Today was mainly a driving day as I hit the 10,000 mile mark just before crossing the Mississippi river and, I’m glad to say, the weather was calm and sunny. The journey was 346 miles through four states – Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky – with the only tourist stop being the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

It’s been over 25 years since I last visited anywhere in St. Louis so I thought about revisiting the Gateway Arch or taking a tour at Busch Stadium (I really wanted to do the ballpark tour in Kansas City but they are only offered on Saturdays). However I figured the Arch was probably unchanged and I didn’t really want to support Washington’s arch (sic) rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.  The Catholic cathedral looked beautiful in photos, seemed to be universally enjoyed by visitors and would be the first religious site on the trip. It lived up to my hopes. The building is relatively modern, completed in 1917, and is built in the Byzantine style with domes, rather than the spires of Gothic cathedrals. It’s main feature, however, is that the inside is almost completely covered with amazing glass mosaics. It s thought to be one of the largest collections of mosaics in the world and they have a small museum showing the design and crafting of the mosaics. I’ll let the photos attempt to show the beauty although it was difficult to get good shots because the lighting was dim and some exposures took as long as two seconds.

The final destination was Bowling Green, Kentucky and the map and video are here.

The exterior of the cathedral is impressive but not spectacular.The interior, however, is exquisite.