Downtown St. Louis

Thursday, March 3, 2016

St. Louis Trip, Day 4, Monday, July 27, 2015
Monday morning the chess camp had a campus tour.  We decided to skip that and head for downtown St. Louis with our friends Karen, Mike (Karen's dad), and Kate.  Our main goal was to tour the Gateway Arch.  But this post is dedicated to the oddities and architecture we saw along the way.
Musicians in St. Louis are slightly different from the ones you'd run across in the Iowa cornfields....St. Louis artwork is a little different too!  This has to be some of the most creative metal art I've seen.
After so many tv shows that I have watched where mad scientists bring wax figures to life--or turn humans into stiff wax figures--I was wary walking by the wax museum.  Scenes from Get Smart episode House of Max played through my mind, in spite of the fact that the museum innocently purported to offer "hot dogs" and "ice cream."
We enjoyed looking at the old buildings.  The church near the arch is the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France.  It's also known as the Old Cathedral.  It appears that in 1766 services were first held there in a tent.  It was replaced by a small log house in 1770, which was expanded into a church in 1776.  A brick church was built in 1818, and that was replaced by this Basilica, built between 1831 and 1834.
One neat building was the Bee Hat Lofts, a former hat factory.  The building has a pipe system that blows steam out of the mouths of decorative lions' heads every hour. Buildings weren't the only things constructed of brick.  There were some brick streets!  
We also walked by a store devoted completely to products for left-handed people!  
They must have had a strong air-conditioner, because the windows were covered with condensation.

24 comments:

  1. Are those mufishians?! ;) This looks like a fun trip! The buildings look so cool and full of variety. I don't blame you for mistrusting the wax museum though...>.>

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    1. Mufishians?!! Very clever! I guess they are. Ha, yes, someday I might find the nerve to venture into one. But this trip was not the time.

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  2. I love the buildings, and the brick roads are so cool!

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  3. Reminds me of The Leftorium from The Simpsons

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    1. It's neat that stores for left-handed people exist!

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  4. Since I am left-handed except when I swing a bat or a golf club, or knit or crochet, I would especially like to check out the leftie's store :) xx

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    1. My papa and grandma are left-handed too! Grandma says when she was a girl, her teacher disapproved of her writing with her left hand, and would swat her hand with a ruler. She was helping her brother one day with kindling though, and a finger on her right hand got cut to the bone. Since her right hand had to be bandaged, her teacher gave up and let her use her left hand. I guess it was sort of a blessing in disguise, since using the wrong hand to write with had made her stutter. After she switched back to her left hand, she was fine again. It's sad how ignorant people were to discriminate against left-handed people back in the day!

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  5. I love the first one, all metal jazz band, yes.

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  6. A fascinating glimpse of St Louis! The metal fish band are sure to make people smile!

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  7. The more photos you share of this area, the more interested I am to see it. Looks like a great place to explore and photograph! I especially love old buildings. They make for great images and they have many stories to tell.

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    1. St. Louis does have many great sights! I think I probably could have spent the whole week sight-seeing, and not have run out of places to visit.

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  8. Looks like you had a good time in St. Louis. My son and his wife were there a couple of weeks ago on business and loved it. xo Diana

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  9. We were in St. Louis last year for hockey - and I loved the old buildings and architecture too. As well as the odd little bits here and there. ;) Thanks for sharing and bringing me down memory lane. xoxo Have a great weekend kiddo!

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    1. Ah! Too bad we didn't both end up there at the same time. Glad you enjoyed your time there. Hope you have a great week!

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  10. Did you eat any of the hot dogs or ice cream?

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    1. We didn't have the time to go in and visit. I wonder if they had real hot dogs and ice cream or just wax to serve!

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  11. haha, I've heard of stores of stuff for lefties but I don't think I've ever come across one. If I did, I'd definitely have to go in!

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    1. Living here in rural Iowa, I don't remember ever seeing a store like that before. It looked interesting!

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