NEARLY FOUR WEEKS have elapsed since my return from Washington D.C.. The reason I have not written about it until now is simple: I do not like sorting through pictures. But sort them I did, and here they are for your perusal.
Our group followed essentially the same itinerary as we did in 2011 and 2012, and were once again very generously accommodated at the Saint Francis Hall. Our ultimate goal was to participate in the annual March for life, but we did get to see a fair bit of D.C. beforehand, as well as Emmitsburg, Maryland and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania after the March.
We were given an excellent tour of the Franciscan Commissariat to the Holy Land‘s beautiful Memorial Church by Brother Thomas.
I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
So… Many… TRILOBITES!
I was also able to return to the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution (I visited before in 2011).
The Vergeltungswaffen-2.
The U.S.S Enterprise (the original prop).
The Tintinnabulum & Conopæum of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Regina Doman happened to be doing a book signing in the Basement of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I purchased a copy of her manga, Habemus Papam (illustrated by Sean Lam), which I highly recommend.
Here we are, vexillum unfurled, on our way to join the March.
In the midst of the March.
There was an estimated 5 x 105 people present.
If you are wondering about the big print, the U.S.Supreme Court Building’s facade was being restored.
While we were visiting Gettysburg, we stopped atop Little Round Top.
The memorial of Major General G.K. Warren.
In addition to regular images, I decided to try something new: my dad recently came across a neat program by the name of Microsoft ICE which allows one to stitch images into a panorama and project them onto the inside of a sphere (the result is similar to Google Maps’ Street View tool). You may need to download a plugin in order to view these panoramas, but here they are if you are interested:
1. Waiting for Mass to begin at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
2. The Main Altar and Baldachinum.
3. Right before the beginning of Mass.
4. The Basilica’s basement.
5. The Basilica from outside.
6. Inside the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.
7. The Appolo-Soyuz display at Air and Space.
Lastly, I would like to express my thanks to everyone who made this pilgrimage possible: Father Gunwall for his spiritual direction, Mrs. Sauvageau for all of the planning and coordination on her part, all of our wonderful chaperones for keeping us from getting lost or worse, the Franciscans of the Commissariat to the Holy Land (especially Brother Max), everyone who supported us financially or through their prayers, and all of my fellow youth who made up our group. I enjoyed my five days with you all and hope to see you again soon!
Fin.
