The Church I Told You About :)

                        (If you are starting this Post and wonder what is going on, why is not anything really Identified, please see the previous Post, at least the end, for an explanation!)

                        We were part of an Exclusive Inside/Behind the Scenes/Way-Way Up Top, Hold on to Your Hats Tour. It was unlike anything that I have done before. I have been to the top of St. Peter’s in Rome and the Duomo in Florence, inside their ceilings and up on their roofs. It was incredible.

                                    But they paled in comparison to what we experienced in this German City.

                        As you know from the previous post, there is always some type of repair and restoration work going on here. These Valiant Artisans need a way to get up and down in order to get to their places of expertise. We used the same ‘Lift’ that they use, complete with scary sounds and rumblings, clattering doors that slide shut (?) and the wondering if it can lift all twelve of us when the sign inside says, “Maximal 11 Personen”.

No worries, we all made it!

            Our Guide was Danielle, and she was so professional that we could swear that she was part of the restoration crew in her spare time. There was NOTHING that she did not know about, including the architectural/structural specifications and designs.

                                    And…. she had the Keys to all the locks!

                        Danielle shepherded us into the Cage like a good Class Mother, counted us off, and away we went. We exited at the level of those Flying Buttresses and walked a few planks to reach the side of the Cathedral. (Deep Breath!)

                        Pausing at the Flying Buttresses, we heard about how and why they are needed when walls reach a certain height/width/roof type, etc. They also were kind of designed as they went along. Just think about this…. the Cathedral was started in the 1200’s and finished in the 1800’s…… do you maybe think that some advances were made in engineering along the way? How would they integrate/change structurally when trying to keep to the original plans (that were re-discovered in an attic one hundred miles away) years and years later! Fascinating does not even begin to scratch the surface here!

                        Danielle led us through a labyrinth of high-up corridors that sometimes required a bit of faith that we were not stepping off into nothingness as the ancient passageway was in total darkness and had a turn in it. We could hear Danielle’s voice echoing either from in back or in front of us, confidencerizing us to proceed forward. Again, obviously we made it….

                        We entered the interior of the Cathedral way up above the throngs of folks milling about on the main floor, clueless that we were up there peering over railings that looked like they were miniatures when viewed from below.

I know this because we were down there that morning and saw where we were going to be, although we had no idea at the time that that was where our future lay. At this point we circumnavigated the Nave and were looking directly at the stained-glass windows. To view these works of art from below is enrapturing…… to view them from these lofty heights was like being in heaven! We were well above the lofted Organ and attached Choir which really made us feel the height!

                        We entered the ‘attic’ of the main part of the church, the Nave and we were able to see how the lead roof ‘shingles/panels were affixed to the rafters. The place is immense and is used for all sorts of storage and since the beams holding all of these building materials and scaffolding bits sits atop the solid building-block walls, a lot of items can be stored up there without compromising the integrity of the building itself. There is even a scale model of the Cathedral and the surrounding area that was used a long time ago for planning purposes.

                        Outside we went again and yes, back into the Cage, to ascend even higher. Our goal was the Transept Tower which is above the altar and on top of the Tower is a bronze sculpture that is shaped like the…….. (I will let you figure it out but remember what is down below inside that Reliquary. I will give the answer at the end!) We stayed up there for a while, taking as many pics as we wanted. Oxygen was provided, not because there were five million spiral stairway steps to ascend, but because it was so breathtaking in both the views and the Total Experience! (not really but there were a few of us ‘mature’ folks that could have benefited from a few gulps of O2!)

                        That was the end of our Special Tour even though we still needed to navigate our way back down to Terra Firma. Like the now seasoned pro’s that we were, we entered our favorite Cage for the return trip back down to reality and of course…. Dinner!

                        We get asked all the time to relate to folks what our favorite places, etc. are and it is almost impossible to answer that question as there are so many that rise above, but then even those cannot be compared as they are so different.

                                    Until now.

                                    Now being apart of this magnificent heavenly grand example of humans trying to please their God is on one level, life changing. We wish for you peace and grandness as it comes in all shapes and sizes.

                                    PS….. It is the Star of Bethlehem (because the Magi are directly below it!)