Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Briefly passing through St. Louis


Downtown view from across the Mississippi
No one in their right mind can claim that a 3 day work-visit to any city allows any ample time to explore what the locality has to offer.  Yet, I have never made any personal sanity claims, especially when it comes to travelling.  Those who “suffered” through many a similar ordeal in the past, would tell you that I can squeeze a lot of sightseeing in a very short amount of time; let’s just say I’ve developed a rather unorthodox, highly non-scientific method of compressing time: do a lot of research in advance, walk fast, and take plenty of pictures so you can “take it all in” later, when it’s all over.  So let’s see what came out of a 4-hour afternoon in St. Louis…

First off, some general impressions:  As a metro area, it’s bigger that most (18th in the country, according to statistics) but at the turn of the 19th century it was as high as 4th on that list.  It clearly had something to do with the Westward expansion and the Louisiana Purchase (more on that in a bit)… Traces of history are clearly present and well preserved throughout, especially in the downtown area, where most of the old buildings have been turned into office space, upscale restaurants and swanky lofts.  Gentrification they call it… 

Like in any city of that size, there’s plenty to do, so we had to choose wisely on a dreary Wednesday afternoon where clouds and fog denied us a nice panoramic view from the top of the Gateway Arch… The one slight disappointment on an otherwise enlightening afternoon…

First stop, Pappy’s – a BBQ icon according to the locals; St. Louis [dry] style, that is.  They consider it sacrilegious to put anything on in, so the sauce is only served on the side.  I thought I had a pretty killer recipe for a “dry rub” myself, but theirs clearly lived up to all the hype!  It must be all that overnight smoking over apple or cherry wood… or the state-of-the-art smoker… Oh, and the guy who owns the place doesn’t believe in re-heating BBQ, so closing time means they ran out of meat for the day (which happens around 7 or 8 pm).  The verdict: it was a close second to what I had years ago at Dreamland in Birmingham, AL.  So good – in fact – that my colleague (a Yankee from NY) bought one sandwich “to go”.  You could imagine the reaction of the passengers on that flight to LGA when he opened the bag!
Pappy's "smoker on steroids" - smelled fantastic!


From there, a few miles down the road we stopped by the St. Louis Cathedral.
 
















Built in the early 1900’s and named after King Louis IX, it was designated a Basilica by Pope John Paul II in ’97; a glorious edifice, not only for the architecture, but the mosaic installation, the largest in the world, apparently.  Someone with plenty of time to spare allegedly counted the glass and ceramic pieces: 41.5 million!! (the pamphlet mentioned 7,000 different colors, covering over 83,000 sq. feet, contributed to by 20 different artists).  


 
...see the little shrine at the bottom?
(under the 3rd portal)
...this is the close-up of that shrine (all mosaic, of course)

I know... Picture-taking got a little out of hand in there... but the pics taken with my camera  phone don’t do it justice, so I urge you to go to their website: http://www.cathedralstl.org/ for a closer view to reality...

Truly a highly spiritual work of art in every sense of the word...

The next stop – pretty much mandatory on any St. Louis itinerary: the Budweiser tour.   The place where it all started, back in the mid-1800’s, where a local brewer [Eberhard Anheuser] and his son-in-law [Adolphus Busch, who had a knack for marketing and logistics], combined to lay the foundation for what today is known as the [self-proclaimed] King of Beers.  The irony of it is that Adolphus spent years throughout Europe to learn and experiment with brewing techniques, only to come back and create – what I, in my humble opinion, consider to be – a watered-down version of the brewed drink, which in most of the ‘old world’ would not even pass up as an ‘alcoholic’ beverage.  But then, again, that’s not what it’s all about; they don’t sell a quality product [personal opinion, again] but they do an excellent job marketing the hell out of it, and that’s what Americans buy.  As much as you want to disagree with me, you know it’s true!  Simply put, someone who learned a great deal about beer chose to disregard quality and produce something that the American public in general would actually prefer



As a quick sidebar to prove my point: the aforementioned Yank made an interesting comment when we were in the Clydesdales barn: “… big strong horses to represent the American beer”.  He got a little deflated when I told him that the breed is actually Scottish! And that “American beer” is a misnomer.  Yes, there are more and more microbreweries that produce quality beer, but they all use German, Belgian or British techniques… Yet, giving credit where credit is due: that is where ‘America’ has an award-wining recipe: take the best from around the world, bring it / them here, add a dash of the land of opportunity “spin”, a solid scoop of consumerism, and voilĂ :  you’ve got an American winner!  That said, in recent past that [land of opportunity] feel is turning more and more into the illusion of opportunity - sort of like Budweiser’s illusion of being the King of Beers…

But I digress…

Another big plus: the tour was free (as any self-respecting company promoting their own product should do).  Back in Atlanta, another global consumer icon (yep, Coca-Cola) charges a $12 to $16 admission for pretty-much the same thing.  Shameful, if you ask me! 

If the Budweiser tour is a must do, the Arch is mandatory.  Unfortunately, the weather conditions didn’t cooperate, so the “elevator/carousel” ride to the top of the structure – 630 feet above ground – did not allow for any panoramic views.  What a pity!

Built in the mid 60’s, the Arch is part of the larger Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and it’s been erected not far from where Lewis and Clark began their expedition, as a follow-up to the Louisiana Purchase.  History books have wasted a lot of ink on that subject; my opinion is a bit different:  “The Little Corporal” (Napoleon that is) was cash-strapped and needed to finance his England invasion [never got there, as you know].  He squeezed the Spanish into ceding the Louisiana territory (some up front, some under the table) only to turn around and sell it to the U.S. for 3 cents per acre (42 cents in 2011-equivalent dollars)… Boy, was he desperate… What a bargain!  Then, Jefferson sent out Lewis and Clark to actually get a feel for what his money bought him… The rest is more or less in those books I mentioned earlier.  The alternative (if you’d allow me): a bigger French-speaking territory, not just Quebec, or a larger section of North America where Spanish is the primary language (wait, that’s already true, at least in Texas, New Mexico and California)… Funny thing, history, huh?!?

Back to the Arch, though. 

Impressive structure.  Tallest man-made monument in the U.S.  And the carousel / elevator that transports up to 40 people at a time (8 capsules / 5 seats each) makes for an interesting [if slightly claustrophobic] ascent.  On a clear day, the observation deck at the top provides 30-mile views.  We just weren’t lucky, with clouds and fog essentially shrinking that distance to almost zero… Yet, the whole thing was pretty impressive, nonetheless… I mentioned that already, didn’t I? Oh, well… maybe next time I’ll get to see the panorama as well …

The observation deck at the top
...
and below, the "claustro-capsule" carousel that takes you there 


Across the street from the hotel:
 the home of last year's "World" Champions
(for  that is a truly world-wide competition, indeed...is it?)
A brighter view of the same landmark

*     *     *     

Well, that’s it.  A quick run through St. Louis at the speed of … ehmm… “Adrian”.  Wish I had more time for other attractions… But if you want to experience its essence, follow this itinerary and you’ll be pleased.  Make sure you set aside a whole day, though, in case you can’t keep up this pace…

This one is "borrowed" from the web, but I liked it!
Thought it would make a nice ending...

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