Five cheap Washington DC things you can do in five days. Day one: The National Cathedral

We took my niece and grandniece down to the Washington National Zoo two weeks ago. Although my niece loved the zoo, she told me that the most amazing thing about the zoo is that admission is free. She is from Austin Texas and the nearest zoo in San Antonio costs money to get into. That got me thinking about Washington versus other cities. We really have a unique city in that so many great tourist sites are free to see, or cost very little. Here are a few of my favorites. The first that comes to mind is the National Cathedral.

When I was a kid, they were actually still building the cathedral. My mom used to take us downtown to see the stone work that they were preparing to place on the walls and spires under construction. In addition when you visit we visited  the cathedral there were all sorts mysterious passages and staircases that are closed to the general public. I can't imagine many ten year old kids who would not fantasize about climbing up those narrow stone spiral staircases? Well, it turns out you can. For my birthday a few years back my wife took me on a special guided tour of the cathedral that allows you to see all sorts of magical places.  Best part was that we went on a weekday in the winter (always the best time to go see things) and we were the only ones on the guided tour given by two very elderly and knowledgeable docents. Our tour included plenty of fun nooks and crannies such as a trip onto the roof (made of lead, you know) where we could gaze on unseen gargoyles and panoramic vistas of DC, and a trip to the attic vaults to see some of the "brick and mortar" bones of the cathedral.

Two of the many gargoyles on the cathedral. The creature to the right is from the move "Alien."





There are a number of specialty tours of the National Cathedral that you can take as well, such as a climb up the massive bell tower. Our tour was called "Behind the Scenes" and took about 90 minutes to complete. Fee for the tour was $15 and was well worth it.