Ken here, giving Julie a break from blogging responsibilities for the evening.
We left the Homestead Guesthouse this morning at sunrise, farewelling our Amish host family, who were already up and moving around. It was a two-hour trip to the Bryn Athyn Cathedral were we attended a morning church service.
For those not in the know, Julie and I are members of the New Church; Bryn Athyn is the "Vatican" of one of the New Church organisations. The cathedral sits on a couple of square kilometres in suburban Philadelphia: the green space (similar in size to the St Lucia campus of the Uni of Queensland, or Central Park in New York) is wonderfully serene, and the cathedral itself is beautiful (
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/bryn-athyn-cathedral-4-duncan-pearson.html). We always feel an incredible sense of spiritual connection whenever we visit here, and an appreciation for what the builders and donors were trying to create.
We had the chance to show the kids around the buildings and grounds beforehand, and to talk them through some of the more meaningful parts of the architecture. Ben in particular loved finding "all the different doors": every door, doorknob, and keyhole in the cathedral is different to represent the different ways the Lord may be approached. Phi went looking for Alpha and Omega motifs.
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| We made it - no thanks to the wretched Sat Nav. |
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| The grounds - and the cathedral itself - are filled with artistic features, pathways, dead-end staircases, and mazes, each of which carries a hidden message (similar to the variety of doors described above). |
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| In the midst of Philadelphia suburbia - if you can believe it. |
The service was a Family Service. It was more formal than we expected (ie. no "kids' talk" with props, nor a Sunday School), but the readings and sermon were presented in a manner that the girls found very accessable. When we talked about it afterwards, both Tori and Phi mentioned enjoying being treated as grown-ups.
The kids (and by this I mean mostly the girls) have now had the chance to see two outstanding pieces of architecture: Fallingwater and the Bryn Athyn Cathedral. The former is an excellent case using that art to create beauty for its own sake. Bryn Athyn is an example of using the art of architecture to tell a story or impart a message. We have enjoyed threading these sort of thoughts and themes into the kids' school work - how would they have designed these two buildings differently? What thoughts would they want people to have on looking at their building?
After Church, we headed into central Philadelphia to the USS New Jersey, a highlight of Julie and my trip to the USA in 2005. In a weird juxtaposition, the battleship shares with Bryn Athyn the property of being a truly impressive example of built environment. So far this trip, we have been on a large ship (the aircraft carrier/museum USS Intrepid in New York), and an "as it really was" craft in the form of the submarine USS Pampanito in San Francisco. This was the first time we got to go on a big ship that is still fairly close to its functioning condition.
The USS New Jersey is _huge_: 270m long, and 30m wide. During the second world war, its crew complement was over 3000, which is greater than the whole population of Boonah (men, women and children).
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| The WW2 crew of the USS New Jersey. The joys of trying to arrange 3000 people to say "cheese" simultaneously ... without anyone blinking. |
So it really had the whole "city at sea" vibe going on. There was a jail, multiple mess halls, a machine that made 1000L of ice cream each day, bunks and bunks and bunks (some corridors looked like that special effect where you look into a mirror than is facing another mirror), a chapel, truly hideous 1980's curtains and carpeting in the admiral's stateroom, and so forth.
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| Benny never understood why sailors complained about insufficient space. Tori, being her father's daughter, smacked her head when trying to get down from the bunk. |
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| Oliver due for another haircut in the 4-seat barber's. |
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| That's what you get for talking back to Captain Dad - 3 days in the brig with bread and water, sailor! |
There was also some pretty impressive weaponry, including main guns that, despite being manually reloaded, could fire every 30 seconds, and lob a shell accurately over 35km. Not to mention that, unless properly secured, every window on the bridge would shatter from the noise when the main guns are fired. That's one hell of a KA-BOOM!
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| "Sorry Dad, for some reason I was momentarily unable to hear what you were saying ..." |
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| More long-range carnage. Tomahawk cruise missile fitted in the 1980's, able to computer-guide a nuclear warhead to a target over 2000km away. |
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| Stairs, stairs, stairs. |
All up, we spent about 3 hours on the USS New Jersey, including a particularly unhealthy lunch in the mess hall. It was just as good as I remember it, and the kids had a blast too.
After that, we killed a bit of time visiting some outlet shops ...
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| Seriously, other than my brother, who would buy these things??? |
... and then checked in to the hotel in outer Philadelphia where we are spending a couple of nights. Julie and the girls are down the corridor, and I am with the boys. Too exhausted to think of going out, Julie went and foraged for some Macca's for dinner, and the kids tranced themselves in front of cable TV. They've probably had more TV this evening they they've had in the rest of the trip put together. Much as we have enjoyed the freedom and space of driving a car and staying in rented accommodation, Julie and I are looking forward to being back in the RV in a couple of days and preparing more of our own (healthier) meals. We are more apprehensive about the "6 people sleeping in 20 square metres" aspect of it.
Tomorrow: Independence Hall ("One Liberty Bell, Two Liberty Bells ..."), Ben Franklin stuff, and the invitingly named "Touch Me Children's Museum".
