Finally a New Post!

This time, I have no honest excuse for not posting sooner, especially since I've not got a job for the summer.

So, to make up for my long absence, I'm going to post some of the promised pictures from my trip with the Chamber Choir. I'm rather pleased with how a lot of them turned out, as I'm only an amateur photographer and my camera is quite old. However, that doesn't seem to have interfered with luck.

First off on the tour, we went to Philadelphia, PA. It was very nice to re-visit the city in less dire circumstances, and we had great fun sight-seeing.

Part of Independence Hall- The main façade was covered in scaffolding for restoration work.

The Liberty Bell

 Along with going to Independence Hall and seeing the Liberty Bell, a small group of us decided to do a rapid tour of the city in the time remaining to us. We stopped in for the noon organ recital in Macy's, which has the world's largest pipe organ in the store. It was nothing short of amazing! We also walked all the way to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and visited the rooftop garden. Then we walked down South Street to Jim's Steaks for the best Philly cheese-steaks in Philadelphia (they were!).

Next on the itinerary was Colonial Williamsburg, VA, where we had a three-hour guided tour. It was fascinating and very beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery, so I was only able to take a small handful of photographs, like the one below.

A sheep at Colonial Williamsburg keeping cool in the hot Virginia weather

 Close by was the historic Maymont estate. We didn't have time to visit the house, but we did wander through the extensive gardens.

A view of the gorgeous rose garden

The arbour looking out over the rose garden

One of the garden's many roses.

Peonies

 

 

 Finally, we went to Washington D.C. where we did a lot of walking. Our first day there we went to the Supreme Court building and toured the U.S. Capitol.

Dome of the U.S. Capitol building as seen from the Supreme Court building.

 Our next day, we visited almost all of the monuments- Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, Washington Monument- and then did some museum perusing. We were permitted to go off and choose what museums we wanted to go to, so I chose to go to the Holocaust Museum. It was a very moving exhibit, and I was glad to see that the museum gave a fair representation of what happened, even devoting a fair amount of space to the persecutions of the Catholics by the Nazis. It took some time to get through everything, but it was well worth spending the time there.

The next day, we started at Washington Cathedral, which is an Anglican cathedral. The exterior was quite beautiful, although the interior left much to be desired. It was pretty and spacious, but the mix of architectural styles was a bit off-putting for me.

St. Peter outside Washington Cathedral's main doors.

 After that, we had another free afternoon for sight-seeing, so I opted to see the Gem and Minerals exhibit at the Smithsonian (amazing!!) and then went on to the National Gallery of Art. I was as happy as a clam there, as I spent much time in the Impressionist exhibit, viewing Monet, Manet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Renoir, Matisse... *happy sigh* I also wanted to see the Pre-Raphaelite paintings the museum had on offer, but as it was Sunday, that gallery was closed for cleaning. Instead, I wandered through the Renaissance art, and was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon Botticelli's famous Madonna and Child, as well as numerous Tintorellos and Titians... I really could have spent all day there.

The last stop was the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and I didn't take any pictures, as I was there for Mass. All I can say though is that one should certainly make time to go to the Basilica of they are ever in Washington D.C. It is absolutely spectacular, almost rivalling some of the great Basilicas I've seen abroad.

Overall, the trip was a great success. We had a lot of fun, gave some very fine concerts, and learned a lot of interesting things at all of the places we visited.

I hope everyone enjoyed the photos!!