St Louis

Day 4 – Saturday

St. Louis

Perhaps the most famous landmark in St Louis is the Gateway Arch, which is known as the gateway to the West and commemorates the place where travellers started their exploration and settlement in the west, just on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The Gateway Arch is the single largest stainless steel structure in the World

The Gateway Arch will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary on October 28th 2015 – exactly 50 years since the final piece was put into place

The Gateway Arch stands 630 feet tall, 63 stories, 192 meters or 7,560 inches tall

The viewing platform at the top of the Arch, reached by a bizarre train capsule thingy

The Mississippi River

City View including the old courthouse, in the centre

View of our hotel from the top

Night view of Arch from hotel room

Arch Selfie

The Gateway Arch was designed to represent the shape of the necklace that early travellers wore around their necks. The designer recognised that all the best monuments were simple and symmetrical, eg obelisks, domes, pantheons etc, but wanted to come up with a new shape. Only when designed did he also see the symbolism of the archway through which travellers started their journey west.

It was estimated that 13 people would lose their lives whilst building the arch, not in fact, no one did.

Courthouse

Dred and Harriet Scott filed suit for their freedom at this courthouse in 1846. Their case reached the United States Supreme Court and was decided in 1857. The court ruled that the Scotts and all African Americans were not citizens of the United States. Opposition to the decision was one of the causes of the civil war and led to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the constitution. The Scotts’ struggle for freedom stands as a defining moment in the history of the civil rights movement.

Dred and Harriet Scott

St. Louis Cardinals baseball team were all in our hotel today doing their ‘winter warm up’. It is an annual event for fans. Memorabilia stands, silent auctions, children’s activities and presentations all feature, but the real draw is the opportunity to meet the players and collect autographs. Tickets are sold player by player and lines form across the vast hall. All monies raised go to local charities. What great idea?!

St Louis Cardinals players

Presentations

Mark met his hero player too.

Mark is on the left

This one’s for you Helen. The home of Anheuser Busch on the edge of town. Didn’t have time for the factory tour but we promised to make a toast with a bottle of bud light tonight!

Anheuser Busch

We spent ages crawling out of St. Louis the slow way to experience the heady draw of Ted Drewes Frozen Custard “concretes”! We eventually arrived only to find it was shut until Valentine’s Day 😦