The Cathedral of Saint Paul

Not to be confused with St. Paul's Cathedral, London

You're looking at the exterior of the Cathedral of Saint Paul in St. Paul, MN, which was their fourth cathedral, completed in 1914-15. This is the south side. There's a reason you're not being shown a photo of the front entrance, which is on the east, but I'll save that for a surprise later in the post.

I'm not sure why the cathedral is situated with the apse on the west end, but it is. Maybe  they wanted the main entrance to be on Summit Avenue. The home of James J. Hill (railway magnate), built in 1891, is directly south of the cathedral on the other side of Summit Avenue.

 Looking up!

A few photos of the interior, which is truly awe-inspiring.

What??!

We were glad to get any parking spot on the street, not too far from the cathedral, in spite of all the construction taking place on the site. When we walked toward the cathedral, we saw these signs (above) just about everywhere. When I got home, I looked up the event online and found the following, about 'Crashed Ice.'

From Redbull.com

'Ice cross downhill is the fastest sport on skates. Take some of the best and toughest skaters in the world, a sizzling atmosphere, stunning surroundings and thousands of square meters of frozen water. The result? Red Bull Crashed Ice!

'One of the world's most breathtaking winter sports events returns to Saint Paul for the sixth year. The Minnesota event is contested on a 1,600-foot-long track with a drop of 12 stories in front of the Cathedral of Saint Paul. It draws in excess of 120,000 wild fans, so expect high stakes and big drama as the riders fight it out as first to the bottom wins.

Can’t make it to Red Bull Crashed Ice? Catch the action live on Red Bull TV on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.'

Twelve stories?? Downhill ice skating? This event is definitely for the Type A personality! But I would love to be there to watch it!

 Currently, this is what the front entrance to the Cathedral of Saint Paul looks like. It's the strangest sight. It looks like a ski jump or giant water slide.

 More of the 'Crashed Ice' scaffolding and ramp as I was
looking from the cathedral toward the capitol building (r.)

It just goes to show you the lengths we in the upper midwest will go to make winter more tolerable, although personally, I'd much rather spend time IN the cathedral than to be skating downhill from it. It's still mind boggling.

But don't be surprised if you run into me at the Cathedral that evening.

Linking to Mosaic Monday

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