It's been quite a long time! Wow - about 13 days since I last posted! I've been really busy with assignments and ensuring that my work's up to date, for the past 2 weeks (and it definitely paid off!). Sorry guys, for the lag!!
I noticed that I've fallen into a routine - a fairly balanced one, I think. Mondays to Fridays are typically spent doing lecture summaries, assignments (if any), and Saturdays or Sundays (sometimes both) are taken as days off. And of course, I practice piano everyday, which is something that I cannot sacrifice. So yeah, my Saturdays (or Sundays) are typically dedicated to trips around the city. Not large-scale trips, just small ones, typically half a day, to unwind and then get back to work the following weekday. And it definitely helps!
Anyway this entry's mainly about the gothic-revival Catholic church, St Patrick's Cathedral, located near the city, somewhere in East Melbourne.
Pavement art along the street. Taken while I was walking towards the tram stop.
It was so gorgeous that day - clear blue skies, hardly any clouds, and it stayed that way until dark. And here's the tallest tower of St Patrick's. I'm really amazed by how they actually built the cathedral in the 1880s - all the limited technology and stuff, plus the massive stones that set the foundation, plus the details on the roofs etc...WOW!
Interior of St. Patrick's. The stained glass along the sides of the main hall were mostly yellowish, so it made the entire hall appear orange, and as "Bridge to Terabithia" puts it - it makes the whole hall "catch fire".
One of the stained glass masterpieces - located right at the entrance.
And this is how it looks like from the aisle.
One of the orange-tinted glass windows.
How the sides of the main hall look like. Quite a number of people were coming in for quiet prayers as well, and many others, for sightseeing and enjoying the peace within the hall.
Yet another view of the main hall, including the sides and the pillars.
Some details of the roof. And yes, the roof was amazing too! Wonder how they made it so elaborate and detailed...
The altar. We weren't allowed to go in though. And above the altar, there were some words painted on the beams.
Something which I always look out for whenever I go to cathedrals/churches: the pipe organ. I've never played a pipe organ before, but I'd love to try it someday. I love its rich, resonant tone, and especially with the acoustics of the cathedral itself - it's just so gorgeous!
The church was shaped (somewhat) like a semi-circle on top of a massive rectangle, and here is the "semi-circular" part - where the coloured stained-glass windows were.
And from the "semi-circular" part, when you look into the main cathedral, this is what you see.
Walking towards the end of the semi-circle...
And yes, the lighting was so gorgeous that day, so I just had to experiment with different angles, compositions etc.
More views of the main hall, while walking towards the exit/entrance. I think I spent at least an hour or so within the cathedral, enjoying the peace and quietness, and happily snapping pictures. And the best part - not many people were there at that time.
Candles as offerings. Quite a number of visitors lit candles for their loved ones. There was also a small information booth nearby.
And here's the lady in charge of the information booth, making sure the candles were intact.
The sand-filled stone bowl where we put our candles.
Actually, I had an epic fail moment that day, as I didn't manage to find the entrance to the cathedral (there were 2 or 3 I think). But a really nice guy pointed it out to me, eventually - apparently he went to the cathedral countless times, and knew quite a fair bit about it.
Some of the impressive details of the cathedral.
Pictures of the main tower and some of the other smaller ones. For some reason the cathedral reminds me of a fortress.
More wide-angled shots of the cathedral before I left.
Surroundings of St. Patrick's.
A sign that autumn has well and truly arrived - red leaves around the fences of the cathedral.
And some of the well-maintained flowers within the flower beds.
Had to leave by then, so I headed towards St. Peter's Church. It was a pretty small church, but definitely more cosy than its intimidating neighbour. And its exterior was pretty gorgeous too! I don't think it's a Catholid church though.
Before I headed back to college, I went to the Parliament House - a popular spot for wedding pictures.
And I was lucky - there WAS a couple taking wedding pictures there! So I decided to take some shots for myself...
One of my goals is to take wedding pictures for people. Unfortunately no one that I know of are getting married (we're still too young!). Oh, and the pictures above are not counted - since I am not the main photographer! So yeah...that's something to look forward to.
Closeup of the Doric columns supporting the Parliament House. Chose this shot because of the lighting.
And that's another epic weekend covered! Not as epic as the Williamstown one I did during the Easter break, but still awesome!
Anyways I did go back to St. Patrick's, but this time the lighting was totally different - it was an overcast day, and it was nearly dark. It's interesting how lighting plays such a massive part in pictures.
Once again, sorry for the delay!!