Our next destination was one of Dawn's many surprises. It wasn't on our itinerary, and one of my favorite stops - St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, inspired by Notre Dame in Paris and, in my opinion, the inside is far superior. Lots of stained glass windows and large mosaics of the Stations of the Cross. The mosaics contain 70,000 to 80,000 pieces and each piece is about the size of a sugar cube. Masterfully done. The painted windows are huge and in some areas, they're on two levels.
Windows
The mosaics - notice the pitcher in the lower left corner.
Here's a closeup
Each mosaic had a painted picture and the name of the station.
The tomb of Camillus Paul Maes, Third Bishop of Covington, KY, 1846-1915
One of the few Catholic churches where you can do a dunking baptism.
You can read about the significance of the pink candle in the advent wreath HERE.
I felt sorry for the youth choir, as they had to practice wearing masks. They sang beautifully anyway.
You can see more HERE. Scroll down to watch the short video. You won't be disappointed. You can do a 360-degree virtual tour with little rectangles at the bottom to choose certain areas. Click HERE.
As we made our way to the coach, I noticed this at the edge of the grounds and started singing Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, but couldn't remember the words.
We're off to The Creation Museum. I'd have enjoyed the museum more were I a better student of the Bible. The exhibits were well done, some of the people and animals very life-like and animated, and lots of information about dinasaurs and the debate of creation vs evolution. Lots of reading.
Couldn't pass up an opportunity to advertise The Ark Encounter, as the two are connected.
The grounds were elaborately decorated with colored lights. I took my photos at dusk and after seeing Terri's which were taken after dark, I wished that I had gone out again. And just imagine how beautiful the area must be in summer.
Dinner was in Noah's Cafe which is inside the main building. I had a disappointing turkey dinner of formed turkey slices, instant mashed potatoes, canned green beans, canned cranberry sauce, and a Sister Shubert roll (very popular in this area). Meals are prepared and dished up in covered plastic containers, which you pick up as you go through a cafeteria line. I should have chosen a salad. Thumbs down.
There's also a petting zoo, zipline, 4D theater, insectarium, and planetarium. I couldn't work The Christmas Star program in the planetarium into my schedule. Poor planning. Also, I failed to get good photos of the books of the Bible.
The blocks were color coded to indicate the category of each book: History - Wisdom/Poetry - Prophetic - Biography - Letter. My photo of the Old Testament books was blurred even more.
Back to the hotel for an early evening to catch up on the sleep I missed the last two nights. End of Day 2.
To be continued. . . . .
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