A Cathedral, a Temple and a Monastery

Throughout our studies so far this year we have been learning a lot about different religions as well as the start of Christianity. My sister in law invited us to go along with her gaggle of kids to visit a few sights today. They drove down to the city and we drove up to the city and meet in the center of San Francisco for our first stop, Grace Cathedral. This was quite a trip for us. We hate driving into San Fransico with all those one way narrow streets and steep hills.
One of my favorite parts of the Cathedral were these carved doors in the front. They are replicas of doors made by Ghiberti, a famous Florentine sculptor.
We had fun trying to figure out the different bible stories being told in each of the panels. The one above as Abraham and Isaac and the first one is of the Israelites circling the city of Jericho.
Look at all these little heads sticking out of the doors. Very interesting to look at. I could have stood and looked at these doors a long time but with small kids they always want to move on quickly.
This labyrinth was a hit with the kids. They loved following the path through the maze. It kept them busy for a while.
Sophie tried out some of the different types of chairs scattered about all the different niches and corners of the church.
We all gazed at the beautiful stained glass windows throughout the cathedral. This traditional rose window was particularly lovely.
We of course discussed the architecture. The gothic arches and the ribbed ceiling.
The kids all wanted to hear the organ but it wasn't in the cards for today.
But they did take a moment to try out the prayer cushions. They decided these were a good thing.
This is one of the newer stained glass windows in the cathedral. Many of the more traditional windows are being replaced by these more modern designs.
My husband was the photographer for most of this trip and I had no idea why he was taking pictures of this bunch of candles, there were candles everywhere in the church, but then I took a closer look and saw the heart someone had drawn in the sand.
As we were walking back up one of the side aisles we noticed the pillars and the colorful light that shimmered on them through the stained glass windows above.
After leaving the Cathedral we went across the street to a cute little park to play for a bit. We all enjoyed listening to the bells chime the hour and wondered if many people in the bustling city even hear them through all the noise of the city all around them.
After our morning in San Francisco and the Cathedral we decided we would eat our lunch on the Oakland Temple grounds. It was very windy but it was a lovely blue sky to eat under. We also went into the visitor center and the children had a great time looking at the pictures and sculptures of Jesus Christ.

This wasn't our last stop though. We still had one more place we had on the agenda before heading home.

We arranged for a tour of a real monastery. This was a group of Orthodox monks (as opposed to catholic) that allowed us to take a short tour of a modern day monastery. They certainly don't live like the monks in medieval times. These monks have satellite dishes, internet access and even receive netflix.
We did see some very nice examples of Byzantine mosaics. The Monastery was full of these types of Icons of either Mary, Jesus or other saints. It was a quick visit
The kids had a great time exploring the grounds.
But they especially enjoyed it when the monk let them try out the different bells. It hurt our ears and they just kept coming back to these bells.
We saw these wild turkeys run through the grounds while we were out on the terrace.

It was a very busy, long day. We saw a lot and drove around a lot. They kids just had a great time being with cousins. We made it completely around the bay before we made it home. I am worn out and ready to just relax.