I went to St. Louis on a micro-trip in February 2017, because the flights were good, the weather was exceptionally warm, and it was supposed to be sunny. I got quite a bit of cloud and fog as it turned out, but it didn't quell my ability to walk long distances in search of art and novelty. St. Louis came through with many engaging art galleries, all of them free for the taking, so on Saturday along I went to seven of them, in a walk that started in the Grand Arts District and ended in the Delmar Loop. On Sunday I woke to fog, and headed downtown while hoping for some sun. The fog lifted just as reached the Gateway Arch right beside the Mississippi.
Photo List (Total 364 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Downtown St. Louis (154 photos) - This gallery starts at the Mississippi and of course the Gateway Arch. A fog lifted just as I reached the arch, which was very welcome. The gallery continues towards the more official parts of downtown St. Louis, including court buildings (there seemed to be a lot of court buildings in St. Louis), to the City Hall and the Library and then the former Union Station. After that it takes a swing through some of the more historic commercial buildings in the core. The gallery ends at the crazy-weird City Museum and its remarkable and fantastic MonstroCity.
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Locust Street walk (26 photos) - This gallery starts at the Grand Arts District and continues as I walk towards downtown on a mostly foggy morning. The walk took me through an extensive area of handsome industrial buildings, many of them vacant. From the style of the architecture, it felt like the whole area had been built up all at once. Though some of the buildings have been repurposed, overall it was a mostly forlorn walk, especially on a foggy Sunday morning when no one was about.
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Central West End and Grand Arts District (100 photos) - I started my exploration in St. Louis near the Fox Theatre, on Grand Street. This area has a very pleasing collection of cultural buildings, for the performing and visual arts, with a few small parks and sculpture gardens. Some of the buildings here are photographed twice, with grey skies on Saturday and in early morning fog on Sunday. There was no easy way to organize these photos, so they start at the Grand Arts District (which includes the interior of a number of art galleries), head to the Central West End along Lindell (including lots of photos of apartment blocks and especially the Cathedral Basilica), and then a foggy walk along residential streets back to the Arts District.
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Forest Park and the St. Louis Art Gallery (38 photos) - I'm sure Forest Park is very pretty in summer, but on a grey day in February with no leaves on the trees it has a bit of a barren feel, even though it was very busy with people playing sports or walking. This gallery shows some bridges and scenery in the park, and pavilions associated with the 1904 World's Fair. It also has quite a few photos of the St. Louis Art Museum, which has a commanding presence on a hill in the park, overlooking the Grand Basin.
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Delmar Loop and the University of Washington (33 photos) - This gallery starts with a visit to the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum on the grounds of the University of Washington. There are a few photos of the campus, and then quite a few on a busy commercial street, Delmar, that is probably the most touristy part of St. Louis. I bought a vase here, and had supper. There are also some photos of a collection of monumental buildings around a traffic circle on Delmar, which includes the highly odd looking City Hall for University City.
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Transit Shots (13 photos) - St. Louis has a two-line LRT that runs from the airport to downtown and over to the Illinois side. This gallery has a few photos of the MetroLink system, and some of Lambert International Airport.
