Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Apr 22, 2004

St. Louis Missouri: 15 April 2004: Gray Lines History Bus Tour

Filed in BX Convention 2004, Book Crossing

Eventually the minibus showed up and I clambered on. I was the only tourist! The driver was quite cheerful and nice, and signed me up there on the bus; I then got the pick of all the seats, and we proceeded.

I was sitting there trying to scribble down the name of every building that was described so that I could log it later at Markeroni. I saw so much it was worse than a lecture when the tutor has runonathemouth disease. Downtown seems to be skyscrapers and columns, statues and fountains with the odd TV/radio studio thrown in. It’s really beautiful; modern and old mingle effortlessly, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a variety in such a small area. At times the road was bumpy and my handwriting was nearly illegible, but I got almost all of it down. Matching what I scribbled to what is on the National Register of Historic Places was a bit harder, as each building seems to have several different names, and the modern was mixed in with the new.

We headed past the Busch stadium and I noticed a marker outside the Marriot hotel; one day, I thought to myself, I would like to see what it said. The old courthouse was something else; it was modelled on the White House, and it was there that Dred Scott (sp?) sued for his freedom. He had been moved from a free state to a slave state, and became a slave again.
Since he repeatedly lost his case, eventually someone bought him and freed him, and he had a few months of freedom before he died. But the case was a landmark case in Missouri’s history. I hope that my understanding of this is correct; I know I will do some more research later to verify it, but for now I’m just writing.

Next we headed down to Laclede’s Landing, where I saw cobblestones and old buildings, very briefly. Then, suddenly, we were by the Mississippi - and there was a whopping great big arch there! Whoah! That thing’s HUGE!

When I first saw the Arch, I imagined it as a flimsy structure, almost 2-D; close up, of course, that’s not the case. I had no idea of how one might get a little tram/pod up there, but now, so close, it made sense. We drove right by horses and carts and saw the arch looking up some steps. I was beyond impressed and very glad that I would be going back for a closer
look soon. Actually had a flutter of excitement as I passed it - it was so sudden and unexpected; we turned a corner and there it was.

Nearby is Eads Bridge, which was built despite the architect being told such a thing was not possible. It looked very possible to me! You can walk over it, but the driver said that this might not be such a good idea: at the other side is East Saint Louis in Illinois, which is noted for being a dangerous place, and is also where Jimmy Conners comes from. My Mam would find that interesting, she is an avid tennis watcher and that name rings a bell from Wimbledon fortnight (when no other TV is allowed ;-) So you see, a very dangerous place indeed. :: nods sagely and with humour. ::

Next we headed across the river and from Independent City of Saint Louis to Saint Louis County. Not having independent cities in California, I’m not sure how it all works, but at least I now know that there’s a distinction. As far as I can guess, the city functions as a county in and of itself, making its own ordinances etc, and the county does its own thing. Or something.

Here, the landscape opens up a bit and you see the skyscrapers in the distance. I was introduced to a bunch more buildings, but nothing really stands out in my memory and the light went off, so I can’t refer to my notes just now. We were headed to the Shaw Gardens. The driver asked me if I were from Sheffield, which astonished me, as I’m from about 40 miles north of Sheffield. I wanted to know why, and he said that Shaw, who founded the Botanical Gardens, was from Sheffield. So, I came thousands of miles to see a garden created by a Yorkshireman. This made me laugh.

I was given a meet-up time and signed in, then I browsed in the rather nice gift shop for a while and came up with some postcards and little puzzle and sticker books for Bethany, my niece. She will be nine next month, and this time I got bored with the usual gifts and am compiling a goodie box with lots of different little things. Then I headed upstairs where there was a cafe, and got soup and sandwich for a decent price - surprising for a place like this.

I was quite confused; you enter a big airy, glassy building, like a giant conservatory, and at first I thought the entire gardens are indoors. However, if you just keep going, you find yourself outside on a lovely springlike Missouri day - with the temperature somewhere in the eighties!

It was a stunningly beautiful garden. I loved it and would like to go back and do a much more leisurely exploration. Everywhere were displays of bright spring flowers: tulips, daffodils, and a garden of roses. Trees lined everything, and there was a sculpture called the bell tree which I heard a long time before I saw - like a giant wind chime, lovely and
peaceful. Fountains and pools were everywhere, as were some slightly dodgy naked prancing nymphs. Wasn’t so sure about those. ;-) It wasn’t the nakedness, it was that they seemed a bit fru-fru and silly.

I took a wander through a long greenhouse with a stained glass front. Inside were semi-tropical plants and flowers with a Victorian styling and roof. I was startled to see it was almost a clone of the greenhouses at Temple Newsam Gardens, very close to my home where I grew up. But then, if Shaw was a Yorkshireman and the greenhouses came out of the same era, perhaps that wasn’t so odd - but it still gave me pause.

I was looking for the Japanese garden, but my foot was in pain so as soon as I realised it was quite far, I decided to head back and sit by the fountain and read a bit. It was a very good place to just sit and contemplate the nature of the universe. While sitting down at least, the universe felt good.

I headed out just as the driver came to see if he could spot me, and I noticed that about a dozen other people had appeared as if by magic on the bus. They had been on another tour, and they apparently coincided at this stage. It was mildly surreal. A few of them chatted a bit, but we were soon on the way to Forest Park, and too busy looking out of the windows.

Forest Park is one of the biggest urban parks in the USA. Originally it wasn’t wanted because it was so far away that it took half a day to reach! But in time, as we all know, distances shorten, and things like metro trains appear.

We got a view of the World Fair pavilion (built after the world fair in 1904, or on the site of the World Fair, or something like that), looking up stepped fountains/streams to the top of the hill. We also passed the Muny, an partly outdoor theatre where, apparently, the first thousand seats are free and covered, and the expensive seats plonk you out there
in the rain. The Art Museum looked like a grand old London museum with its columns and grey stone, and then we passed the zoo (no free look at the penguins though, like at Whipsnade Zoo in England), and the lake with the paddle boats, and a few other pretty features. My impression was of bigness and greenness. My companions’ impression was of hunger, as they did not do their homework and had not had lunch when they had a chance to. ;-)

From there we went down Billionaire Alley, a stretch of Lindell avenue which is lined, on one side only, with incredibly austentatious houses in a wide range of styles, all costing way too much money to even think about. The very last one was where Judy Garland filmed part of “Meet Me In Saint Louis” (maybe I should rent it from Netflix and see if I recognise
the house?). Then it was Central West End, which reminded me of parts of London, for more aged houses and anecdotes and descriptions of pizza places (Imo’s Pizza is a local speciality with really thin pizzas) and restaurants, for the hungry travellers. I think the driver was a bit wicked, actually. ;-)

I was pretty much ready for the tour to end, actually, with so much information to absorb and digest. But we did have one more stop, and it just about did for my foot with the steps I had to climb - but it was worth it.

The Basilica of St. Louis is a Catholic church which on the outside looks like a classic European church - all curves and towers. But inside, the walls and ceiling are covered in mosaic, all made from glass - so it glitters and is wonderful. I can’t even begin to describe it: never have I seen anything like it, and I ended up walking right the way through the
church on both sides, gawping at it all. Wow. That’s all I can say. May be one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen.

Finally we were there for our drop-offs, and I was back at the Hyatt. At one point the driver asked me how I was enjoying my stay there. I wish! But I did get to tell him about Book Crossing while explaining I was staying at a different hotel. This was just the pickup point most easily reached from a metro station. And no, I didn’t have a book to release. ;-)

So I headed off back to the metro, and wearily called the shuttle bus, and settled into my motel room to give my foot time to recover and stop cursing me for walking so darn much. I tried to match places I had seen to listings on the National Register that I’d brought with me, and didn’t have much luck. But I had a great day and am very glad the idea was
suggested to me as I’d never heard of Gray Line Tours before.