09-11-08 Thursday (One man's junk is...)

I’m glad that we did the Arch yesterday. While at the top of it, I nervously asked Jim for the date. Every September 11th, I’m always reminded of the terrorist attack as well as the possibility of others. Being in a large city or monument on the 11th makes me edgy.

As usual, we were off to a late start. We knew we’d probably not catch the City Museum and the Zoo so I chose the museum. I think if we catch another zoo somewhere else, the animals will be very similar, unless St. Louis has unusual animal exhibits. Unlikely, I suppose.

First a stop to Burger King for a quick lunch. The Angus Steakhouse burger was ewwwwww, just so you know. Yeah, what did I expect…….

The City Museum is pretty awesome. The exhibits are all interactive. Interactive to climb on, slide down, crawl in, etc. Per its website (http://www.citymuseum.org/), here’s the description:

Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike.
Cassilly and his longtime crew of 20 artisans have constructed the museum from the very stuff of the city; and, as a result, it has urban roots deeper than any other institutions'. Reaching no farther than municipal borders for its reclaimed building materials, CITY MUSEUM boasts features such as old chimneys, salvaged bridges, construction cranes, miles of tile, and even two abandoned planes!
"CITY MUSEUM makes you want to know," says Cassilly. "The point is not to learn every fact, but to say, 'Wow, that's wonderful.' And if it's wonderful, it's worth preserving."


A slideshow should appear below. You can pause it and then use the arrows to go to the next picture at your own speed.




For the days finale, we again drove around downtown St. Louis but this time focusing on the neighborhoods. A lot of the buildings and old homes have great architecture. We couldn’t find the church I spoke about yesterday and the GPS was of no help in its location. We did see a beautiful tower from a road so we drove toward it and checked it out. It was actually the Compton Reservoir. The cool looking tower is actually a water tower. It’s all surrounded by a nice park. Ya just never know what you’ll find by just driving around.