Being a tourist in St. Louis

A cloudy day today.  Good enough to go outside and explore downtown St. Louis with most of the group.

Walking towards the Gateway Arch.


WOW!  It's more impressive than this photo looks.


At the base of one side of the Arch.


Taking the tram to the top.


Exactly what it looks like here.  Small, cramped, no windows, very 60-ish.  Before we get to the top, there was a short video on the history of the city and this Arch.  As for the experience for going up there, you definitely need to be there to experience it - very strange and somewhat scary and cool at the same time.


On the top - also small and cramped.


And very small windows to look out.


Very high up.


Nonetheless, the view is quite amazing (despite how crowded it was and how small the windows are).  The famous Mississippi River and Eads Bridge.


Most of the downtown.


Busch Stadium - home of the World Series Champs - St. Louis Cardinals.


Below the Arch is this museum, which may be a bit controversial considering it is mainly about segregation of the First Nations people during exploration times.


The Arch again.


Figuring what to do next.


Walking towards somewhere.  Someone else had the map and the idea.  I just followed.


Go Blues!


A city with great sports teams.


The destination - City Museum!  From what I read and heard, it is an amazing place and requires a full-day attention.  But since there was only 1.5 hours left, I opted not to go (but the others did).


So another student and I walked around the city to do more sightseeing.


The Old Courthouse.


Strange blue fountain water.


Under renovation.


The Arch from the other side.  It is so large that it is difficult to hit it into an entire frame.



 
From another perspective.

Overall, from the few hours I spend in downtown, I think St. Louis is a nice city.  However, given that is is a Sunday and a metropolis, I'd expect more people walking on the streets.  Instead, the streets were almost all empty and the city had a ghost-town feel to it.  I guess I am more used to the dense populations in Canada's urban city centres, e.g. Vancouver, Toronto, etc.