Art and Chocolate

 St. Louis. MO

Kemper Art Museum

Today we went to the Kemper Art Museum in St. Louis on the Washington University campus here in St. Louis, MO. It's another free museum here in St. Louis and it's a good one.  It isn't huge but that is a good thing in our opinion.  They have a great collection of art from various art movements and have a few pieces by big names.  

Illumination - Ai Weiwei.  Made of Legos!

Sleeping Effort - Jackson Pollock

New York Rhapsody - Grace Hartigan

Vertical Form - Barbara Hepworth

Primo - Anne Truitt

Maton - Katharina Sieverding.  This is a photograph shown next to a mirror.

When the piece says to open the drawers you oblige!

They had a great African Modernism in America exhibit.  There were some really cool paintings in this collction.

Three Faces - Skunder Boghossian

Olumo Rock - Afi Ekong

Untitled - Yusef Grillo

Oba Akenzua II - Ben Enwonwu

Image #6 - Ibrahim El-Salahi

Vision of the Tomb - Ibrahim El-Salahi

Ana Mmuo (Land of the Dead) - Uche Okeke

Yoruba Forms #5 - David C. Driskell

This giant ball swung back and forth at times.  I am not sure how they got it started.

La Tour Marine (Tower of the Sea) - Yves Tanguy

Diamond Cove, Isles of Shoals - Childe Hassam

After our museum visit we went back to the Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Factory that we toured a couple of weeks ago to buy some more damaged goods.   They had a new selection of flavors so we bought a few bags.  We hit the road Saturday and need road snacks!

More discounted chocolate!

That was it for today.  If you missed yesterday's post, Walking From Illinois to Missouri and Back on Route 66, check it out.  We only have a few days left in St. Louis.  We are looking forward to the upcoming road trip and the stay in Cincinnati.  

Walking From Illinois to Missouri and Back on Route 66

 Granite City, IL & St. Louis, MO

Route 66 Selfie

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge

Today Donna and I drove across the Mississippi to Illinois and then walked back to Missouri on The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.  This bridge crosses the Mississippi just north of St. Louis and gets its name from the multiple rock ledges just under the surface of the water that made passage dangerous before the Chain of Rocks Canal was created.  Now barges bypass these shallow waters using the canal.

It's a really pretty place with a lot of trees and birds.  There is free parking on the Illinois side.  We were told there were a lot of car break-ins on the St. Louis side by different people so we decided to park on the Illinois side.

If you go, and you should, make note that there is a one way bridge leading to Chouteau Island.  There is a stoplight at either end that lets cars pass.  We were a little confused when we first pulled up and when we left we saw people turning around because they thought the light was never going to change.  Give it time, it will change.

The road to the parking lot is an Historic Route 66 highway and the bridge used extend this section of Route 66 across The Mississippi River.

There are also a few miles of nature trails on Chouteau Island, the island that we are on.

This is one of the two Water Intake Towers (Tower 1 built in 1894 and still in use) that bring water from the Mississippi River into the Water Treatment Plant and makes the water clean enough to brew Budweiser Beer.

There was info about The Mississippi River but now info on when you crossed the state line or about the Water Intake Towers.

Another shot of Tower #1

The Famous 30 degree bend.  This was created so they could firmly plant the pylons of the bridge in solid rock.

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge was on our St. Louis list for quite a while and we were looking forward to it but it ended up being way better than we expected.  

If you missed my previous post, We're Talking Baseball, check it out.  We saw The Cardinals stomp The Diamondbacks.

We're Talking Baseball

 St. Louis, MO

I bet you can't guess where we are!

Busch Stadium

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and visited the 10th most urbanist ballpark in the US according to CityNerd.  We took the bus there and then did the walk up to the stadium with fans.  We grabbed a hot dog and then found our seats.  I chose the 400 level along the 1st base line because all of the research I did showed that this was the best area for shade the entire game.  I even took a few photos from The Gateway Arch to confirm the shade.

Check out that sweet sweet shade!  (taken the other day atop The Gateway Arch)

I got excited when I saw The Gateway Arch as we rounded the grandstands.

And then I saw The Gateway Arch from our seats!

We got to watch some tiny jumping spiders during the game.  We also did some birding and saw a Peregrine Falcon.

The Cardinals beat the Diamondbacks 14 to 5.  We saw singles, doubles, triples, home runs, and a Grand Slam Home Run.

It was a fun day in the shade enjoying the game. If you missed Missouri Botanical Gardens check it out.

Missouri Botanical Gardens

 St. Louis, MO

Missouri Botanical Garden

Today we took advantage of the nice day and headed to The Missouri Botanical Garden.  We used our RAP Pass to get in.  It's a beautiful place.  

Climatron!

The Backside of Water!

They had some of the Chihuly set up but there was more that was still being put out.

These are the less desirable Chihuly pieces.

The person that gave the common name to this plant was having a bad day.

The Dogwood is going off around here.

We took a break in the Bavarian Garden

Donna found another opportunity to feed fish

They were giant!

That's it for today.  We have 9 days left to explore St. Louis and then it's 3 nights camping and then a month in Cincinnati.  If you missed The Craziest Museum That You Ever Did See you can find it with the link.  City Museum is nuts!