A City to Re-Visit - St. Louis

I am in St. Louis on a short visit. Although I've been here before, I realize that the reason I love to travel is that I see (and appreciate) new things each time I am in a town.

Of course, the St. Louis Gateway Arch is just awe-inspiring. When I look up at the thing (or look at it glimmering in the sky from almost any part of town), what I find most inspiring and intriguing is how Eero Saarinen (the architect) even came up with such a bold and daring design. Then, the story of how the engineers developed a structure that would actually be able to stand upright and how the builders were able to erect this incredible piece, are all cause for celebrating the human spirit. Like most of these spectacular innovations, numerous engineering inventions developed for this particular purpose proved to be of value in other building (and non-building) applications. What a story ...

The City Museum which I had never seen before is a marvel in a different way. Someone please tell me how you can combine numerous young kids running around an old factory with thousands of rusted metal structures (which the kids are encouraged to climb), steep slides, dark and convoluted mazes, massive brick or plaster ramparts from old buildings, and other dangerous items without having regular accidents? This place has to be seen to be believed. It looks like SO MUCH fun, but somehow I was not sure I would be brave enough to bring my kids there and let them run loose in this place. Quite amazing.

Then there was the breathtaking Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis. I have always loved cathdrals for their art and architecture. It is amazing what passoin and belief can drive people to do. But this place exceeded my expectations. I have seen some pretty spectacular cathedrals in Europe, but this rivals the best of them. The interior is completely coverd with mosaic representations of biblical events. The mosaics seem to cover the entire church and are beyond simple description. You have to actually see it to realize how awesome it is.

I'm here for one more day. I don't know what's in store for me today. Perhaps I'll add to this post after my visits today. At the moment, this looks like a city well worth visiting (relatively inexpensive hotels and lots to do). The revitalization of downtown is also quite impressive.