83,000 SQUARE FEET OF MOSAICS

About a year ago I traveled to St. Louis for a surprise 60th birthday party for my brother.  I have always wanted to visit the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis because of my love for both churches and mosaics (also two of my favorite things to see in Europe!).  There are over 83,000 square feet of mosaics in this church created by 20 different artists over a 75 year period.

My pictures don't do it justice; this church has to be seen in person.

Construction of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis began in 1907.  The architecture of the exterior is Romanesque, with granite walls, rose windows and two massive towers.  The brilliant green-tiled main dome and the pitched roofs are a prominent sight in the St. Louis skyline.

This is just the narthex...

Many of the mosaics on the narthex's walls depict the life of the patron saint of the city, Louis IX, King of France:

And the narthex's barrel vaulted ceiling is covered by a swirling green vine symbolic of Christ, who is also portrayed in the central mosaic:

It's impossible to describe the beauty of this church.  Walking into the main part of the church, I just gasped at the incredible beauty.  Standing at the back of the church I could only marvel that every inch is covered in brilliant mosaics.

In the photo above you can just make out the red mosaics of the great central dome.  The photo below shows the central dome in all its brilliance.  The dome rises 143 feet from the floor to the central spotlight.  The mosaic panels are dedicated to, clockwise from the top: the woman of the Apocalypse; Ezekial the Prophet; the Holy Trinity; and Elias taken up to heaven in the fiery chariot.  The sixteen angels between the windows of the dome represent eight archangels and eight commemorative angels.  The four large angels of the pendentives depict, clockwise from the top right: Ecclesiastical authority; New Testament; Old Testament; and civil authority.

The great seal of the Archdiocese of St. Louis on a dark blue background and surrounded with the stars of the heavens is the dominant mosaic on the historic dome.  On these pendentives are mosaics of American saints.

The east transept mosaic portrays Christ's resurrection and His appearance to the woman, Mary, and His disciples at Emmaus.

The west transept mosaic, rendered in flaming colors of red, violet and blue pictures the occasion of the Holy Spirit's descent on the apostles inspiring them to go forth and preach the Word of God.

In the sanctuary dome mosaics picture the twelve apostles...

The dome of the baldachino imitates the main exterior dome of the Cathedral...

The white marble figure of Christ crucified dominates the sanctuary.

The red color of this ambulatory ceiling recalls the suffering of Christ...

At the end of this ambulatory is a statue of Louis IX...

The Bishop's Hall contains Italian style mosaics of the coats of arms of the men who have served as bishops and archbishops of the St. Louis diocese.

The Blessed Virgin's Chapel created by Tiffany and Company...

The All Saints Chapel is also the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany...

The magnificent Arch of Triumph has Christ the Savior as its central motif.  John the Baptist is on His left with the prophets and kings of the Old Testament and the Virgin Mary is on His right with apostles and saints of the New Testament.

This church is one of the most magnificent I've ever seen.

With mosaics as beautiful as any I've seen in anywhere...

Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

4431 Lindell Boulevard

St. Louis, MO   63108

• Cathedral is open every day from 7:00 AM until 5:00 PM.
• Tours are offered daily between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
• Contact the tour office at 314.373.8240 for tour reservations.
• I encourage everyone to visit the cathedral to experience the beauty of the mosaics, but remember only tours are guaranteed to people who have reservations.
• For more information: http://www.cathedralstl.org/

THE AMAZING STINGRAY CITY

Can you guess what was the last port of call on our cruise?  This was exciting for me.  Even though the main reason for this cruise was to visit Belize, I was still excited to visit the Cayman Islands.  I've always seen pictures and television commercials for "The Cayman Islands"...unfortunately I can't replicate in words the famous tune on the commercial of someone singing "The Cayman Islands".

As in Belize, our ship and the Carnival Glory were tendered just offshore.

Our shore excursion was in two parts: Snorkeling and then a visit to the world-famous Stingray City.  We were not the only excursion boat there!

There were over a dozen other excursion boats all parked around the sandbar that is Stingray City.  As you can see, the sandbar allows you to get off the boat and stand waist-deep in the water.

While you stand in the water the stingrays swim right past you. 

Some are big and some are much smaller.  The females are the larger-sized stingrays.  You go girls!

Some people were afraid to stand in the water, fearful of being stung by the tail barb.  However, the stingrays are so used to human presence and contact, so there is nothing to fear.  The stingrays will swim right past you.  We still had our snorkeling masks on, so we stuck our faces under the water to watch the stingrays swim right past us.

You had the opportunity to "pet" the stingrays.  A member of crew would hold the stingray and you could touch it.  They just feel like squishy rubber.  We did not have the opportunity to feed them.

Some people had "personal" encounters with the stingrays...

The stingrays are so gentle and used to human contact that you can actually have one lay on top of you. If it really likes you, it will give you a big kiss!

NEXT PORT: PIRATES, BIRDS AND MONKEYS

Sunrise the next day brought us to Isla Roatan which is an island about 80 miles off the mainland of Honduras.

At this port the ship would be docked...what you can't tell from the photo below is that the ship is coming into port...backwards!  How would you like to steer a 963-foot ship in reverse!

As in the previous ports the Carnival Glory would be joining us.  In this series of photos you can see how the Glory turned 180 degrees in order to reverse into the dock in front of us.

Our excursion on Isla Roatan was "Pirates, Birds and Monkeys of the Caribbean".  We traveled by bus to Gumbalimba Nature Park.  This was the only time we went past the main tourist area and saw where the locals lived.  Such poverty!  The average person living on this island makes $3,000 a year.  Their livelihoods depend entirely on the cruise ship tourist trade.  Our young tour guide was very knowledgeable about her island...

For the "Pirates" portion of the tour we explored Coxen's Cave and learned about the infamous pirate, Captain John Coxen...

Saw examples of his stolen treasures...

And saw an actual barnacle-covered cannon from his ship...

For the "Birds" portion of the tour we saw beautiful macaws just sitting freely in the trees...

But the fun was having one sitting on your shoulder...

For the "Monkeys" portion of the tour we saw where the Capuchin monkeys are free to roam...

Such a cute face!

But the personal encounters were so cool!

Gumbalimba Park is a beautiful botanical park with waterfalls...

Over 200 types of tropical plants...

Beautiful tropical flowers...

And the only home to the rare Black Iguana...

We really enjoyed our day at Mahogany Bay on Isla Roatan...

But when the ships sail away, it becomes a ghost town...

Gumbalimba Park is named after one of the native tree species in Honduras, the Gumbalimba Tree. This tree has a bright red, peeling, smooth bark and dark green leaves. For more information about Gumbalimba Park, visit http://www.gumbalimbapark.com/.

We only had a few hours on Isla Roatan, but we really enjoyed our visit to Gumbalimba Park. Our next port is Grand Cayman Island. Stay tuned for our snorkeling adventures with the stingrays.