Another note on St. Louis

The Gateway Arch-

 

Approaching St. Louis but still miles out and we can already see it. There it is. Wait, is it silver? I had no idea. I always imagined the arch to be made of concrete, whitish, stucco-ish. It isn’t. It’s a gleaming monolith of modernity. It almost seems functional. It’s purpose to actually cut a swath through the skyline to delineate a difference in the air from one side to the other. On one side, the fabled Mighty Mississippi. The muse of Southern writers and the focus of innumerable folktales, the Mississippi is magically separated from the rest of St. Louis by this one-dimensional brushstroke against the sky. On the other side, the city of St. Louis protected by her keeper. The city from the riverfront is somehow feminine and fragile, yet stately and bold. The juxtaposition provides a landscape like none other.

 

Climbing the steep and narrow steps from the riverfront to the park beneath the arch, I felt like a bit of an intruder. Once underneath the arch, it becomes even harder to wrap your head around the sheer size of the Arch. The bases are huge… larger than several cars. The line to access the lobby takes you underground the park. Passing through a security rivaling the TSA, the lobby is reminiscent of Grand Central Station only without the trains.  Various tunnels jut out from a central point like the spokes of a wagon wheel. One tunnels leads the visitor to the ticket booth, another to the 1800’s style General Store, another to the Museum of the West, and another to the queue for the lifts to the top of the arch. We followed the tunnel to the ticket booth but decided against the ride to the top after seeing a sample windowless elevator car. I’m out. Of course I couldn’t let my kids see my fear, but I am sure like the little raptors they are they could smell it. For once, they didn’t protest when we declined to purchase tickets. For now, they were on to something new. There across the wagon wheel lobby was a stuffed bear. The bear was the greeter for the FREE Museum of the West.

 

Hello, Free Museum and goodbye creepy little elevator. We entered the rotunda of the Museum and knew we had made the right choice. Stagecoaches and teepees, stuffed bison and steer, it was a kid heaven. All this buried right there under the ultra modern and sophisticated arch. More juxtaposition and studies in comparison. It was perfect.