{She Said} Spring Break 2010 Series: The Softer Side of St. Louis

Spent some time at and under the arch on Tuesday. Against everyone’s advice, we did not go up into the arch. There was a lot of ‘hmmm’ing and ‘haw’ing over this since it did come so highly recommended but in the end my claustrophobia and Matt’s unwillingness to knowingly put me in any anxiety producing situations won out. Those carts are a little bit of an extreme in the tightness area as far as I am concerned. Instead, we spent a lot of time in the Westward Expansion museum, where I worked on my Manifest Destiny lesson.

After dropping by the old cathedral and court house, the pilgrimage to the darker sides of St. Louis began. Matt and I sat on a bench outside the cathedral and decided that our next destination would be the City Museum. We used an app on the iphone to chart out a walking route to the museum and set out. It was supposed to be only 1.4 miles… yea. We walked and walked and walked. At one point we ended up in the Purina factory’s secured parking lot where, in no uncertain terms, trespassers would be prosecuted. We were trespassers. In an attempt to avoid being arrested, we turned around and walked AROUND the plant- this led us THROUGH the government assisted housing or the projects. I know that this shouldn’t lead to an assumption of any kind of ghetto but there were some pretty shady characters.

(note the lack of pictures after the Purina Plant- we didn't want people knowing we had a camera)

Fearing for our wallets, iphones, and my engagement ring (taken off and stored in my pocket when we realized where we were) Matt and I decided to turn back toward the towering buildings of downtown. To do this, we started to cross a long bridge- as we were completing this task, we passed a couple urban home-boys. Half way across, Matt looked at the map and realized we had passed over the museum (some how) so logically, we turned around. As we were recrossing that initial half of the bridge, we passed the same two home-boys. Now that we were back on the “less than favorable side of town” we did what any two intelligent, sane people would do and walked down an ally. In hindsight, we made some “less than favorable decisions.” Matt suddenly realized that the address entered by the walking tour app was incorrect. We were headed to S. 15th Street while the museum was on N. 15th Street. So we had to cross the bridge yet again.

As we approached, the same two boys were walking toward the bridge in the same direction we were walking. They were about 20 feet ahead of us so no-harm-no-foul… yet. Approximately half-way across, the boys stopped to (evidently) light a cigarette. Matt took the posture of a man willing and able to protect and we slowed. This was (evidently) the most stubborn cigarette ever. Matt and I came to a stop about 10 feet from them. They stood still and we stood still. This lasted for about 3 minutes- us all waiting for this lazy cigarette. After a minute of one of the boys actually standing and smoking the cigarette that had provided the guise for their pause, they gave up on the concept of us getting any closer to them and walked on.

Matt and I got to the museum only two hours before it was to close but were both too hungry and tired to enjoy it so we traded the museum for some lunch. It was an amazing lunch though. Crepes- I had a smoked salmon crepe while Matt had a shrimp crepe. As we walked back to the hotel (not far at all from the museum), I browsed some shops. Later we had some Chinese food, followed by a chocolate burger for dessert and then Matt got to spend some quality time at the craps table in the casino at our hotel. At the end of the night he was up $152.

While it sounds like a huge waste of time, we weren’t in any real hurry to see a list of things in St. Louis so just walking around was pleasant- that is all given the fact that we made it out with our lives (and my engagement ring- I really love that ring).