St Louis

 

Have you visited St. Louis?  Have you gone up in the Arch? Don't people always ask if you went up in the arch when you tell them you were in St. Louis?  How can you go to St. Louis and not go up inside the arch?  If you are spontaneous, in other words, one who doesn't plan to the nth degree, you may not be able to get a chance to go up in the arch if you are just visiting St. Louis. Reservations are now required. We went up a few years ago when visiting St. Louis but I think we just showed up and went up.  No planning ahead.  Spontaneity is our thing.  But with that, you sometimes miss out. Our timing was not in synch with the park service schedule for going up this time.  And we were tight on time so we couldn't make reservations later. Not a problem, really, though I wished our daughter and son-in-law could have gone up in the arch.

The arch is magnificent, true, and quite the feat of engineering, but I love trains and this visit we focused on the old Union Station which is now an amazing Hilton Hotel with restaurants, a pool, the St. Louis Aquarium, a ferris wheel, light shows and fountains in a pool... It's beautiful and makes for great pictures.  It's a place we would not have stayed at if not for being with our kids.  Too pricey.  Bougie.  But I'm glad we had a chance to stay.  I love trains and this place is awesome. 

The old building is magnificent. And this picture doesn't capture 
the enormity of it.

Union Station in St. Louis was built in the late 1800's.  It opened in 1894 and for a time was the largest and busiest in the world and the train shed had the largest roof in the world. It was expanded in 1903 to prepare for the 1904 World's Fair. It saw it's busiest time in the 1940's. The last Amtrak train pulled out in 1978 and now is located in a non-descript building a block or so away.  But the old St. Louis Union Station is one of the largest of historic facilities in the US that has been successfully reengineered for a different purpose. It's been an Omni, Hyatt and Marriott and Doubletree before becoming a Hilton. Let's hope it continues to be something.

Looking up over the main entrance.

Inside the Grand Hall which now has dining and a long bar along the wall.

The light show on the ceiling of the grand hall changes on a schedule.  
I love how art is changing with technology and merging with entertainment. 
I've always loved functional art.

A large model train and village set occupies a large space on one side of the gift shop.

The train shed with the ferris wheel just outside, the pool reflecting
light in the foreground and Landry's Seafood restaurant in the center.

The train shed holds many things to include this small cafe with
ice cream, candy, burgers, and yes, booze.

Me lounging, literally, in the hallway outside the bar/restaurant
while we waited to be seated for breakfast.   

We did a nice long walk around the National Park area paths bordering the arch and walked quite a bit of the downtown area.  It was a pretty hot and muggy day.  We were soaked with sweat but enjoying ourselves.  

This is the Lewis and Clark sculpture along the Mississippi near the arch. 
Included in the picture is Seaman, their Newfie that made the entire trip, was stolen by Indians 
for a bit then reaquired by Lewis and Clark not long afterwards, involving some killing, if I recall.  

This is maybe my favorite picture of the arch.  

We walked back through downtown and had a drink at a pizza place that had games galore at each of the tables.  It was midafternoon so the place was quiet except for a couple tables.  We sat at the bar and conversed with the employees and a couple patrons.  If we go back we will sample their pizza.

I love the murals on this building.  From a distance you can't tell what is a mural and what is not.  I even thought the windows were all painted on.  Bring it on people.  Bring on the murals.  Give us more art. 

And back to the train station.

Later before we took our daughter and son-in-law to the airport we visited the Lewis and Clark Confluence Tower in Hartford, Illinois. It is 150 feet high and you can ride the elevator up and see the rivers and one of the largest refinery in the US.  It is near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the two longest rivers in North America. The confluence of the Illinois River is close, as well.  We'd love to boat the Illinois to/from Chicago. 

It was a nice trip.  I say all these things about St. Louis but the trip really was to see my mother in Iowa at the nursing home where she lives with Lewy Body Dementia and strokes and just plane old, frail bones. She had just had a fall and had broken a clavicle.  It actually happened after we'd set the dates to go see her.  So the timing worked out.  She had surgery on her clavicle a couple of days after we left.  We drove to St. Louis to be there to pick up our daughter and son-in-law who were flying in from Baltimore.  They didn't have enough time for the drive and St. Louis offered lots of flights in case of cancellations or weather events. The time spent driving with them from St. Louis to Iowa and back was a nice to to just chat and catch up.  We also visited my sister-s grave and my father and grandparents' graves after we saw my mom.  Visiting the graves is part of Dave's and my pattern when we go to Iowa to see my mom.  We leave roses at each of the graves and I say their names.  I miss my dad.  I miss my sister, too, but am going through a phase of really missing my dad.  And appreciating him.  I had good parents.  I have a good mom.  I'm glad she is doing ok.  She isn't angry, she isn't in pain, she isn't lonely.  That is a lot better than many older people get the last few years of their lives.  And let's not forget and be ungrateful for all the years we were lucky enough to have our loved ones.