9 – Sunday Service and Arriving Washington

As we prepared to leave Lancaster County this morning, we were up with the chickens and enjoyed the sunrise over the Amish farm next to our hotel. What a beautiful sunrise it was and to our delight, two hot air balloons rose over the farm and drifted over the hotel. It was so quiet I could hear the people talking in the baskets.

The final destination today would be Washington DC but we had a very special stop planned on the way. Since it was Sunday morning, we wanted to go to church in Baltimore at the Brown Memorial Presbyterian church specifically to see the Tiffany stained glass windows but were treated to much more than just the  windows.

Service was not until 11 am but we arrived early (9:30) and stepped inside to photograph the windows before the crowd arrived. As luck would have it, we caught the music rehearsal of the morning’s special music guest group, Soulful Revue. Incredible! I had goose bumps the whole time. Here is a 3 minute clip of them practicing A Change Is Gonna Come by composer, Sam Cooke, and sung by soloist James Cox.

The Tiffany (and other) windows in this church are breath taking… two of them must be almost 30 feet high and are the largest Tiffany windows in existence (see Gallery/World Windows for all photos). The colors are absolutely astounding and as the sun rose higher in the sky and came around the southside side of the church during the morning service, the windows glowed brighter and brighter.

Waiting for service to start, we strolled around the block, found a coffee shop, stepped into another church (Corpus Christie) just for a shot before Mass started, saw the Maryland College of Art, strolled past lovely brownstone town houses and then back to Brown Memorial for the 11:00 service.

The entire service was a delight; the acoustics are phenomenal in this church giving an ethereal quality to the music, the choir was just as fantastic as the special quests, the message was about tolerance for diversity and the importance of belief, the people were friendly and welcoming and those windows are spectacular. We are so glad we did this.

After church, we carried on to Washington and found our apartment for the next five days. We settled in and then caught the subway to Ronald Reagan Airport to meet Ryan who is joining us for the week. Back at the apartment, we relaxed with conversation, wine and pizza as we planned our itinerary for the week.

Here are the photo highlights for day 9 – Sunday Service and Arriving Washington.