Sonya's Blog - Day 273 - Salt Lake City
Sonya’s Blog - Day 273 - March 21st - Salt Lake City
We have one day in Salt Lake City, so we are going to Temple Square. We have decided to ride our bikes there, as it is about 7 KM’s. Natasha got all the bikes off the RV and we headed out.
It was a nice bike ride. When we arrived at Temple Square, we went straight to the first Visitor’s Centre. I had to stay outside, because I had my coffee, and there was no food or drink allowed. Blake came back out and said we were signed up for a tour, so I quickly finished my coffee and went inside.
Our tour was with two young ladies, one from Canada and one from the Philippines. They were both on their missions for 18 months in Salt Lake City. We started in the basement of the Visitor’s Centre where there was a small museum. We then moved over to the Tabernacle and they did a sound test. The sound is very good in the building, due to the way it was designed. The young lady at the front experimented with various things, dropping different items, rustling paper, stuff like that. The purpose was to demonstrate how well sound carried in the building. After that we moved to the Assembly Hall and then to the second Visitor’s Centre. This one had a cut-out model of the Temple, so that we were able to see the inside. We are not allowed in the Temple, as we do not belong to the church. The tour was good and we learned a bit about the establishment of the church in this area. It got a bit uncomfortable at the end, because they really did want us to join the church and keep in touch. I had many, many questions that I did not ask, about many things not the least of which was the reasons Joseph Smith was killed (martyred, according to the church) and the polygamy question. Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, had about 40 wives (some of whom were already married to others in the church) and Bringham Young had 55 wives (although quite a few managed to get a divorce from him, which I wouldn’t have thought was possible). Some of the answers are not pretty and I didn’t think it was fair to put the young women on the spot. It was interesting to note that when Natasha broke away from us in the Visitor’s Centre, she was approached very quickly and asked if she had any more questions, more than once. Do you think she is their target age group?
It is Spring in Utah, Temple Square had lovely gardens:
The Assembly Hall:
The Tabernacle, the organ has about 12,000 pipes:
The Temple:
When we were done, we went for lunch. There was a nice cafe across the street, so we went there. The food was very good and we all had a great lunch. It was time to bike back to the RV after lunch. Once we got back, Blake and I had to head for the grocery store to get supper food. The kids had to clean up and start with packing up, since we are on the road again tomorrow morning.
Sonya