Right now it is under repair after an earthquake damaged it severely in 2011.
What this means is that the iconography used in the building is fairly modern. It is also an Episcopal church and not a Catholic one. It is more prone to whimsy. That was what this tour was going to show us. We started on the ground floor.
Rosa Parks is in the entryway.
So is Eleanor Roosevelt. Then we started working our way up.
Eventually we got outside to look at the gargolyes and grotesques.
A rooster.
A warthog.
A crowd favorite is Darth Vader. He was put in an area that is perpetually shady so he’s always on The Dark Side.
We walked all the way around the building on this little ledge. There was a railing so it was safe. But we did have to bend over and scoot through these short, narrow openings often. I wasn’t a fan of that but I did it. The view was pretty good since we were on the highest point in D.C.
They said it was the only place where you can see the Vice President’s residence. It is surrounded by trees but just out in the open from way up there. (That’s not it above.)
This is a stone representation of a spy camera that is pointed at the Russian Embassy.
Then we went back inside and climbed up again. This was a serious stair climb. I think it was 10-12 stories. I was first of the tourists and determined not to stop and let the little kid behind me pass me. (I’m a bit competitive.) But while I was knocking myself out on this climb, our guide was pulling out of sight ahead of me. She was speedy! She does this daily. She’s in good stair climbing shape.
We came out on the top of the tower. It was very windy.
We could see some of my favorite statues – the manatee and the horse skull.
On the way back down we took some time to look at some of the stained glass windows close up.
This is the space window. Astronaut Michael Collins went to school at the school attached to the cathedral. He brought a piece of moon rock to go into this window. It is the small piece in the center surrounded by white.
This is a new window. It is one of a few that replaced pro-Confederacy windows that were removed a few years ago.
I really recommend this tour. It runs once a day. It was $60 when I went and lasted 2 hours. There were 10 people on the tour. The ticket also gave me access to the cathedral to look around before the tour started.
