The Cathedral is an amazing piece of architecture that took many decades to build. Inside are a major sanctuary and lots of little side sanctuaries honoring different ages, occupations, and nations. While we are there, we are the only people touring the downstairs chapels when we stumble across the Cathedral organist practicing Benjamin Britten's "Rejoice In the Lamb." It is, quite amazingly, a damn-near holy experience.
Inside the church is the Canterbury Pulpit, from which Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his last Sunday sermon before his assassination, and everyone from world leaders to the Dalai Lama has spoken from this pulpit.
Yes, it seems like the place just cannot get any cooler. Except that it can.
On the outside of the Cathedral, high amongst the tall windows near the peak of its tower, is a special gargoyle, perhaps the most revered of all the gargoyles. Darth Vader is on the Washington Cathedral. We spot Darth while we are hanging outside and doing our cell-phone online check-in for the upcoming flight home. I vaguely recall hearing a story that Vader is a gargoyle, but I never believe we will spot him.
I look up, and, to a wandering docent's surprise, we spot Darth Vader. Okay, at first I believe it is a gargoyle just left of the actual Vader, but still. Not every Jedi has perfect aim, right? Sure, the rest of the Cathedral is stunning and absolutely mind-blowing, but Darth Vader has to be one of the cooler parts of this journey.
Although it's a few days late, I bring to you greetings from DV in DC. May the Fourth be with you, my friends ... and also with you. (Hey, it IS a Cathedral, after all.)