Exploring St. Louis by day....
Kasey was pretty excited to start our day ....*L* So off we went....
We started the day heading downtown to go to the famous arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the riverfront. Known as the "Gateway to the West", it is called the Gateway Arch and has become the iconic image of St. Louis.
There is a very cool park we walked through to get there from the parking lot, which is in "Old St. Louis" area of the city. The park reminded me a bit of Central Park in NYC on a much smaller scale. There was a cool area they were working on that must be an ice skating place in the winter, and a great view of the Mississippi on one side and the city scape on the other side.
Once at the Arch, we had to go through security, much like at an airport...take off coats, empty pockets, take off belts, put purses in bin and walk through metal detector. I imagine all national monuments have this same feature nowdays?
Inside the Jefferson Nat'l Expansion Memorial is the Museum of Westward Expansion, which we explored.
Look, even back in the old west, people were doing assemblage art... a CHAIR ASSEMBLAGE SCULPTURE! *hah!*
The animated people looked pretty real and moved realistically as they spoke about historic events.
To go to the top of the Arch, you sit in these little pods that fit 4-5 people, and go up and down the arch every ten minutes. The ride up takes 4 minutes, if you are at ALL claustrophobic you might have a problem with the ride.
The viewing deck at the top ... and the views ...amazing!
After leaving the Arch, we headed over to Old St. Louis where we stopped for lunch. It was such a perfect day, in the 70's, so we sat outside at Hannegan's.
Yummy food... fried artichoke hearts with sauces, crispy butterfly shrimp, tomatoe basil bisque. DEEEELICIOUS!
The old stores, brick streets, bridges, arches made it a quaint area to explore, as well as the riverfront too....
We then headed down the road about 15 miles to "Bodies, THe Exhibition". An interesting exhibit of real human bodies which have been sliced, diced, peeled, stripped and more. They wouldn't allow us to take photos, so these are from sources on the internet, same things that we saw. There were also parts of the exhibit that allowed you to check your blood pressure and pulse, and do a fun mind game where you moved a ball with your mind...but you had to be the one who relaxed the most to move it to the opponents goal. Kasey won that one...but it took us about 7 minutes to do.. *L*
It was amazing to see how intricately made we truly ARE! I couldn't help but think about this scripture passage... Psalm 139:13-16 "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."
Just a few blocks from the Bodies Exhibition was the Brown Shoe Company, where there was a Shoe Sculpture made of shoes. Kasey had to see if the shoe fit..*G*
And a short distance from there was a horn statue at a community center entrance.
We decided to stay overnight in the area and head out in the morning...
After checking in, and finding the hidden refrigerator and microwave, we went to the "Happy Hour" the hotel featured... yummy appetizers (which we made our dinner), and free drinks too!
We decided to call it a day/night, and retired to our room for some photo editing, and a good night's sleep. We must be sleeping more in preparation for late nights in Memphis in a couple of days..*L*
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