On 13 Aug we went to downtown San Francisco by taking a bus, by about 10 o'clock in the morning ,first to Marin City and then onwards to Mission and Market Street. Very comfortable bus ride although we had to change two buses. By now we have got quite used to the Bus system out here which is well planned and operates very well. From the Bus Terminal we went to Market Street which is quite close by and met Sai there.
Latha and I then went walking to Cathedral Church. The distance was not much but the climb was stiff at times ,as the Church is located uphill. There are cable cars running and we could have taken one but as the distance was not very much and we thought that we would go walking. Got caught in between, as it was difficult to climb; at the same time no cable car was available for that short a distance.
The Grace Cathedral is a real architectural beauty. This is the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the US and was based on the Notre Dam in Paris. The Cathedral was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. The rebuilding of the Cathedral began in 1910 but was not completed till 1964.Although built with steel and concrete to withstand any future earthquakes; the Cathedral has a Gothic look.A lot of marble and stained glass has been used and the Church is really one of the most beautiful structures I have seen. The cathedral doors are bronze and gold replicas of the ones made for the Baptistery in Florence, Italy. The ten panels on the Door depict Old Testament stories beginning with Adam and Eve.
Within the Cathedral there are a number of exquisite oil paintings on the wall ,maybe 20 or 25 of them ,about 8ft by 4 ft. They depict the history of the Cathedral right from the earliest days till the present .All the paintings are very well made and make you marvel at the creativity of the artists. But the most impressive part of the Cathedral was its SILENCE. A typical church it is a wonderful place for meditation.
The internal structure of the Cathedral is referred to as the Labyrinth which is an ancient pattern found in many different forms in cultures around the World; and is used to quiet the mind ,find balance, encourage insight and meditation .The Labyrinth is open to all people regardless of cast creed or religion .To enhance your experience the Cathedral recommends you to remove your shoes although it is not considered mandatory.From the Cathedral we returned to Market Street by Cable Car,for our lunch.
