It's a yearly tradition for my family to head up to DC to the National Cathedral for its annual flower show. So Tracy, mom, dad, my aunt, my parents' two Bichons Frises, and I drove up on Friday after the traffic had died down (mostly) - David had to work that day.
One of the neatest things about the show, in my mind, is that the Cathedral is used in much the same way that cathedrals were used in the middle ages: as meeting places and fairgrounds. The smells are amazing: all kinds of fair food is there (funnel cakes, hot dogs, fried portabella mushrooms), and cinnamon almonds (which smell much better than they taste). People pack into the roads around the Cathedral, booths are set up all over the place, there's selling, buying, eating, singing, people watching people, ... It's grand. Mom and Dad look at one such booth in this picture; Ravel peeks around a stroller. 
The dogs were a big hit again this year, too, which makes it all the more fun (for some reason). There were fewer people than last year (since it was a Friday - last year we went on Saturday), but even so, we got several requests by kids to pet the dogs. All the smells drive the dogs crazy: they nose all over the ground, at the air, at the booths, trying to figure out where the food is. In all, they're very well behaved - but they are funny to watch. Especially since they're so energetic. Here's a picture of Tracy holding Rousell, in front of the west door. Tracy's posing - Rousell was far too busy.
After lunch, Tracy and I decided to do the tower climb. Dad and I did it last year and enjoyed it; mom's far too afraid of heights to be interested in attempting it. The tour starts in the crypt and mounts about halfway up the crossing tower, the the change-ringing chamber. From the crypt to the change-ringing chamber is 330-odd steps - and we climbed them all. It's not so bad, really: you get to take a couple of breaks along the way. And it wasn't hot at all, so that made it all the easier. They certainly do discourage older people from attempting the climb, however. It also gets claustrophobic in the first part of the climb: starting from the crypt, we ascended a spiral staircase in the wall next to the south door, all the way to the gallery above the south door. From there, we crossed over top of the southern part of the transept to the base of the tower atop the transept crossing. That first stage of the tower is just a big, empty room, necessary to lift the first open chamber (that is, chamber with open arches to the outside, so sound can get out) over the level of the roofs atop the nave, transept, and choir.
After mounting a rather dizzying set of spiral stairs that climb about a story and a half, we found ourselves in the first part of the crossing tower you can see from the ground. This chamber holds the Cathedral's carillon. Last year, someone was playing a recital on the carillon while we were standing next to it; this year, it was silent, which was a pleasant change: even when you have your fingers stuffed in your ears, it's still really, really loud. From that chamber, we mounted to a level called the "Change-Ringing Chamber." This chamber, which has windows (and air conditioning) contains the ropes for the Cathedral bells. There are ten bells in all; the National Change Ringers ring the bells after service each Sunday and for special occasions. There's also space for the ringers to hang out, eat, study, etc. And they get to take the elevator up; they don't have to climb all 330-odd steps just to play the bells. I've a picture of that room, but forgot to post it. Look for it later today.
From the change-ringing chamber, we descended the same two sets of spiral stairs we'd ascended, and then walked across the north side of the transept vaults to the gallery above the north door. We climbed down the stairs inside the walls (as we'd ascended on the the south side); this time, rather than taking the stairs all the way to the crypt level, we stopped first on the catwalk above the balcony and then on the balcony above the south door. I've always wanted to follow the catwalk all the way around the nave (and transept and choir), but they don't let us do that. You can almost see in the picture: there's not much railing there. They're likely afraid they'd get sued.
