The art museum wasn't the only thing to experience in New York. We also decided to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral. After a little consultation with the various maps we had we set off in what we figured was the right direction.
We were disappointed to find there was scaffolding around the outside of the cathedral. They must have been doing repairs or some kind of maintenance. It definitely interfered with any picture taking we had in mind...at least from the outside of the structure. So we followed the crowd inside.
I've seen the cathedral many years ago on a school trip but having been out of school for some time now and being in a more mature frame of mind as well, I decided it would be worth another look. I wasn't disappointed once I got inside! It was absolutely beautiful! However, as it turned out we walked right into someones wedding!
I didn't realize that it was even possible to get married in the cathedral...silly me I guess. We walked in just in time to see the bride come around a corner and start down the aisle with her father. I guess they only hope to control the crowd during a wedding but they don't stop you from coming inside. There were sections that were roped off and the crowd stayed in the designated area very quietly watching.
There is something about a wedding that just makes people happy. Everyone was craning their necks to get a look at the bride and I was no exception. Being shorter than a lot of the people who got there before me, I didn't have a great view. I quickly realized that I could go down closer to the grooms area and headed off in that direction in hope of getting a good picture of the bride. My venture was not a success. I was too late to get a frontal picture of her and was only able to settle for a back view; but the cathedral itself made the whole event seem unreal.
I wasn't interested in staying for the whole ceremony. After all it's not like I was invited. So I headed back to the doors I came through and stopped to light a candle on my way out. The sign said they expected a $2.00 donation to light a candle and that irritated me. I don't believe you should set a price on religious expression so I dropped in the 2 quarters I had in my pocket and lit my candle anyway! I figured the worse they could do is blow out my candle or frisk me for the rest of the money.
We also discovered that there is a St. Thomas church not far from there that is every bit as beautiful as St. Patricks cathedral was. It was also made of stone and had almost as many exquisite carvings and magnificent detail...just wasn't as well known I guess. We didn't go inside St. Thomas's because we were pressed for time but I did take some pictures of it. It was on the same street as the Museum of Modern Art so we got to see at least two sides of the building. And I took a picture of one of the ornate wooden doors on the side of the church. No detail was left undone. The windows were ornate as well as the doors. It was a beautiful building. I really got a feeling that I had stepped back in time with both of these churches. They were both very old and extremely detailed in the workmanship.
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