Out and About: St. Louis, Day 2 - Part 2

For the final portion of my solitary afternoon in St. Louis, I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was, hands down, my favorite part of the trip. The garden is enormous, peaceful, and stunningly gorgeous. I was there for several hours, and I could have easily spent more time there, but my brother was ready to pick me up. I didn't even get to see everything!

View of the Climatron, with a fountain & sculptures in the foreground. The inscription at the fountain indicated that the sculptures are on loan:

Inside the Climatron:

Chihuly glass.

Ceiling of the Climatron as seen through latticework.

Be still my heart with this tile work.

Arty shot.

I loved the Fall colors & the Autumn displays that hadn't yet been removed, even though they were already setting up for Christmas:

The mausoleum for Henry Shaw, founder of the garden:

Statue of Juno & aerial view of the maze (taken from the observatory) in the English Garden:

In the German Garden, a lovely tree & my favorite little resting spot:

Ceiling of the gazebo.

The sublime Japanese Garden:

George Washington Carver Garden:

A lovely sentiment.

A final bit of color on my way out the door:

Later that evening, my brother and I joined his conference compatriots at a cool little bar called Propaganda. Then it was back to the hotel , as I had an early flight in the morning. Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip. I'm so glad that I went!

Out and About: St. Louis, Day 2 - Part 1

On day two of my trip to St. Louis, my brother had an all-day seminar, which meant I got to kick around by myself. I had him drop me off at Gateway Arch. I was only going to look, maybe take a few pictures, but I swear, once you see the Arch up close, you can't just look. You have to go inside!

Some Arch shots:

Inside, there's not a tour per se. There's a little holding area where you learn facts about the Arch & play trivia while you wait for your ride to the top. It has a cutesy, retro 60s vibe (the Arch was built in the 60s).

Tram door:

View from the top. Downtown St. Louis on one side, Mississippi River on the other:

Sculpture of the men who helped to bring the Arch to fruition:

After leaving the Arch, I took the approximately 1.5 mile walk to City Museum (more on that in a moment). This walk took me through part of downtown St. Louis, which had some truly lovely parks that seemed on the newer side. There were also great sculptures.

Some of those sculptures:

I'm a sucker for architecture, particularly of the neo-classical style, so here are some city shots:

Eventually, I found myself at City Museum. It's a place that almost defies description. I've been telling people, "It's like a giant jungle gym made out of found materials. And there's caves. And tunnels. And a Ferris wheel on the roof." Perhaps just check out the website.

Approaching the museum, I walked along this cool fence:

And laughed out loud when I found this at the end:

Views from the roof (yes, I did climb up the tower you can see in shot #2):

Views from the rooftop Ferris wheel (yes, I did climb the ramp that leads to the praying mantis in pic #2):

Inside, cool tile work:

One of many aquariums:

Part of the 10-story spiral slide, which I went down. It was fun as all get out:

Organ, which did get some play:

Funky ceiling:

It was a Saturday afternoon. The place was packed and LOUD. So I didn't stay long, but I had a great time while I was there. After leaving, I headed over to the botanical garden, which will be covered in my final post next week.