St. Louis Visit

Thursday May 3 2007

Photos are here

St Louis Visit Set I
St Louis Visit Set II
Kickpoo, Tascola and some more Champaign

St Louis Visit on Apr 22 2007

The ARCH comes into our view

St Louis is 2 hours drive from Champaign. It is a historic city with French and German history. Situated on the banks of river Missisippi, it is a place worth visiting to get a feel of US History.

So off we three Vivek, Shilpa and myself set off early morning 6:30 a.m in Vivek's Camry. I was quite excited. The day seemed promising. It was bright and sunny. We reached St Louis around 9:30. We drive thro' a giant arch and vivek says we will be here to see the arch again. THE ARCH is a unique architectural wonder.

We went to the famous St. Louis zoo. Man this is huge like everything in USA. It is so well organized, beautiful . 5000 animals set in 90 acres of greenery. Entrance is free. Being a bright sunny Sunday lots of people were out with kids, prams and families. The parking lot was a sight to see. Weekends are for enjoyment and family outings.

yes that is USA.. All the animals ( looking very healthy ) were kept in natural ( trees , plants, water, rich foliage, rocky, lakes) spacious ( as open as safely possible) surroundings. The Penguins were the most attractive lot for me. I was fascinated by them. They could not fly though they are birds but swim and walk. The noise they make was deafening. They were so colourful too. I could never photograph them swimming. They were so fast.. and cute. They were housed in cave like rocky tunnel painted white to indicate ice ( I suppose) and cold temp. and marine water. They amused us and were amused by us ( Who are these creatures? they may wonder? )

Happy Emperor Penguins

There were lots of walkways Snakes , birds, insects etc had their own buildings. The snakes attracted kids the most ( Why? ) They were squealing in delight "Pa see" or "Ma Ma see here " . The huge flamingoes in white and flaming orange colour had their own lake. The orange ones stand still, their heads buried deep into their body, unmoving ( meditating?? )

The see lions were huge and swam fast under the water and wouldn't entertain us humans for a click. There was a SeaLions Zoo show which vivek said would be most amusing but we could not witness that. We saw huge polar bear, huge grissly bear, huge Apes, many many varieties of monkeys, giraffes, zebras, huge tiger. The tiger was initially asleep much to our disappointment but when he/she awoke and took a majestic walk in the open we were not brave at all. I clicked a hurried shot and we moved away. Ya who wants to be eaten for lunch?

Tiger is out and strolling - Not a close shot!

We walked thro many many animals. Literature about each and every animal is kept for us to read. Soon we were saturated with animal knowledge. The bird house was huge with so many large enclosures for different birds.

Bird house

We visited the famous St Louis Museum which is situated right opposite the zoo. There is a pretty picturesque lake and fountains at a distance in front of the zoo. There is a gigantic bronze statue of St. Louis on a horse back in front of the museum. The museum houses some fabulous paintiings ( How do they paint so well? ) some famous ones like Van Gogh, lots of artefacts from different part of the world.

One of the many beautiful paintings

I was fascinated by the Egyptian coffins for mummies ( Queen, her maids ) - so decorative and shaped like a woman on top..including face. We were quite tired as we had walked a lot on the zoo itself and we could not do much justice to this lovely treasurehouse.

So off we went to eat in some place where the rich and the famous dine. I saw some swanky expensive cars. We feasted on some mediterranian fare. The guy serving was a bit funny. He seemed to be the sole workforce and he took orders, talked a lot, made the stuffs , put lot of iceburg lettuce and charged us a bomb!! The three different dishes we had ordered all tasted the same to me.

It was 4 pm. We drove to the arch, parked our car and walked to the ARCH. The Missisippi river flows along the sides. High speed wind was blowing and throwing us off balance.

The Arch is a 655 ft. tall structure and looks like a strip of shining metal bent like an Arch. The only surprise is you can goto the top in a elevator cum tram car. Everything is fully enclosed. The wind speed that particulat day and time was pretty high. The ride costs 10$ per person and worth experiencing. The tram compartment is a small mini cubical that can tightly seat 5 people. As we travelled we felt wierd. We were going up and in a curve . It takes 4 minutes to reach the top. Then we step into an enclosed space and we can look down thro glass windows. The magnificent huge Missisippi river, its bridges, St Louis skyline and all the important buildings and landmarks were seen thro glass windows. The funny part was the entire place was rocking like a train or a swing due to the wind and we were not amused at all. If the arch crashes?? Will the wind knock it down? The gigantic Missisippi river was there down. This moment is going to stay forever with me. Such fleeting thoughts scared me (us? all ? ) . We were all quite relieved to make it to the base of the arch and out.

Along the Missisippi river there is well developed garden ( 100 acres?? ) with lawns and trees and benches. There were horse carriage rides ( remember historic city?? ) along the water front. Vivek was too tired as he had had no sleep and we had woken up early too. So he went out flat on the cool green grass. I sat and enjoyed the river view. The river is used for Cargo movements. Infact the Missisippi river was the centre of trade and a source of wealth and prosperity once upon a time all along its banks including St Louis.

Missisippi river from ARCH top

It was 6 pm. We walked along the river bank , it was chilly. drinking in the beauty of the flowing vast river. and went to the parking lot and drove around the city a bit. Vivek kept warning us of notorious crimes for which St Louis seemed famous.
Car windows had to be down and one has to be watchful. Who wants to be mugged, robbed, beaten or shot?

The day was up. Due to lack of time we could not go to botanical garden. We drove back home and reached by 11:30pm

It was another memorable day in USA for me.



Kickapoo State Park, April 28th 2007

We drove to Kickopoo at 1 pm an hours drive. This is a large ( 2842 acres) natural preserved area with 22 lakes and river kickopoo running thro it. It is lush green and beautiful drive.

Here and there as the road winds we come upon lakes. These are well developed tourist spots. The park has facilities for differnt fun activities like fishing, boating, canoeing, kayaking, byking, camping, hunting, hiking, picnicing .

We sat near a lake and enjoyed some moments of peace and serenity. We went to another lake side and had yummy lunch of veg berger and potato fries in a scenic restraunt.

Then vivek said " let us do Canoeing" . A canoe is a small narrow boat and can accomodate 2 people. We get 2 oars to canoe. This lake was huuuge and I was very scared. We had life jackets on but the fear of falling in water made me uncomfortable. vivek was irritated with me for my lack of adventurous spirit. I was quite relieved when i got back safely to the land.

There was so much more to explore but vivek had some work. With a promise to come again to Kickopoo, we drove back.