City Garden

A few days ago, I took my niece to the City Garden.

First, we visited the Richard Serra sculpture.  Sam had told me how much he loves this sculpture.  From the exterior, it doesn't appear to offer much.  However, the real treat is when you enter it.  It has this wonderful echo and unique view of the city.  My niece loved it.

Unfortunately, a fair amount of St. Louis citizens oppose this work of art-- as displayed by this vandalism:  

"GET RID OF THIS"

From 10th street and Market, the first sculptures my niece noticed was Tom Claassen's bunny sculptures.

She couldn't get enough of these, and only climbed off once to pet a dog.

She thought Mark Di Suvero's sculpture was a slide, and insisted on climbing it.

Among all the other water sculptures, she particularly liked the waterfall. 

As the sun was setting, we made our way to dinner, and I snapped this incredible view of the City Museum:

Taxidermy Basement

A few months ago, a friend of ours needed to move a cactus.  The owner was getting a divorce from her husband, and she was moving out.  While in the basement, we found a very interesting collection.

This is her husband's collection:

Goose in a box.

"Well hey guys."

Your basement is incomplete until you have a flock of wild ducks flying around you. 

Ducks fly to me,

away from me,

and above me. 

Log of raccoons.

Maude.

Sam.

He was actually quite small.

Get that dumb look off your face, cat.  You missed the catch.

Beaver biting a tree.

In short, the amount of dead animals was wild.

And then we had to move the cactus.

The Gateway Arch

April 18th, 2012 Sam Davis and I travelled to the top of the arch.  This is our journey.

South view from inside. 

West view from inside

North view from inside

The River front from inside.

Eero Saarinen's shadow on design. 

East view from inside.

St. Louis City

God

Civl Courts building on the right, Union Station in the distance.  

Construction in the arch

South side streets

View of the streets. 

The Eads Bridge

James Buchanan Eads had never designed a bridge before, but his distinctive engineering and style inspired several artists and architects after him.  "It was the world's first alloy steel bridge, the first to use tubular cord members, and the first to depend entirely upon the use of the cantilever in the building of the superstructure."  The use of the arches in the bridge also inspired Eero Saarinen's design for the Gateway Arch.

My favorite view.

Loooking out at the highest point

Sam pointing out buildings and streets to me.  

This was my favorite part.  As city residents, we had a lot of fun picking out familiar locations, buildings, and noticing all the unused roof space.  Some buildings had pools and sitting areas on their rooftops, and that just made us jealous.  

Then the 12:30 class tour began, and we left. 

Sam sharing his vast knowledge of Eero Saarinen, the arch, the Eads bridge, and everything St. Louis.

The trip down.  I like that the doors are windows. 

My wild man.  

He had a good birthday. 

Views of City Life

I have been living in St. Louis city since October.  In this time I have learned a lot about crossing the road, avoiding the wrong kind of people, and knowing where to eat.  St. Louis is a complex city, and in this post I am attempting to display all the different views St. Louis has to offer.

Spring

Hoagie City, our favorite diner

The abandoned building gang.

The East view from our building.

Homeless Park

View from Olive 

City Garden Lunch Break

In between buildings

Downtown Urgent Care

Morning Walk to Work

Leather Trades alley way

Renovations

Parking Garage Tortillas

Big Pink Suit

Closed Christianity

City Goods