Mark told us not to expect too much, we saw the cathedral at Glasgow, this would be about the same. Wrong. From the second the cathedral came into view we could tell it was massive, and from the second we walked through the (very) large doors we could tell that it was stunning. We wondered the premises for about 20 minute (waiting for our tour guide), the whole time delighting in the way the stone was bathed in warm late afternoon sunlight spilling in through the stained glass.

When our tour guide arrived, I could When our tour guide arrived I could tell right away we’d lucked out. Not a performer, John knew his stuff and could not have been happier to be sharing the information with us. He was thorough, interesting, and even funny. He took us around the main floor, explaining the columns and the windows and the intricate roofs that towered above us.

And then we entered the first stair case. The first of four, tiny staircases winding up the inside of the building, after one flight we landed on a balcony overlooking the main floor. After the next flight we emerged from what appeared to be a hobbit door on the roof of the main building. From there the city spread out below us and the cathedral huddled us in tightly. We entered another (ridiculously) small door and went up another (unbelievably) small staircase and what we saw there was frankly kind of boring. Huge wooden beams held up what was obviously the center tower we had seen from down below. Wooden panels covered in graffiti circled around, but what happened next took my breath away.

John reached in front of me and lifted up a huge metal latch and the wooden panel swung open revealing an angel on the other side and angel panels 360 degrees. Far, far below us the cathedral floor sprawled out covered in pews that looked like caterpillars they appeared so small. Directly above us we got a close up view of the ornate roof of the cathedral. It was so beautiful I just couldn’t stop smiling, like when you know you’re in the presence of something great and wonderful and you just can’t believe you are lucky enough to be there.

And as if I needed more of a reason to be blown away, John led us up another staircase that was even smaller than the last! At the top of this one we came out on the roof of the tower with the stained glass windows being the only thing higher than us. I knew God was on our side that day because right as we got up there the sun started to set over the city and the building and it was just gorgeous.

I hope you take a while to check out the whole album from this mini-trip, maybe you can get  a glimpse of the beauty I was blessed enough to take pictures of for you!