In our Capitol!

---

We spent Sunday morning looking at the Spotslvania County Battlefields. More of the bloodiest fighting of the Civil War. In several battles Grant kept sending troops in to try and break the Confederate lines, only to be cut down by soldiers behind embankments. They say that the bodies were piling up 5 high, which provided the Union soldiers with some cover. One Union soldier was shot dead and fell down on his back. Confederate soldiers, trying to hit the hiding Union soldiers shot his feet 11 times! There is an Oak tree that was about 2 feet in diameter and it was cut down by flying musket balls.

We finally left and hit heavy traffic on the way to Washington. We found our hotel and went to check in. They couldn't find our reservation. It took a little while, but the guy called Booking.com and straightened out the problem. We dumped our stuff in our room and headed over to the International Spy Museum. It closed at 6 PM and we wanted to see it. It was pretty neat. They had a special section on James Bond and all of the movies. They had lots of props from the movies, like Jaw's stainless steel teeth. Then it was out to dinner and the back to the hotel.

This morning we got on the subway(Metro) and got off near the National Cathedral. We had to walk about a mile to get there. We walked thru an older neighborhood that had huge houses built probably during the 1920's. We took a tour of the Cathedral. It was started in 1907 and not finished until the 1970's. It is the 6th largest church in the world. The roof is 100 feet above the floor. It was really impressive. We walked back to the Metro and headed back to our hotel. Tomorrow, 2 more churches, one even larger at number 4 on the largest church list.

---

Photos

DSCF3884
Monument on the battlefield.

DSCF3889
The battlefield. Hard to see, but the hill is whats left of the embankment

DSCF3881
Stacy by a cannon.

DSCF3887
Another cannon.

DSCF3892
James Bond's Aston Martin DB4.

DSCF3327
Looking out the window at the flying buttresses.

DSCF3322
One of the 4 rose windows. Its about 20 feet in diameter and has about 22,000 pieces of glass in it.

DSCF3328
Door knocker.

DSCF3329
An alter down in the basement in a small chapel.

DSCF3335
Another alter on the main floor in a side chapel.

DSCF3907
Main aisle in the church.

DSCF3908
The main pulpit, all hand carved from stone.

DSCF3909
Flying buttresses hold up the walls so they can be made thinner and have a lot of windows in them.

DSCF3929
The main alter.

DSCF3939
This part of a finial fell off of the roof during the earthquake of 2011.

DSCF3941
The National Cathedral from the side.

DSCF3946
In the garden by the church.

DSCF3900
One of the houses we walked by.

DSCF3950
Another house.

Comments

[Michele]

Door Knocker!!
Thank you for finding one!!!

[Judy]

Washington, DC
I didn't realize Washington DC was so popular this time of year. Jim and Melane spent all last week there, and my sister, Roberta, is there now with a women's travel group. I'm sure you'll run into her at all the "touristy" places! Enjoy. I LOVE Washington, DC. Such a mixture of history and current events all in one place.