by Geoffrey Churchman
Eva and I did this in May last year. St Louis is America’s 20th biggest city, but in the evening the Downtown is almost deserted, like Taihape on a Sunday afternoon.
The Ferris wheel is part of the redeveloped St Louis Union Station, now a hotel and entertainment area. Today’s Amtrak station is about a mile away.
We stayed in the hotel on the right; at $US 139 for two including breakfast and tea, plus 5 drinks at the bar we thought it was quite good value.
The same location about 2 hours later.
The entrance to St Louis Union Station hotel.
The St Louis Opera with a bear statue in the immediate foreground. In the distance is the famous St Louis Gateway Arch.
The Soldiers War Memorial and Military Museum
The City Hall on the right and the court building across the street.
A runner statue and fountain with constant changing colours. We wondered if any Wokeist implication is intended.
Do you think I should have gone there instead of Samarkand, Isfahan and Istanbul?
Geoffrey says: we would actually have preferred to go to the places you mention last year but with Blinken/Biden’s wars in the Middle East underway we decided against it.
Your decision did have something going for it, and we preferred to avoid flying in the area. We crossed into Iran to hear that Israel was bombing Isfahan (actually a military installation nearby). A German/Iranian couple in Shiraz said all Germans had been called home. “But you’re still here.” “We didn’t tell them we were coming.”
On the other hand, there is something to be said for being in countries with a strong ethos of hospitality, where the locals are likely to look after you if there’s trouble.
Same issue this year, I guess.
That was mean of me, as I knew you’d had all sorts of exciting ideas. Sorry!