Last Friday I got to meet another blogger from Minnesota, and she took me on a tour of the Cathedral of St Paul. Goodnight Gram knows a lot about it because she used to be a tour guide there.
I took the train into our capital city and we met for the first time at the station. You can just see the State Capitol in the distance.
We found each other easily, but I have to say, GNG looks nothing like her picture on her blog!
It was a very cold day when we headed for the cathedral on the highest hill in St Paul, Summit Hill. The cathedral was finished in 1915 and looks out over the city. It has a 120 foot wide copper dome and lantern on top that make it visible for miles around.
Inspired by French cathedrals, it has many beautiful features inside. I only had my phone with me, and my photos don't do it justice, especially the colors.
Here we are looking up 175 feet to the ceiling of the dome. Each of the windows are stained glass and we had to view them with binoculars.
The altar was designed by the same person who designed Grand Central Station in New York.
The bronze canopy above honors the life of St Paul.
One last intriguing bit of history, this is a block from Rouen Castle, where Joan of Arc was imprisoned in the tower in 1431 before her trial, in Rouen, France! It's set into the wall of a shrine to St Teresa at the side of the cathedral.
GNG gave me the sweetest gift. A few years ago, the exterior dome copper roof was removed and replaced, and pieces of it were sold to the public.
I'm going to have a hole drilled and wear it as a necklace.
I'm so glad I had this opportunity to meet another blogging friend. And I'm hoping we can get together again and enjoy some more Minnesota adventures.
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Cynthia this cathedral looks magnificent. It reminds me a lot of Eropean churches. Definitelt there were European influences here. Your blogge r friend is a great person..
ReplyDeleteCynthia, what a fun time to have your own personal guide for the cathedral. It's awesome.
ReplyDeleteVery European - and thus magnificent.
ReplyDeleteHome: To a sauna after the south of a couple of DRY "BLOODY"
hot days and that was on the coast!! Some days were freezing so had to
borrow jumpers, others fierce storms - only snow missing, eh?
Thankfully weather here will drop for the weekend as from tomorrow
so as I can adapt gradually!!!!
E-mail tomorrow.
Cheers
Aussie Col
The Cathedral looks wonderful and your phone did an excellent job. Time is coming if not already that we don't carry our small digital cameras with us as the phone will do. Good to meet a blogger friend :)
ReplyDeleteHow great that you met another blogging friend. I find churches and Cathedrals fascinating. They also have such fascinating history embedded in their walls. Happy thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cathedral, very European looking. Love the idea of the cross made from the roof.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you have snow, I'm waiting for it but I'm sure when it does get here I'll be fed up with it after a couple of days. From a distance is does look a little like our St Pauls Cathedral x
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tour! Nice to meet other bloggers especially those that are tour guides! How wonderful that they reused the old dome material:)
ReplyDeleteWow! The photos you took with your phone look great! I like the shot you took of the copper cross from the old dome. Lovely! Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving!
ReplyDelete