It wasn't quite that blurry to my actual eyes, although I had never (up to that point) been so happy to see a smear of lights that represented a friend, a bed, and - perhaps most importantly - an end to the interminable darkness that is nighttime in rural Indiana and Illinois. Oy. Oy, I say.
Brace yourselves, BC folks - I think Sarah's new alma mater, WashU, may be an even prettier campus than the Heights. For starters, this is their version of Linden Lane:
They also have a butterfly garden:
How can you beat that?
Didn't see too much of St. Louis proper, but then, Sarah informs me that there's not much of a downtown to see. I did very much like the Loop, which is WashU's stretch of main street populated by funky restaurants, shops, bookstores, etc. Naturally, I managed to not take any pictures of it. But it was cool! I swear!
And then, of course, there's the Arch. I didn't expect this thing to be as compelling as it was, because come on, it's an arch. But it is oddly compelling. For one thing, it's a massive structure that isn't a building. This may seem unremarkable, but it's the first thing that grabs your attention in the skyline, no matter how many times you look up.
For another, the area along the Mississippi is otherwise pretty heavy on the souvenirish nostalgia - cruises on old-fashioned riverboats and so forth. This soaring, irrepressibly modern piece of architecture is all the more striking being juxtaposed against Ol' Man River.
Going up into it was one of the more unnerving tourist experiences I've encountered. You climb into these tiny cars that immediately put you in mind of escape pods on a spaceship:
The photo doesn't do it justice - it's much smaller than it looks. I sat in the far left seat and had to hunch over because of the curve of the wall. To give credit where it's due, the excessive proximity does all but force you to make very quick friends with any strangers in your car.
The string of eight pods then grinds into motion and ratchets you up through the length of one of the legs of the arch, a trip that is allegedly four minutes long but feels considerably longer, especially since there is a little window in the door that lets you count the number of emergency staircases and imagine having to climb down them.
But you reach the top, and after squeezing past the crush of people queued for the pods you've just vacated, you find yourself here:
I'm not sure why, but I was subconsciously expecting there to - somehow - be some sort of normally-proportioned viewing room at the top, but what you see is what you get. Even after the spaceship pods, it's a little claustrophobic. I couldn't help thinking about how I was
above the ground, and the only thing keeping me aloft was a narrow span of metal, and that if there was any mishap I had two ways of getting down - climbing those bajillion stairs, or falling.
It got into my head a little. Obviously.
Nevertheless, I'm glad I went up, because the views were really incredible, as long as you didn't look too far eastward (East St. Louis is a craphole).
And it looks almost as cool from below:
(Yes, Microsoft, I will sell that to you as a sample wallpaper for the next edition of Windows.)
Sarah and I also spent some time being freakishly tall on the banks of the Mississippi
and considered breaking into the courthouse, which was closed for the day, across from the Arch.
We were, however, able to restrain ourselves, despite the delicious irony the prospect offered.
Yay St. Louis! Yay, thank you, Sarah!
Oh wait - I did take one picture of the Loop:
Ding ding ding, went the trolley...
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