puellapaschalis Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 This is all very tentative, but everything on this board starts out tentative, right? Next Summer I may be making a trip to the US; I'd really, [i]really[/i] like to attend the [url="http://www.musicasacra.com/colloquium.html"]Summer Music Colloquium in D.C.[/url] in June. However, seeing as the colloq is less than a week long and it'd be a transatlantic flight for me, it'd make sense to stay in the States for a while after the colloq to have a bit of a holiday. Now, fellow vocation-ers (oh my, vocationers on vacation...ok, I'll stop being a language geek now): in your esteemed opinions, were I to have such a holiday, what should I visit? My main interests that I can think of that'd be relevant to a holiday would be churches and libraries. Ideally I'd like to pray in some stunning Catholic churches, visit some glorious libraries in which to indulge my bibliophilia, and meet people (although not too many people, because my behaviour goes a bit haywire then - I start pretending I'm all sociable and whatnot ). So. Armed with all that information, and bearing in mind that this is the [i]Vocation Station*[/i], does anyone have some suggestions for me? Advthanksance! Love and prayers, PP *By that I mean that without wanting to turn it into a monastery-tour, I'd also quite like to visit the Shrine at OLAM and perhaps another such place. That kind of thing. It's far from likely that I'd ever enter in the US, but that doesn't stop me liking the idea of visiting places - in the non-discernment sense of the word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memory-singer Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 [quote name='puellapaschalis' post='1028779' date='Jul 22 2006, 09:29 AM'] This is all very tentative, but everything on this board starts out tentative, right? Next Summer I may be making a trip to the US; I'd really, [i]really[/i] like to attend the [url="http://www.musicasacra.com/colloquium.html"]Summer Music Colloquium in D.C.[/url] in June. However, seeing as the colloq is less than a week long and it'd be a transatlantic flight for me, it'd make sense to stay in the States for a while after the colloq to have a bit of a holiday. Now, fellow vocation-ers (oh my, vocationers on vacation...ok, I'll stop being a language geek now): in your esteemed opinions, were I to have such a holiday, what should I visit? My main interests that I can think of that'd be relevant to a holiday would be churches and libraries. Ideally I'd like to pray in some stunning Catholic churches, visit some glorious libraries in which to indulge my bibliophilia, and meet people (although not too many people, because my behaviour goes a bit haywire then - I start pretending I'm all sociable and whatnot ). So. Armed with all that information, and bearing in mind that this is the [i]Vocation Station*[/i], does anyone have some suggestions for me? Advthanksance! Love and prayers, PP *By that I mean that without wanting to turn it into a monastery-tour, I'd also quite like to visit the Shrine at OLAM and perhaps another such place. That kind of thing. It's far from likely that I'd ever enter in the US, but that doesn't stop me liking the idea of visiting places - in the non-discernment sense of the word. [/quote] I went to Grad school at Georgetown in D.C. Will be happy to overload you with people and places that are wonderful. Will PM later after I get home tomorrow. Dare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemma Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 Since you'd be in DC, we'd recommend the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. National Cathedral has Helen Keller interred there. I think both the Discalced Carmelites and the Dominicans have houses of studies in DC. The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have a monastery there, too. If you manage to get to Missouri, there is the shrine of the incorrupt St. Rose Phillippine Deuqesne (I know I spelled that wrong) in St. Charles outside of St. Louis. And St. Louis has about five or six monasteries. When I had planned the monastic tour of St. Louis, we were going to end it at St. Rose's shrine. St. Louis also has St. Joseph Shrine, which is one of the oldest churches in that section of the U.S. And, of course, I have to put a plug in for my hometown, Bardstown, KY, and the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral--the first cathedral west of the Allegheny Mountains. HTH. Blessings, Gemma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted July 22, 2006 Author Share Posted July 22, 2006 Thanks, Gemma. The Colloquium is more or less based around the National Shrine so I imagine I'll be spending lots of time in there in any event which I'm very excited about - I've had a gander round the website and it looks amazing. Love and prayers, PP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Era Might Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 You could visit the mission Church in Boston ([url="http://themissionchurch.com/"]LINK[/url]). The national shrine of Divine Mercy is out in the western part of Massachusetts too ([url="http://marian.org/shrine/"]LINK[/url]). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OLAM Dad Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 The National Shrine IS amazing, you'll enjoy that. The Smithsonian is also a great place to visit while you're in DC. OLAM is not too far from D.C. but keep in mind that if you haven't been to the states before, this is a large country and when planning trips make sure that you know the scale of the map you're looking at. OLAM is about 800 miles from D.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgirl Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 [quote name='Gemma' post='1028787' date='Jul 22 2006, 11:44 AM'] Since you'd be in DC, we'd recommend the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. National Cathedral has Helen Keller interred there. I think both the Discalced Carmelites and the Dominicans have houses of studies in DC. The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have a monastery there, too. If you manage to get to Missouri, there is the shrine of the incorrupt St. Rose Phillippine Deuqesne (I know I spelled that wrong) in St. Charles outside of St. Louis. And St. Louis has about five or six monasteries. When I had planned the monastic tour of St. Louis, we were going to end it at St. Rose's shrine. St. Louis also has St. Joseph Shrine, which is one of the oldest churches in that section of the U.S. And, of course, I have to put a plug in for my hometown, Bardstown, KY, and the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral--the first cathedral west of the Allegheny Mountains. HTH. Blessings, Gemma [/quote] I second going to St. Louis, but I'm a bit biased. I've lived my whole life in St. Charles. St. Rose Philippine Duchesne was an amazing saint, and the tour of where she lived is pretty sweet. The shrine itself is one of the more awful examples of post V-II interior design, but you can pray at her tomb (she was incorrupt when they exhumed her during her cause for sainthood, but her body has since decayed). Also, we have two basilicas--we call them the New and the Old Cathedrals. The New Cathedral is completely covered in mosaics. It's one of the most gorgeous churches I have ever been to. We just had a Holy Hour there last night, and since there was no power (we're in the middle of a giant power outage), we had lots and lots of candles and it was incredibly beautiful. The Old Cathedral is the oldest cathedral west of the Mississippi, and it's very similar to a lot of the old French churches in Quebec. There are lots of religious orders in town, too, but one of the coolest things is that most of the attractions are either free or not too expensive. You can also get a plane ticket for not too much money to St. Louis from DC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted July 22, 2006 Author Share Posted July 22, 2006 [quote name='OLAM Dad' post='1028806' date='Jul 22 2006, 07:14 PM'] The National Shrine IS amazing, you'll enjoy that. The Smithsonian is also a great place to visit while you're in DC. OLAM is not too far from D.C. but keep in mind that if you haven't been to the states before, this is a large country and when planning trips make sure that you know the scale of the map you're looking at. OLAM is about 800 miles from D.C. [/quote] Thanks, Michael A few years ago I lived in Toronto and one of the biggest culture shocks for me was indeed the crazy amount of [i]space[/i] there is in North America. I travelled up to Ottawa and Montreal to see a friend of mine and Ottawa at least was a four hour train journey of...well, landscape rushing by. It was quite mind-boggling. I don't drive and have heard some interesting things about the train system in the US, so all that coupled with the fact that I might make this a round-the-world (I have family in Asia I'd like to visit), flights may well be the best way to go. Consequently I'm not too worried about distances, although I can't go overboard of course. Love and prayers, PP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thy Geekdom Come Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 (edited) Well...I love travel, so let me think... The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception The National Archives (our Constitution and Declaration of Independence and other things are there) The White House The Library of Congress (the only thing with that is that you need all sorts of passes to get into the actual library part) The Smithsonian Museums (which are well worth it, in my opinion) That's about all the major stuff in that area. There's more, but not things I think you would care much about, given what you've said. For instance, you could go and see the miles and miles of tombstones in Arlington National Cemetary (just across from DC), but that's more of an American patriotic thing to do. You could go to Baltimore, Maryland; Arlington, Virginia; or a few other nearby places without too much difficulty. To be honest, though, D.C. isn't a very nice city...it's trashy, not very well kept, extremely busy, and difficult to navigate. If you're thinking of other places in the country to visit, NYC is good (you could see their library and St. Patrick's Cathedral), San Diego has a big zoo, St. Louis has a nice cathedral (or so I'm told), and Dallas is pretty cool (well, hot, actually). Edited July 22, 2006 by Raphael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birgitta Noel Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 And you of course can't miss the Cathedral Basilica if you come to St. Louis. Largest collection of mosaics in the world! It's gorgeous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilllabettt Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 I lived just down the street from the National Shrine; I moved away just last week. They're putting in this big mosaic on the inside of the dome, it is going to be wonderful. Aside from the Shrine, there's the Pope JP2 Cultural Center, CUA's theological libraries, and also the [url="http://www.myfranciscan.org/"]Franciscan Monastery[/url] (If you click on the link, you'll see, it is gorgeous.) The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have a monastery there too. There' s the [url="http://www.dhs.edu/"]Dominican House of Studies[/url] (join them for Rosary or Compline: so awesome!), the USCCB, the Marist Brothers, etc ... It's all in the Brookland neighborhood, a.k.a "little Rome." It has the heighest concentration of Catholic institutions in the world, outside the Vatican. Boy do I miss it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted July 22, 2006 Author Share Posted July 22, 2006 [quote name='Lilllabettt' post='1028889' date='Jul 22 2006, 10:20 PM'] I lived just down the street from the National Shrine; I moved away just last week. They're putting in this big mosaic on the inside of the dome, it is going to be wonderful. Aside from the Shrine, there's the Pope JP2 Cultural Center, CUA's theological libraries, and also the [url="http://www.myfranciscan.org/"]Franciscan Monastery[/url] (If you click on the link, you'll see, it is gorgeous.) The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration have a monastery there too. There' s the [url="http://www.dhs.edu/"]Dominican House of Studies[/url] (join them for Rosary or Compline: so awesome!), the USCCB, the Marist Brothers, etc ... It's all in the Brookland neighborhood, a.k.a "little Rome." It has the heighest concentration of Catholic institutions in the world, outside the Vatican. Boy do I miss it. [/quote] Oh oh oh I think some of the Colloquium's liturgies are based at Franciscan Monastery. And the Dominicans...are they the place with the most stunning chapel? I think I've seen a photo of it. Gosh this is exciting. Love and prayers, PP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domine ut Videam Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 (edited) OHHH!!!!!! Chicago! There are BEAUTIFUL churches in Chicago! Edited July 22, 2006 by Domine ut Videam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilllabettt Posted July 22, 2006 Share Posted July 22, 2006 [quote name='puellapaschalis' post='1028899' date='Jul 22 2006, 04:44 PM'] And the Dominicans...are they the place with the most stunning chapel? I think I've seen a photo of it. [/quote] Is this it? [img]http://www.op-stjoseph.org/Students/images/pics/tour/fullchapelwide.jpg[/img] That's where my RCIA class had our retreat right before the Easter Vigil ... one of the brothers was in charge of our class ... the House of Studies belongs to St. Joseph's Province ... very POD, very old school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted July 22, 2006 Author Share Posted July 22, 2006 (edited) [quote name='Domine ut Videam' post='1028902' date='Jul 22 2006, 10:49 PM'] OHHH!!!!!! Chicago! There are BEAUTIFUL churches in Chicago! [/quote] This may turn into a "get a map of the US and start sticking pins in" exercise [quote name='Lilllabettt' post='1028903' date='Jul 22 2006, 10:55 PM'] Is this it? [img]http://www.op-stjoseph.org/Students/images/pics/tour/fullchapelwide.jpg[/img] That's where my RCIA class had our retreat right before the Easter Vigil ... one of the brothers was in charge of our class ... the House of Studies belongs to St. Joseph's Province ... very POD, very old school. [/quote] Yesssssssssssssssss! Oh look at that, proper choir stalls (not like the faffy school-type ones at my undergrad and Canterbury Cathedral)! Three banks of them! Oh my word I've gone all flustered now. Do they let visitors in their library? Love and prayers, PP Edited July 22, 2006 by puellapaschalis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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