Sunday, March 31 2024
Morning showers were predicted to end around 10 AM so I relaxed over an excellent breakfast this Easter Sunday before heading to Forest Park in St. Louis.
Forest Park is a city park that is larger than New York’s Central Park and it contains many of the city’s top tourist attractions in a beautiful, relaxing environment. The park is home to the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Science Center and the St.Louis Zoo all of which have free admission. My first stop was the visitor center to get my bearings and then I walked about five miles (8 km) as I explored the park and visited the Art and History museums. It turned out to be a nice, sunny day and there must have been thousands of people in the park but it didn’t feel at all crowded (although the guide at the visitor center did warn me that the zoo would be “like a zoo”).
I will just summarize the park with some of the photos I took.
The relaxing nature of the surroundings was evident immediately as this was the first photo I took within two minutes of leaving the visitor center.
A distant view of the St. Louis Art Museum. Formal flower beds are placed strategically throughout the park.
The art museum is a classic design inside and out. The statue is of King Louis IX of France who was declared Saint Louis in 1297 for leading soldiers into battle in the crusades. This statue was cast in 1907 and was the symbol of the city until the Gateway Arch was constructed.
The galleries were beautiful and open with plenty of natural light. Although the collection was small compared with major art museums they were pleasantly varied with paintings dating from Early European to Abstract Impressionism and significant collections of Asian and African art in addition to Europe and North America.
This piece, from Ghana I think, (I forgot to take a picture of the description) was a “textile” woven from thousands of liquor bottle cap labels flattened and joined together with thin copper wire.
A view of the boating lake with happy families renting pedalos for fun on the water.
The deer in the park were darker than normal as if they had adapted to the shades of the park itself.
The Missouri History Museum was a disappointment. I had expected exhibits on the history of the State but it was almost exclusively about the city and contained little exhibition space.
The Spirit of St Louis, flown by Lindbergh in the first solo flight across the Atlantic, is on display in Washington DC at the Air and Space Museum. This is an identical plane from the same manufacturer that was given to the city. Lindbergh had many connections with the local airport, Lambert Field, from his time teaching flying lessons and received financial and other support for his transatlantic flight from the city.
After a very pleasant three hours, I left St. Louis to drive to Bloomington, Illinois.
Loved the Ghanian exhibit ~ who knew! And the tulips. And the deer. Thank you.
It was a great place to spend a few hours and wonderful for families and children.