Reflections From Our Trip to Washington DC

Carter: It was surreal walking up to the Cathedral and actually seeing how big and beautiful it is.

Henry: I loved the National Cathedral so much because all the bright colors made me feel happy inside.

The stained glass colors shone on the columns and made each column look like a different rainbow. The creativity of the people who made these windows amazes me (and I don’t really understand how they get the glass to be colored!). 

Each window told a different story ... there was even a window of space that had bright lights on the lines of the glass and a moonrock that symbolized space and the moon.

Marin: I liked the fact that, in the Cathedral, they sold a lot of items. I am pointing this out because I saw that there was at least one table set up for a different religion.

I saw some items that were not Christian, but rather Hindu. I found this to be very considerate of other religions’ beliefs. I haven’t seen other places mainly focused on one religion do it, so this discovery was a very nice surprise.

Caspar: Something that surprised me was how extraordinarily detailed the cathedral is. I thought that the most detailed thing in the cathedral was the chapel wall with tons of sculptures. On those sculptures, the faces were so detailed it was hard to believe they were real.

Anonymous:  The Cathedral was so much more massive in real life than in pictures. In pictures, the photo itself is small and you can fit the whole cathedral in the photo -- that is what tricked me. The Cathedral was so tall that it was almost blinding when I looked up at the top. The inside was also much more vast and open than I thought it would be.

Brynne: Something that really impressed me about the stained glass windows was the amount of time it must have taken to create them. All of these little pieces of glass stuck together to make a beautiful story and picture. They are extraordinary.

Before the little pieces are put together, they are just different colors, there is no story, but when all the little pieces are joined together, they create a story -- a colorful, lively story.

Jack A.: I think I saw the Darth Vader grotesque on the top of the building. I think that was super cool. Imagine getting picked to put YOUR OWN DESIGN up in the NATIONAL CATHEDRAL!!!

Dylan: I really liked the idea of having gargoyles and grotesques all around. It makes it seem more alive and filled with a lot more detail.

What surprised me most was probably the fact that they don’t seem to use this humongous cathedral that took more than 100 years to build to their advantage. 

They should use this cathedral for prayers and not just for tours. It has some great architecture, and I think people would love to come and pray with it in their presence. It would be more functional if religious tourists could come and pray in it for an hour or so and then maybe grab a souvenir from the gift shop. I think that would make a lot more sense, the fact that they shouldn’t have this large cathedral just lying around.

[Mr. Richmond: I love Dylan's comment that the National Cathedral might help people feel a connection to their religion ... that is exactly what the original cathedral builders hoped for!! 

In truth, the National Cathedral does have daily prayer services and larger services every Sunday, and it is open to the public for prayer, contemplation and meditation. 

Because our group was on a guided tour, it may have felt more like a tour stop, but there are people who use it for purely religious purposes]

Chloe Z.: I loved all of the paintings, especially the ones that are painted on wooden panels. I like the wooden panels more than canvas, because they seem much smoother, and they look like illustrations from story books. Looking at that kind of painting makes me feel at peace, like I don’t have to worry.

I also really liked the statue of Hermes, above the fountain. I thought it was a ballet dancer at first.

Greer: Seeing the paintings in real life is better because of the frame. The frame makes the painting almost better in a way, because of the details in the frame.

Case: Not only were there artistic paintings, sculptures, plates, tables, and chairs, but the building itself had beautiful architecture. For example, I love how the columns outside gave the building a commanding look, but they also intrigued me to venture inside and explore. 

Another thing that struck me was the frames around the paintings. This was surprising to me because I was expecting the focus to be on the paintings and only on the paintings. 

My favorite frame, the one around The Alba Madonna, by Raphael, was prodigious. It was fascinating to look at ... some of the frames were even more impressive than the paintings themselves!

Burke: In the National Gallery of Art, all these masterpieces are right there in front of you. You can see the light reflect off of them, you can see the little brushstrokes, and the colors are much more vivid. It was really cool imagining the work that was put into each of them.

Hannah: If I went to the National Gallery of Art again, I would want to spend at least 4 hours there to look at all of the cool paintings. We were only there for about an hour and saw tons of paintings, but if I were there longer I would be able to see so many more masterpieces (including Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus!).

Marin: Even the less thorough paintings have so many small details that you could get lost in the National Gallery for hours and hours at a time. I could probably spend a week in there and not know any time had passed at all.

Thank you parent chaperones for sharing your stunning (and fun) photographs!!