Day 5
The room where our breakfast was served this morning was a little warmer than normal. The food was good though! We met at the bus at 9:15 to load the luggage. In fact, we combined the loading of our luggage with the boarding of the bus. We were cramped for space in downtown Philadelphia, so this saved time AND space.
We arrived at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at 9:30. Our volunteer host, Barbara Rensman, met us inside and began our tour of the cathedral around 9:45. She shared information about the history of the cathedral, which was completed in 1864, and told us how the cathedral became a basilica. There’s one more basilica in the city of Philadelphia. The nave is 300 feet long and the transept is 136 feet wide. The beautiful chapels along the side allow parishioners to have baptisms, funerals, etc. in a very personal, intimate way. We warmed up a little before our concert and sang from 11:00 until about 11:30 AM. Father Gill, rector of the cathedral, came down to greet us in the middle of our concert and welcomed us as he listened to some of our music.
Once we finished our program at the cathedral, we boarded the bus and Andrew, our driver, carried us down to Christ Church in time for a noon communion service. All of us participated in the 30-minute worship service and shared communion with a few of their congregants. After the service we sang a brief choral program in the church. There was no air conditioning, and the heat was excessive so we only sang for about 10 minutes. We met and talked with their organist, Parker Kitterman. He invited Rick Roe to play their new $3.5 million pipe organ. Rick declined since he did not have any organ music with him.
Most of our group had their picture made in the box pew where George Washington and his family sat during worship services at the church.
Following our worship time at Christ Church, our group split up and visited several restaurants on Market Street for lunch. As we left, Betty Roe and Carol Jo gave water and a Sprite to one specific homeless man who was lying naked on the sidewalk.
After lunch, most of us enjoyed the walk, even though it was hot, to Betsy Ross’s house, Elfreth’s Alley, Benjamin Franklin’s grave, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Congress Hall. We met back at the bus at 3 PM and departed for the Rocky steps.
The Rocky steps are actually steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There’s a Rocky statue at the bottom of the steps and the Rocky statue at the top of the steps which depicts Rocky’s victorious climb up those stairs as he prepared for his boxing fight with Apollo Creed in the Rocky movie. Most of us took a much more leisurely run up those steps than Rocky did in the movie. We had several pictures made at the top and a great picture of those of us who climbed the stairs with the city of Philadelphia in the background.
We left the Museum of Art and started our trip to Washington DC. On the drive to Washington, we stopped for dinner at a location which gave us three options for dinner: Chick-fil-A, Five Guys, and Cava.
We arrived at the hotel in Chantilly, Virginia at 8:30. After unloading the bus and making room assignments, we met back downstairs at 9 PM for our devotion. Jean Nimmer led our devotion tonight and did an outstanding job. Being the school teacher that she is, she even had visual aids!
We talked about our day tomorrow. We don’t actually leave until 8:30 AM tomorrow morning. It’s a big day and we continue to look forward to our opportunities to enjoy fellowship, share Christ when we can, and learn more about our wonderful country!