Notre Dame

So, after the fun-filled weekend in Chicago at our family reunion; we continued on with a couple of college tours for Jake. The first stop was Monday at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Jake had been to Notre Dame a few times with a friend- but this was the first visit for Pete, Drew and me. {Photos from November 2009 and April 2010.}

The campus was everything I pictured it to be!

We arrived on campus a little early, so Jake showed us around a bit before our scheduled tour.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The Fighting Irish.

The Main Building which is where admissions is.

Looking up inside the Golden Dome.

Waiting for our tour to start.

The famous Golden Dome with the 19 foot tall statue of Mary.

The Clarke Memorial Fountain.

The 'Word of Life' mural on the outside wall of the Hesburgh Library. As our tour guide told us; Notre Dame is known for two things: Jesus and football and so many statues, etc. have nicknames. This mural is better know as 'Touchdown Jesus.' 

This statue is nicknamed 'First Down Moses.'

A classroom.

The Tunnel leading to the football stadium.

'Christ the Teacher' statue.

Jesus statue with the Golden Dome in the background.

The 'Immaculate Hand Off' statue.

The 'Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.'

Two boys resting from the heat.

This campus is so beautiful!

The Memorial Door at the east entrance of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The South Dining Hall

where we finally stopped to get some dinner.

Inside the dining hall was really neat. It is said that the producer of the Harry Potter movies based the dining hall in Hogwarts from this hall at Notre Dame.

It was so hot and humid with the temp getting to 101, but that didn't slow us down from seeing everything we wanted to see! We spent about 7 hours on campus and even still, none of us were in a hurry to leave. :)