Between the east and the west: St. Louis

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Like anyone said, before heaven, one needs to go through hell. Or somekind of purgatory, where one can cleanse his/her sins. This was exactly what we had to experience driving down to St. Louis, Missouri from Ames, Iowa. With no direct major interstate or highway between the two, we tried to fit five guys in one sedan and politeness dissolved pretty quicky to achieve personal comfort. There were many fart bombs dropped, but nonetheless, we were bonding very quickly and had a blast.

The famous landmark of St. Louis is the Gateway Arch. From what I've read, the Arch was completed in 1965, when the city decided to revitalize a rundown industrial area along the Mississippi River. As suggested by its name, St. Louis gateway arch symbolizes a connection between the eastern and western coasts of the United States, thus it spans parallel along the river facing east and west.

To get to the top, we rode an elevator which unique in the way it is operated. It zig-zags its way up to the top, in a staircase movement: rise and thread. It felt claustrophobic inside the metal elevator, and even the observation deck is not that big, either.

The experience on top of the Arch is unbelievable. Through small windows, the view of St. Louis was revealed before our eyes. Looking down, all of the sudden, it came to my realization that technically I was standing in the mid air, with nothing supported us directly straight down. Was it a wind that shaked the structure we were standing? Everybody seemed to share the same thought, so all of us finally breathed normal again as soon as we got back down. There was an Amish family at the base of the Arch, which was surprising; don’t they usually stay away from modern civilization?

St. Louis Zoo visit was relaxing for us, strolling around and looking at many different animals, to the extreme of a koala and polar bears. Later that night, we went to the Union Station to have a supper at one of the restaurant.

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