Yesterday, Mary and I went to visit the Mary, Queen of the Universe Shrine. It was really quite impressive by its artistry and its scale. It is located in Kissimmee near Downtown Disney. The three sets of doors behind Mary are massive brass doors with brass religious scenes in relief in the panels of the door. There are numerous panels in each door each with a different scene.
The interior of the church was spectacular as well but I wish that it had more of the gothic Notre Dame cathedral or St. Patrick’s cathedral theme to it.

It was interesting that there was a colonnade of columns running down both sides of the church with Romanesque arches between them and carved capstones on top of the columns. This is more of the style that I find pleasing. The church in my hometown had this same design with the colonnade but on a much smaller scale. Between the stained glass windows were classical paintings depicting the Stations of the Cross which was always my favorite mass traditionally held on Friday nights. There is so much to describe but should be seen in person to be fully appreciated. A nice church which seats two thousand people at a time.
Mary and I spent quite a bit of time at the church taking a leisurely exploration of both the interior of the church and the exterior grounds which contained other structures. When we had finished, it was lunch time and we went Panera’s for lunch. Panera’s is sort of an upscale sandwich restaurant. I had my favorite which was a cheddar broccoli soup in a bread bowl. The soup was thick, heart, and savory. In other words, it was pretty good. Mary had a Sierra Turkey sandwich which was smoked turkey breast with chipotle mayonnaise, field greens & red onions on Asiago Cheese Focaccia bread. She enjoyed it.
After lunch we returned home and watched part of a DVD movie from the library. It was a rather casual and relaxing day. Today we get to see an exhibition of paintings by the Highwaymen. I like their paintings because of the splash of color in their paintings and rural Florida themes. Everyone have a great day. Lew