Red/Cyan 3D glasses are needed to view the photos in this post.
I’m not going to say I’m an expert on St Louis; I mean, I drove through it, and stopped at the big shiny thing there. That does make me an expert, in my opinion, but I wouldn’t say that as it would sound like bragging. Writing it doesn’t, though. So there: I’m an Expert. Capital ‘E’. And as a secret Expert, I can tell all the tourists to visit all the best places, like the arch, the courthouse and church beside the arch, the park surrounding the arch, and the restaurant under the arch. The interstate is also a nice place to visit, and well worth an afternoon. There’s nothing as exciting as wondering if the truck beside you is going to kill you before the truck in front of you does. Maybe St Louis exists beyond the arch, but who knows?
… okay, maybe I’m not an Expert, or even an expert, but you’re a paragraph in, so you might as well read the rest. Otherwise, you wasted your time. No, I’ve never heard of the sunk cost fallacy. Don’t worry. I’ll be showing pretty(?) pictures, and that will make everything worthwhile. As long as you have 3D glasses, at least… if not, maybe look at my last post instead.
Of course I took 3D photos; I can’t pass by a big monument and not take them. The Gateway arch is definitely classified as a big monument. Like I said the last time, it’s pretty much the tallest building in the state.
The arch and surrounding area is one of the USA’s newest national parks, formed in 2018. At the time I write this, there are three newer ones(one I’ve actually been to, although I only took normal photos there).
As I mentioned, the entrance to the arch is underground, at the base. That’s also the entrance to the museum and restaurant.
You can actually exit at the base of the legs, but I didn’t do that because… ribs and toasted ravioli, that’s why. It was quiet when I visited; I’m not sure why, as it was still summer(although kids were back in school in that state). Maybe I scared them away. Anyways, I waited around to see if I could get photos of people leaving via the legs, but no luck.
One thing that is hard to notice in many photos is that the cross section of the arch is actually triangular:
In the park,At the right angle, the trees in the park obscure the arch base, making it look like something alien. Maybe it is, actually; it doesn’t really resemble an earth gateway.
Here’s the old courthouse again, back from my last post:
And the church. I didn’t mention the church before because I didn’t have any non-visible photos of it for the last post.
It isn’t actually part of the park, but it’s surrounded on three sides by it. The official name is the Basilica of St Louis, King of France, and it is often just called the ‘Old Cathedral’. Hmm… Basilica of St Louis, in the city of St Louis? No, never mind… it must be a coincidence.
The church wasn’t open when I was there; perhaps it was because there was construction in the parking lot, or perhaps it’s because it was late afternoon by the time I got there.
Either way, I didn’t have a chance to go in. The Basilica was built before the courthouse, with construction starting in 1831 and the dedication in 1834(although the Old courthouse was built as a replacement for an older courthouse, built in 1819). After walking around it, I continued my circuit of the park.
On the south side of the arch, I took my only non-visible photo of the monument. This was along the walkway and road beside the Mississippi river. And as a side note to all Americans. You make fun of us for all the extra ‘U’s in our words, but ‘Mississppi’? Surely you could get rid of at least two S’s and a P. Was this river named when building codes required words to have extra redundancy installed?
Anyways, here’s the photo in visible(spoiler: it is a photo of an arch):
And here it is in 950 nm infrared, from my Zomei filter.
It is still an Arch, in case you were worried.
… and, of course, I actually went inside the arch.Here’s a nice photo of the viewing gallery as seen from outside.
Now inside of course, it looks like….
Wait, you can’t see the gallery?
take another look. It’s right here:
No, not there, THERE! Look at the windows! It’s obvious!
…really? Okay, fine. Lets just drop the 3d gimmick. I’ll move closer.
IT
IS
RIGHT
THERE.
… I really don’t know what I can do. I wrote very slowly and gave specific directions. I just want to give up and end this post. I’m sad and frustrated.
Okay, one more try. I’m, dropping the 3D AND zooming it. Look for the windows.
LOOK.
RIGHT.
THERE.
NO, THERE!
Okay. Can we move on now? I used up all my different arrows. I really needed those.
Back to 3D. Glasses time again.
Inside, the gallery looks like this.
And the view from outside… there’s a reason I saved it for last.
It’s because it turned out really well. There’s St Louis. Thanks to the one attendant willing to hold one of my cameras so that I could take each photo on opposite sides of the gallery. The distance exaggerated the 3D effect perfectly.
…but no, I’m lying. This isn’t the last photo. The last photo is DOGGY!
A bronze Statue of Lewis and Clark, and the real hero of the expedition, Seadog. Apparently, Seadog was a Newfoundland Dog, which is a close relation to my dog. Unlike Newfies, though, my dog’s breed kept all the evil genes.
And finally, I was done. I couldn’t put it off any longer. I walked back to the parking lot… my car was easy to find, as it was the last car parked…
I had had my rest, and I was prepared. I had fortified my courage, taken on the supplies, and I had to move on. It was now time to traverse the wastelands and ruins of…
…
…
…
Illinois.
The above photos were taken with dual Canon SX600HS cameras. The infrared photo was taken with a modified Canon Rebel T3i
Parallel Views 