This morning I left St. Louis, but not until I had visited the Arch. In truth, the top of the arch wasn’t as spectacular as I had imagined. However, it was still nice to be at the top of the city. Really, the arch was more exciting to see from outside. One nice thing about traveling alone is that I was able to skip ahead of groups when buying tickets for the tram to the top. As it was, I probably saved ninety minutes over what it would take if I was with another person.
You travel to the top via a tram which is quite small. In fact, one of the people originally on my tram decided very quickly that it wasn’t for him. If you’re claustrophobic it’s a difficult fit. Once at the top – which was a surprisingly small area – you can look out the windows to the skyline of the city on West, and the Mississippi River on the East. The windows, again, were surprisingly tiny.
The arch is actually located on a large park, (The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial), and also overlooks the old courthouse, which was the site of the Dred Scott decision. In addition, you have a great view of Busch Stadium from the arch. (If you enjoyed these pictures I’d encourage you to check out the Picasa Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/reidksmith. There are many more photos that I wasn’t able to include with this post and I’m not sure that the ones I did include were the best.)
After this I headed to Kansas City. On the way I stopped at Booches Billiard Hall in Columbia for lunch. The burgers there are slightly larger than sliders, served on wax paper, and taste great.
After arriving in Kansas City, I explored the Plaza area with one of my hosts, Marlene. The Plaza is a Kansas City version of Birmingham, MI, and the first outdoor shopping center designed to accommodate people arriving by automobile. Although I didn’t bring my camera, I included a picture of Brush Creek, which runs right along the edge of the Plaza. It’s a very upscale area with a lot of outdoor events and public places. The architecture of the shops, sculptures, and fountains are lifted from Spain, and this creates an interesting effect, (a Spanish-themed Restoration Hardware, for example.)
One of the fountain parks we walked through was hosting a vigil for the sister of someone who was killed in the Iranian protests. The candles spread throughout the park at dusk made for an interesting, but somber, scene. There was an outdoor adaptation of some of Shakespeare’s plays outside the art museum, which was a fascinating site, even at night. I’m going to try to get back there during the day and get some pictures.
I have to say that I’m surprised by Kansas City. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but it’s really a large and well put-together metro area.
For more pictures, see http://picasaweb.google.com/reidksmith
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Great pictures Reid! I think you are getting the hang of this photography thing. The Arch is one of those subjects which seems like it should be very easy to photograph, but then when attempting to do so, you quickly discover that there's no easy way to get the whole thing in the frame and also have an interesting photo.
ReplyDeleteYou are left with the challenge of composing a picture which includes only part of your subject (the Arch), yet still is about the Arch. Moreover, without the drama of a frame filling Arch, having a balanced and interesting composition is much more important. I must say you met the challenge quite well!