The country I come from

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"THE SOUL HAS GREATER NEED OF THE IDEAL THAN OF THE REAL," proclaims the legend carved into the frieze of the Nelson Atkins Museum, "IT IS BY THE REAL THAT WE EXIST. IT IS BY THE IDEAL THAT WE LIVE." This lofty sentiment matches the grandeur of the Beaux-Arts building it is carved on, and I can't help feeling it rebukes the ironic, tentative outlook of the present day.

We are here to view the fabulous art collection housed in this building, as well as to see the new addition that has been built in a quirky, contemporary style: fragmented and elusive. The elegant, discreet forms of the addition are a good complement to the stately main building, but the contrast in tones makes you wonder for our future. The original structure speaks unabashedly of shared ideals sustaining a great civilization; the new one suggests people seeking private, idiosyncratic encounters with beauty in a disordered world.

Whatever civilization's future may be, its past reverberates at the Nelson Atkins, which has strong holdings from every era: ancient, classical, medieval, Renaissance, Mannerist, Impressionist, Modern, as well as an extensive Asian art collection, a good African collection, abundant sculpture, decorative arts, photography, all shown in a beautiful building with an Italianate interior courtyard and an expansive outdoor park--you can easily spend a day here and find yourself feeling much closer to the ideal than when you came in.

Kansas City as a whole has much of the graciousness of the museum--wide boulevards, Spanish-style architecture, a relaxing feel. And a visit to Royals Stadium prolongs the mood--ornamental fountains, plenty of open space, green hills beyond. The mellow fans are perhaps a little too forgiving of their long-floundering team, and they amiably tolerate visitors who want to root for the opposition--they seem to be used to it. On this night, the Yankees are giving the Royals an excellent demonstration of winning baseball, and I hope it proves useful to them in the future.

We can't stick around to find out, because we have an appointment the next night in Davenport, Iowa--one of the best places to see a minor league game. The home team is called the Swing, in honor of Davenport's jazz icon, Bix Beiderbecke, and the ballpark sits right alongside the Mississippi River, at the foot of the Centennial Bridge. Ticket prices were friendly enough in Kansas City, but here in the Quad Cities they're downright neighborly--box seats are only $9.

And beers are only $2, so we grab a couple of brews and locate our seats in Section 3, only to be told by an usher that this is the family section: no drinking, smoking, or swearing. We've given up smoking and swearing, but not drinking, so we head over to the next section, where we ask a patron, "Is this a drinking section?" "Very much so," he replies. So we settle into Section 4, which is boisterous but friendly--most everybody seems to know each other, and they heckle each other as much as they do the opposing team. But the Swing don't need much help; they jump ahead early and gradually pull away, and afterwards we celebrate over at Mac's Tavern on 2nd Street. We meet a lot of young, lively people, but as often as not they tell us they're about to move away to Chicago or Denver. I can't say I'd choose to live in Davenport either, but it sure is a nice place to visit.

The next day we roar across the cornfields to get to the Museum of Science in Industry in Chicago in time to see the new model railroad exhibit. Am I jaded? I wanted to be more impressed than I was--I wanted to see porch lights going on and off, cars going down the streets, I wanted to be enthralled, and instead I was merely impressed. But it was only a short walk from there to Chessie's for a fabulous summer dinner featuring Roz's customer's Mom's outstanding recipe for borshch. And then it was off to Roz's bar itself for a night of conversation, ice cream, and general dissolution. I don't remember what we did or said, but we'll always have pictures.

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Comments

[Kathy]

KC???
You guys are all over the place. But Kansas City?? I didn't know they had so much to offer, but leave it to y'all. Good to hear that they have more. I'm a long suffering Kansas City Chiefs fan, and have even taken the virtual tour of Arrowhead Stadium. WELL, WE HAD A HECK OF A WEEKEND. Dory the Wanderer took off on us Friday night for some 4 hours and then slinked back home in the dark. Old Home Day in Landaff was on Saturday, and Lindsay made some seriously strategic antique buys. The folks in that town are great, especially the volunteer firemen who helped us when Linds fell ill on New Years (he's fine now). The town supper was at 5 and we met some new neighbors there, and some we'd met before as well. Please keep us posted on your travels. Enjoy the local cuisine. Hope to see you soon. Love, Kathy