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

Apr 22, 2004

St. Louis MO: 15 April 2004: Union Station

Filed in BX Convention 2004, Book Crossing

This was my tourism day. I had planned to wander round downtown St. Louis, where every second building seemed to be some kind of landmark, but my foot precluded that much walking. So, I had booked myself onto a Gray Lines “historical bus tour”.

I woke up way too bright and early for the kind of night I had, and wandered down to the lobby to get my free coffee and doughnut. It was only about eight when I caught a ride to the metro with the motel shuttle.

The metro was fun. It operated just like the trams in Dortmund when I was living there: buy the ticket, validate it, ride. I’m sure I got the validation ticket printed on the wrong side though, but it was early ;-)

One thing I noticed about St. Louis almost immediately was that it was green, and there were many, many trees. Like a city in a forest. The metro takes you over the freeway, and down a channel from station to station. We passed old industrial buildings and the university. Some had graffiti and some did not. For a while I was the only white face in the car; that was a new experience for me. What I noticed more than anything was that nobody ever sat next to me, and I’m still not sure whether to think anything about that. More than anything it made me a little sad, especially since it was obvious: I had the only empty seat. This white face would not have minded a black neighbour in the least. It just gave me pause, a little.

Before long I was at Union Station, where I took the nice friendly stinky elevator to the top and wandered into the landmark. Outside, you can see that it used to be a great big railway station; inside, it’s just a mall, and not quite as interesting. I liked the peace of early-morning, when nothing had really got started; there’s a pretty fountain and bridge, and
nobody is around.

My foot was bugging me, and my first task was to find where I was supposed to leave for my tour, an hour and a half later (told you I was early!) It took some finding, but the Hyatt hotel was tracked down to its lair and I confirmed my spot. The hotel itself was quite magnificent, with architecture reminiscent of a fairytale castle, liveried doormen, and polished brass luggage racks. It also had a plaque stating that it was a “Historic Hotel of America”, something I’d never heard of, so I’ll be
looking for new lists soon.

Inside, I found a wall with about five plaques, all giving the station different designations, including a brand new one: Civic Engineers’ Landmarks. Woo-hoo. I snapped away happily. I looked at some of the numbered plaques that told the story of the station. Apparently there had been an extortionate toll on the bridges, so someone decided to build a train station and break the monopoly. Good for them.

Food places weren’t open, though food was clearly being cooked, and while there was a Starbucks, I also found a little independent place and got coffee and a bagel there. It was great coffee and extremely friendly service. After that, I sat down and read until it was time to stand up and wait for my bus, which was late.

My conclusion: malls without people are strange. The security guards were the first on the scene, followed by a few people in suits and janitorial staff. It was like being in a ghost town, with the windows stuffed with unavailable promise. As a landmark, it was okay from the outside; the little museum was nice and had a cool model railway. But inside it’s a
mall, and malls, barring a few local specialities, are malls.