If you’re visiting San Francisco, Grace Cathedral should definitely be on your list of places to visit.
It’s breathtaking at night and the ‘Gates of Paradise’ or ‘Ghiberti Doors’ are exquisite.
To be fair, the gates are a replica. The original gates were in Florence at the Florence baptistery. However, were you to go to Florence today to see the doors, you would be looking upon a replica too, as the orignal doors are now stored away in a protected and controlled environment.
Here are some close-ups of sections of the doors:
Grace Cathedral is also famous for its labyrinth. It’s as beautiful inside as it is on the outside, and I found it strangely calming to sit inside the cathedral for a while, after a long day out in the city. It’s very cool and quiet inside, and I found myself unsurprisingly, in a contemplative mood.
After visiting the Cathedral, I would also recommend walking over to the famous hotel across the street: the Fairmont San Francisco. This is where the United Nations Charter was first drafted, in the hotel’s Garden Room.
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