A Day Spent Musing

I had known about the existence of the Art Museum but I'd never gotten around to inspecting it, but discovering that there was also a Museum of History was a complete surprise. I did circle the park again and meant to check out the zoo for a little while, but either it wasn't open yet or that day or I found something else to distract me before I found an open entrance. At any rate I went to the History Museum.

It was an impressive place, complete with gift shop and upscale eatery, with a few special exhibits requiring admissions in addition to the bulk of the museum's historical offerings. The bad thing about the place was the parking...there was only a little of it near the building, and that was complicated with one-way channeling and scary roundabouts. If you went to the back before finding a slot, you'd end out on the main street outside of the park, where due to road construction or something, it was traffic hell. Consequently it also took some time and effort to turn around and get back into the park to try again. After going on that merry-go-round a few times, I just parked on a side road. It was a good walk from the museums and my feet were already making me wince, but at least it was a spot easy to get to and see.

I explored the place best I could, including the gift shop. I didn't go into any of the special exhibits since I really wanted to see as much as possible (if I paid for something I'd feel obligated to absorb every crumb of information available...plus, unless it's really grand, well, I'm just cheap, heheh). A good part of the museum was devoted to the (1904) World's Fair...the park was once the fair grounds and the buildings, etc. a part of that. Ah. Lots of early twentieth-century stuff. I can relate. Hemisfair Plaza in downtown San Antonio is similar. Well, that one was in 1968, but space-wise it's a fair-days remnant...

There was also a monument or so to Thomas Jefferson... TJ's democracy and freedom themes are honored in many St. Louis monuments (Jefferson Memorial Gateway Arch, for example).

He makes for a handsome statue, indeed.

There were other statues and intriguing tidbits; there was a room on Lindbergh and, naturally, the Spirit of St. Louis. In fact one of the special exhibits was about the history of flight, I think.

Flying overhead, a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis. I toured the Lindbergh room, but did not opt for the whole history of flight exhibit. There was plenty on other things, stuff about St. Louis proper, exploration and history of the area (Lewis & Clark, etc.)...and there was an interesting room exhibit of American wedding dresses throughout time. No flash allowed and it was a very dark room, so I didn't bother with pictures. I didn't think it'd be too interesting at first, but some of the dresses were pretty old and did have some intriguing histories attached to them. There was a tour group of Red Hat ladies going through, so I caught a little extra info here and there. A few dresses were quite pretty, some were simply practical, the 1970's lace pantsuit was actually very attractive...it was something to find out that a white wedding dress was a very new concept as far as the bridal gown went. Apparently anything would do, but blues and greens were preferred for the most part.

When I figured I'd had enough St. Louis history, I hobbled back to the car and found my way to the Museum of Art. This sat majestically on a hill overlooking a large and long reflecting pool with fountains, which some folks were getting ready to use as the backdrop for a wedding, it seemed, judging from all the tuxed types and limos and folding chairs at the bottom of the hill. A regal statue of St. Louis guarded the front of the art museum.

Dramatic view of the Missouri Saint. Well, the statue. Not the actual fellow.

Missouri Museum of Art. The special exhibit was on Napoleon. As it was I barely had time to run through the museum, much less tour the special exhibit, though. There were several floors, too. I even recognized a number of pieces as well as the artists. They had a maybe-Rembrandt or two, the dancer statue by Degas, one of Monet's big waterlily works, and several other well-known items. And many not-so-well-known but still fascinating pieces in their collections, including furniture, weaponry, and a variety of other types of artistic creations.

But they had to close up before I could finish, so I ran through some areas to "skim" through and finally left the premises, taking a few parting shots before leaving the park. I still had to find gas, which took some time since I didn't see any stations on the immediate route I was taking, and wound up finding it well off on Watson Road of all places (which I also found later to be the address of a company used by the library I work in). Small world, eh? At any rate by early evening I bid St. Louis adieu.

St. Louis and the Dinosaurs

I wonder if that's anything like St. George and the dragon?

T. Rex is sneaking around behind the pine needles...

T. Rex's constant foe and companion, Triceratops, looks like he's found some tar pits. Actually the black strips are black plastic that's come up from under the gravel. Seems like Triceratops is compacting the garbage, though.

Tyrannosaurus Rex is looking bright and cheery against the grey morning sky.

Perhaps instead of sparring, he's about to suggest they go out for biscuits and gravy just this once.

I had to run around a bit but eventually the Science Museum opened and I went in to do some quick exploring, preferably the areas I hadn't done too much before on the other side of the complex. The Science Museum extends over the highway to another building, so there's usually quite a bit to explore if you have the time. Even the walkway is worth a few moments to stop and look down at the cars speeding by, and there are radar guns to point at them to see just how fast they are zipping past. So I glanced over the stuff I'd seen numerous times (though I can always make a whole day disappear at a science museum) and played with some of the newer things, and stayed a little while in the medical section.

Even met a nice fellow just hanging around.

There was a lady there too, but she was very transparent. She obviously felt boxed in.

Actually I was pleased and surprised the shots came out. Digital cameras Are neat.

I poked about in other areas, upstairs and down. There was a paleontology section and nearby, a large animatronic dinosaur display. It's one thing to stumble on a few staid dinosaurs in the park; it's another when they move and roar at you inside the building. The exhibit was fun to watch just for people's reactions to it...

I watched the real scientist

working with the fossils, went into the strange pressure-sealed room, gave the gift shop one or two goings-over, and finally pulled myself away. But not before getting a few parting shots of the robot lizards up close and personal.

The pterodactyl kept pretty much to himself, though. No one wants to mess with T. Rex.

Meet Me In St. Louis

I'd survived the storm but was starting to get a bit tired. All the same, I wanted to have some fun, and a nice place to have some fun is in St. Louis. There are a few places yet in the general area I'd like to explore some day, but weather was still a concern at the moment, so I wasn't sure where to go in regards to being interesting while not bound to cake my shoes with mud...I wanted to get a few shots of the arch with my digital camera, but I wasn't in the right lane and it wasn't such a big deal that I wanted to turn around. So I went into Missouri, over the Mississippi River early in the morning, passing the arch and heading towards Forest Park. Usually I go to the zoo and the science museum and the day is over, so I was debating about doing something different. I considered going to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, but I wasn't sure it was open at the time. So I went to the park and drove around to a different area. There was a sort of welcome center and café in one area, so I parked and walked to that. Many joggers and runners were about; apparently there was even some organized event going on, judging from tables of food and signs and joggers milling around. Anyway I went into the center and looked around, used the facilities and collected an assortment of brochures and maps and sat down to look them over. There were some cool science things, but also some immediately useful info. Turned out the Botanical Gardens were free or cheap at a certain time, if I wanted to go then; but also there were several museums in the park I'd never been to, that were free as well. Since it kept threatening rain, that was an appealing option. I decided I'd do whatever was open, wherever I was closest to at any given time.

So I wandered back out and started walking to see what was in the vicinity. That seemed to be a pond with a gazebo. The weather was spitty so I wasn't sure how far to go--at first I just kept near the little lake and tested taking pictures in the grey light.

Here's a weeping willow and clusters of other flora.

The park gazebo...well, bandstand actually, I guess. Nice echoing reflection.

Flowers were planted all about...

On the other side of a large patch of rose bushes was the Municipal Theatre. At the time I didn't know that...all I could see were a lot of colorful flags and banners. But later I walked around and discovered it was a fancy place for actors to do some board stomping. Or trodding.

Facial farding. Other emotive operations...

Then I walked back by the bandstand and around the pond, and decided to see if the Science Museum was open yet. Or anything else. Unfortunately it was still too early for most things, just...so I walked behind the Science Museum to greet my old pals, the dinosaurs. I don't know how long they've been at it there, but I think they must have gotten some fresh paint at some point. They looked a little different. Of course, I don't think the tree had fallen on them before. And I tried to get different angles of them, so they'd look slightly more realistic. Eek, what you find while walking in a Missouri forest!! Tyrannosaurs and triceratopseseses!