Perfect weather for a monastery visit

Six years ago when I was interning in Maryland, I went to a different church almost every Sunday. It allowed me to explore the Basilica at Catholic University, the St. Matthew's cathedral where John F. Kennedy's funeral took place, and even a monastery with replicas of holy sites.

This weekend, I returned to the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America for Mass and an afternoon in its gardens. The monks serve and preserve Christian sites in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. Their monastery includes replicas of many of those sites, such as Jesus' tomb, the Nativity grotto and the location of the crucifixion, as well as Roman catacombs and the Lourdes grotto.

The weather was perfect for walking around the Rosary Portico and gardens.