We were leaving Knoxville today, but my husband K had the last bits of ClarinetFest and I had church. He got up early to exercise and I was frustrated to realize that I woke up at 7:08, well before my alarm. Another one of last night's chocolate doughnuts served as breakfast. K made sure that all of his luggage was packed before he left for the University of Tennessee, but I could wait until after church.
I left at 8:35, with the odometer reading 57,950. I reached Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on the west side of town at 8:52 (57,957) and had time for a few photos before 9:00 Mass. The cathedral was quite impressive from the outside and looked quite new, which it was, as it was completed in 2018. There had been a church on this site since 1956, when it became the third Catholic parish in Knoxville. There is also an elementary school. In 1987, Pope John Paul II established the diocese of Knoxville and Sacred Heart Church became the Cathedral. The new Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was built in front of the old one starting in 2015. The central dome was inspired by Florence Cathedral and its height is 144 feet. The former church is to be converted into a fellowship center.
I was totally taken with the interior. It actually made it difficult to concentrate during Mass, because it was so beautiful. And, it just screamed cathedral. After Mass, I took so many photos and, when I posted some to Facebook, I said that this is what a cathedral should look like. I'll admit that I was comparing it to St. James Cathedral in Orlando, which has never impressed me. It's just a glorified church. This soared. Your eyes were drawn heavenward, just like in the old cathedrals of Europe.
First, look at all those beautiful squares in the ceiling. Then, I noticed that the center aisle design is repeated along the base of the dome. How cool!
The dome itself has a circle of the Apostles with Christ center over the part that would be over the altar. Christ is flanked by Mary and Joseph. The next, smaller circle is of saints. Below that is a quote from Revalation 5:12 about the angels praising "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain...". The pillars supporting it sport the 4 evangelists.
The walls seem to have lines from Psalm 145.
I made my way to the front and took a photos to the back and the choir loft with its lovely rose window.
The baldachin was quite impressive. If you got close enough and got just the right angle, you could see the Holy Spirit represented as a dove. The altar was beautiful, too.
A side sort of chapel had the Stations of the Cross, baptismal font and a statue of Pope John Paul II.
The statue of Mary was over there, too.
The pulpit was borderline old school, being large and a little raised. It had carvings of the symbols of the evangelists.
There is the traditional St. Joseph altar on the right side. There is also a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in keeping with the name of course, and there are votive candles in front of it.
I took one more photo of the sanctuary before going off to find the restrooms, which were quite nice.
As I went outside, I noticed just how terrific their hanging lanterns are out there.
It wasn't until 10:33 that I left the parking lot, but I had plenty of time, because I'd asked for a late check-out. I got back to the hotel at 10:47 (57, 964) and parked in the garage one last time. I went upstairs and changed and started hauling things down to the garage. I didn't see any dollies anywhere, so it took me three trips to get everything down there.
I checked out at 11:35 and sat in the lobby to wait. I did some calculating and found I'd driven 1473 miles on my excursions this week. Not bad. Then, I got back to needlework.
Kathy J, a clarinet professor from Puerto Rico, saw me and sat to chat awhile. Her students were getting themselves together for the trip home.
K arrived about 12:30 and joined the conversation for a while. Finally, we went down to the garage and I let him take over driving my car. It was 1:35, when we left.
It took us all of two minutes to get to our destination a mile away and find a parking spot. En route, I had a chance to admire the lovely art on the pillars by the convention center.
Our lunch destination was The French Market Crêperie. Evidently, it's normally quite crowded, but it wasn't bad at this hour. We looked over menus, then K left me to sit at a table, while he ordered at the counter. He ordered a Turkey, Spinach and Artichoke crepe for $8.95 and I chose a Dutch-Style Ham for $9.50. I also got a Diet Coke and K got a water. When I went along the corridor to the restroom (which turned out to be really nicely decorated), I noticed not just the tin ceiling, but also that they had Orangina. Our younger daughter loves that, so, when we ordered dessert, we got that too. We split the savory crepes and both were quite good.
We had to get dessert; there was no choice. It's a French place, so we had to try their three Beignettes for $3.95. Quite nice. But, we needed a crepe, too, so it was Bavarian Cream with Fresh Strawberries for $650. It was drizzled with chocolate and it was divine.
At 2:49, we headed east. I liked this building that we saw as we were leaving downtown Knoxville. It's a cool way to present an old facade.
I dozed off, but woke at 3:45 (58,031) as we entered North Carolina.
Sarah was taking us into Asheville a weird way. At 4:36 (58,079), we pulled into Carrier Park. We thought about just getting out and looking at the river, but I was wearing Birkenstocks, which did not lend themselves to that walk. So, K got out and looked around a bit and then we reprogrammed Sarah. We were back on the road at 4:45.
Ten minutes and 4 miles later, we pulled into the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown. We took all of our stuff up to Room 433, which was rather attractive and had a view of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which did look blue.
The hotel was not as close to the downtown as one might have liked. In fact, it was on the very edge of it. They had a shuttle, but we didn't want to depend on it to get back. So, we took my car, when we left at 6:15. As we were leaving, I was struck by how attractive the plants and sculptures were outside. They were Wind Sculptures by Lyman Whitaker.
We knew where we wanted to go and headed there, but then we had to find a parking spot. Finally, we found one on the street at 6:30 (58,085) on O. Henry Avenue (Battle Square). Why is there a street named for O. Henry? He's buried in Asheville.
Our stroll took us past interesting architecture and sculptures, a community garden and even a basilica ( St. Lawrence, from which folks were exiting after Sunday evening Mass).
At 6:40, we arrived at The Bier Garden, which definitely went for the garden theme. There were "vines" all over the front of what seemed to have been a store in the past, complete with indented entrance. We were shown to seats and explored the menu. Since we were in North Carolina, I figured I had to have barbecue. So, for $13.95, I chose Hickory-Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich, which was quite good, and excellent sweet potato fries. To drink I got a 16oz can of Bold Rock Rose Cider ($6) that was definitely rose in color. I liked the flavor. K ordered fish n' chips also for $13.95, but substituted brussels sprouts. His fish was huge. He also tried a beer flight consisting of Ashville IPA, Flat Rock Cider, Porter and Wicked Weed IPA.
When we finished our meal, we left to stroll downtown. There were plenty of eateries and a few shops. It was almost impossible to find a postcard. However, there were interesting sculptures and signs.
We worked our way back to the car and got back to the hotel at 8:32 (58,086). At K's suggestion, we went up to the rooftop bar. There was music and not one seat available. No doubt, everyone was there for the sunset. We took a couple of photos and then went back to the room, where the sunset was not nearly as striking.
No comments:
Post a Comment