Tuesday, 26 October 2010

A cultural feast. St Louis revisited.

I finished the index to Roland's book, which I was told I was doing! Actually, we ended up doing it together, and boring though it was, it was quicker that way. This tome has been in the writing for some time, but he's finally finished it! Hurrah! It comes out next year and will be a fascinating read. A must for Christmas 2011!

As a reward, we have the weekend in St Louis, staying in my friend's 'condo' as they call them. Amazingly we get there with no wrong turns or mishaps, so still speaking to each other when we arrive. Roland is getting used to the car and the roads.
 The condo is in Clayton, the legal centre of St Louis and rather up market. The american middle classes know how to live well. They have lovely, tree lined suburbs, with really nice houses and gardens.


In fact, you can hardly see the houses for the trees.
Rain has been forecast on and off for the whole weekend, but they got it wrong! It is blue skies and sun all the time.
We are quite near Forest Park, which is where the St Louis, 1904 World Fair was held, and decide to go there first. It's hot. Over 80 F and Roland forgot his hat. The truth is he left it behind because he thought it wasn't the right image in town!!! Result, a slightly tetchy Roland.
The World Fair was held to commemorate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. My American history is practically non existent, but this was when Jefferson bought a large chunk of America- the Louisiana Territory from France, thereby doubling the size of America overnight. This apparently was a smart move by Napoleon, who was sure the British would get it off him anyway. In this part of Missouri, round St Louis and along the Mississippi, you get a lot of french place names-Ste. Genevieve, Bonne Terre, Cape Girardeau, La Grange etc.

This park is big. 1,300 acres to be precise. Just as well, the fair attracted over 20 million visitors!
We go to the art gallery first, which over looks an ornamental lake, a left over from the fair.


Outside the gallery is a rather striking statue of St Louis.

The art gallery is very enjoyable. A room of american art, including local artists George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton, both of whom are very good. There is also an very interesting collection of international stuff from the very early to the modern. It was really nice looking round a gallery, and I realise it would be something I would miss if I couldn't do it fairly often.

We dine in down town Clayton, which has streets of restaurants with tables out on the pavements. Lots of choice, which makes a change and it's not fast food. We eat outside because it's so warm and the food is tasty. I can't believe that it's late october. The Mid West is having the sunniest october on record- lucky for us. The temperatures are also out of the norm. I can't help feeling we might pay for all this later! 

Next day we go into town by public transport! St Louis has a metro and buses. There are only two lines on the metro, but better than nothing. It's funny to be on a train again- freedom. Also unlike Fulton, there are a lot more blacks around. They do live in Fulton, but they are very much on the fringes. I realise we have been living in a white society for 2 months, which for a Londoner is weird.
It now becomes apparent why the city is so spread out. There is a huge swathe of inner St Louis, the old industrial part, which surrounds the old centre. Most of this is derelict and run down. A good place for photos I would think. Then there are the parks and huge green areas, then the shiny new suburbs, which have been built beyond. 

 Inner St Louis is very bold, new, shiny high rise, with very little of the old left. 


There is the odd old sky scraper.


The old Court House is one of the few old buildings left.


We go the museum under the arch, which is large. It covers american history from beginning to end as well as local history. Most of the american presidents I've never heard of.
They have a good section on the Lewis/Clarke expedition, which was sent out by Jefferson to explore the new Louisiana purchase. There was also some very striking photos of Indian chiefs, which of course they didn't have postcards of, with some sad but eloquent quotations from them, saying they were lied to and done the dirty on.



We were glad we had gone up the arch last time as the queue was enormous and Mr patience would not have waited!

We then walked to the old Court House. This is old for America- 1828 and has a very beautiful interior.


This also has a very good museum in the basement, with quite a large section on slavery. There was a very well known case tried in this court- The Dred Scott case. A slave sued for freedom in the courts claiming he had lived in states where slavery was illegal and therefor should be set free. The final judgement basically said as a black slave Dred was not a citizen and therefor not allowed to use the courts. The ruling was considered very controversial at the time.

Finally, one always has to have a train slipped in somewhere, we went to Union Station. This sadly is no longer used as a train station, but was saved and restored. The main body of the station is a rather tacky selection of fast food outlets and shops.
 The grand hall, however, at the front is now part of a hotel and is magnificent.


The detail is lovely, the stain glass is Tiffany and the
whole room looks gorgeous.


                                     
Those were the days when travelling by train was classy.
The outside is rather heftier in style and the tower enormous. Inspired by Carcassonne apparently.


We are knackered from so much culture, so we head back to Clayton. 
It's even warmer than last night, so we dine outside again. A restaurant with pretensions to haute cuisine. It's very good. The waiter is half indian from Yorkshire and half belgian. We asked him if he liked living in St Louis and he complained it was not cosmopolitan enough for him. We were just thinking it was very cosmopolitan compared to Fulton. It's all relative.
As we drive back on sunday, the weather turns and looks stormy. We timed it well.

Well an exciting week ahead. Halloween and the mid term elections, and they have quite a lot in common!

Monday, 18 October 2010

We catch a whopper and learn to shoot.

Well, we have just had the best day yet. I was looking forward to learning to shoot. A friend in college said she could arrange for us to go to friends of hers, who could show us the basics of shooting if I was interested. I was very interested. Everyone seems to shoot here, most people have guns and there are a lot of places to shoot. This is probably my only chance to get my hands on a gun and have a go.
The weather continues to be ridiculously warm for the time of year and we set out with another friend to drive to a 'hobby farm', so called, just west of Jefferson City. A Hobby farm means there are no crops, no animals, except wild ones and it is kept purely for shooting and hunting and riding. What they shoot are rabbits, quail, turkeys, pigeons and deer.
Our hosts are David and Jennifer, who are charming. They live in a beautiful stone late 19th century house, stuffed full of early american furniture and antiques of all sorts. She is a collector and it's great because they use it all everyday. We sit on early 19th century hand painted chairs and eat off old china. They also have three very beautiful horses and hunting dogs. I get the impression they are not hard up!



The morning is set aside for us to have a go at shooting targets with a 22 rifle. There is one with a scope and one without and we try both. He has rigged up a bench so we can rest the gun on something and have a better chance at aiming.


We have to learn to load, prime and always put the safety catch on!


There are four of us shooting and we get quite competetive. I can see how this could be quite addictive.
We are not as silly as we look and hit consistently and near the centre of the target. We also have clay discs to hit and we do that too at 50 yards, then 100 yards. David is extremely patient, which helps.


We then try shooting standing up. I find with one hand, I can't keep the barrel steady enough, but have a go anyway.
 It was such fun and you got such a sense of achievement when you hit the target. Roland preferred the gun with the scope, but the more old fashioned wooden one, looked nicer and had a less sharp sound.
We never got round to the shotguns- maybe next time.
Feeling as if we had done rather well, or perhaps relieved that we hadn't been completely useless, we had lunch. Lunch turns out to be rather good. Jennifer bakes her own bread and it is delicious and David makes pies! Will it get any better! It turns out that when their four sons were younger, David was told if he wanted the marriage to last, he would have to take over the shopping and cooking. He did, and has been doing it ever since. Jennifer is obviously a good picker!

 It is then proposed that we might like to go out on the river with David to check his catfish lines which he put down yesterday. You are only allowed to leave them for a day and have to label your line.
The Missouri looks beautiful.


We drive the boat into the water and away we go.


David used to work for the Missouri Conservation and Development agency and knows the river pretty well. Looking at the way the water is racing past, this is not a river you would venture into without knowing what you're doing.
We all get a turn at driving the boat, even me with one hand. As you can see the watchful eye is on me!


It's great fun belting down the middle of the Missouri, going at full throttle.



You have to watch the depth monitor all the time, because it's very uneven. A lot of work has been done, building banks and underwater shelves to keep the current in the middle and to stop it ripping away at the banks. The banks are muddy clay and there are a lot of floating logs and wooden debris.

The first line is empty and we are told it is late in the year to be catching anything of any size. Then on the second line... look what we found. An absolute whopper! 39lbs to be precise, and he didn't like being caught.


Some of us got quite wet from the thrashing about.

This is David holding the fish.


Those with two hands also got their pictures with him, before he was weighed and put back.


Quite heavy I gather!! It was exciting being so near to such a big fish. Apparently one this big would be 25 years old. Catfish are very successful in the Missouri because they don't mind the muddiness. They are predatory and will eat other fish, including other catfish. Unfortunately some asian carp have found there way into the Missouri, and are doing well, although I can't see them outdoing these monsters.

The last line has a couple of what normally I would consider quite large fish on it, but they now looked so small. I could hold these, then they were put back to get bigger.


It has been a wonderful day, with lots of new experiences. The weather was perfect, our hosts couldn't have been nicer and we all left with silly grins on our faces because we'd had such a good time.

I'm not sure with one hand whether I'd ever be able to shoot a bird or a rabbit, but I think target shooting could be fun as a sport. It was nice to be with people who don't like hand guns but like rifles and hunting. A sensible distinction I feel. I think if you eat meat, you should be prepared to kill it. There is so much uncultivated land here, it makes sense to use land for hunting. I feel we have had a real taste of America and Missouri in particular. We were asked if we missed the UK and we had to say no, not so far!

Wednesday, 13 October 2010

Almost to Arkansas.

The weather forecast for the weekend is brilliant- literally. A huge swathe of the middle of America is experiencing temperatures 15-25 degrees above the norm for this time of year. Fahrenheit, I hasten to add. This bodes well for our three day trip into the Ozarks to the south.
We drive via Lake of the Ozarks, which sounds so romantic, but is not. It is another dammed river, this time the Osage River. It is a big holiday resort. Lots of people, huge strip development, lots of boats and generally commercialized- yuk. Our immediate reaction is to drive through it as quickly as possible, only stopping briefly at a Walmart, which we always use for loo stops. It's good to know they have a use.
We get further south, to a much quieter part of this huge lake, which goes on for miles, and find a picnic spot. Artificial lakes are a bit dull. The edges don't look right!


We disturb two buzzards and a flock of geese, who don't like our company. I'm not fast enough to get a picture of the buzzards.
We then go to one of the hundreds of National Parks, which are everywhere. Most are named after Mark Twain, but this one has the wonderful name- Ha Ha Tonka, which apparently means laughing water.
This whole area is full of caves, sinkholes, underground streams and caverns.  This is a 'Karst' landscape and apparently a very important geological site.
 The first thing we see is this natural stone bridge.


We go through the arch and walk to the edge of the next gorge. There are hundreds of steps down to the river at the bottom and a view across to a ruined large house.











We walk down and over and up the other side on wooden stairs. It must have taken a long time to build them all. We go past sunken caves, which seem to go down forever. They have their own micro climates- pretty cold, with plants dating back to the ice age.
The ruin is of a large house, built by a wealthy industrialist, which burnt down. It's rather beautiful, but you can't see it very well in my not very good photo! Again, the landscape reminds us of the Lot in France.












We are feeling extremely virtuous because we've had lots of exercise. It is quite hot,  86 degrees F.
We then head off to Mansfield for the night.
 We go via one of the more reclusive Amish communities near Seymour. I didn't know there were any Amish in Missouri. We pass several black buggies and drivers with their long beards and bright blue shirts. They seem to be living in a large commune. There is a huge vegetable garden and children in long dresses playing and it looks like a film set. We get a very cheery wave from an old Amish man. I don't take photos.
Mansfield is my choice. It has the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum, which I am keen to see. I love her books about her childhood in pioneering days. If you haven't read them, try them.
 Our B and B is in the centre of town and much to Roland's delight almost on top of the railway line!!! Luckily, not too many trains are going through, just enough to keep him happy.


Our room is very comfortable, but we have to rush next door to a rather sad mexican restaurant before it closes at 7. No glass of wine to help it down, just iced water.
Next morning, breakfast is grim. Served on polystyrene plates with plastic cups, knives and spoons, the food matches! Watery coffee to wash it down.
The food was horrible, but the museum is excellent and we get there before anybody else.


We get a guided tour of the house she lived in and even Roland enjoys it all. He has never read the books and probably never will.
We then set off south on highway 63, to Grand Gulf National Park on the Arkansas border.  We get into the mood by listening to 'Big Country 99" with 'The Rooster'. Brilliant! The radio stations down here are either country or religious, an easy choice!
  This is another park of chasms, natural bridges and the like. It also has a very volatile river system. Unluckily for us, the river is non existent at the moment. It can be a raging torrent and it fills the valleys instantly.



We can see that it could be spectacular!!! Never mind. The walk through the trees is lovely.


We then try to find the wonderful, out of the way B and B that I've booked for the night, with hostess Sherry, who has a 'herb shack'. We drive through some beautiful back roads. The autumn colours are lovely and it is still hot, but we cannot for the life of us find the place. We have been driving for quite a while now and it's getting late, so we give up and head for the nearest town. There is no phone reception, so I can't ring for directions.
We end up in a Holiday Inn, which we are very pleased to see, but it wasn't quite what I was looking forward to. Dinner is a take away pizza in our room, but at least it means we can drink beer with it, and jolly good it tastes too- the beer!
Breakfast is another dismal, polystyrene affair. It's not a good way to start the day.

Our trip today is to the Onondaga cave in the Onondaga State Park. Missouri has nearly 6,000 discovered caves, presumably there are a lot more.
This one is spectacular.



It has everything- stalactites, stalagmites. Some look quite rude!

 Flowstones, draperies, cave coral etc. and the cavern is huge. It's wider than a football pitch and as tall and it seems to on for ever. A river flows along the bottom.


The colours are vivid.


It is good the whole way through, and it has bats.


Certainly worth a visit. There were plans to dam yet another river here, which would have flooded the cave, but it was voted out.

We came back via Herman, which is in the middle of Octoberfest, which seems to have livened the place up no end. There are wine tastings, beer gardens and lots of people. It's nice to see so many people in the streets. There is a real atmosphere to the place. We walk down to the muddy Missouri, which is flowing at a fair old pace.


The water in the Mississippi is flowing at three times it's normal rate for this time of year and it looks as though the Missouri is not far behind. I hadn't quite appreciated just how important these two rivers are to the geography of the area.
We get home safe and sound. It's still 80 degrees. It was a lot of driving for Roland, which he is not that keen on. It's easy to underestimate the distances. This is a very big country. We feel we have seen a good bit of Missouri, but there is a lot more......

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Roland's night and an enormous stick insect!

The build up was so great,  I forgot to report how it went! Well the lecture was a great success. The great and the good of Fulton turned up- predominantly old men- heads of banks and the like, the President and his wife, lots of Roland's colleagues, not just historians. A very supportive lot. They seemed to like what they heard. Apparently a previous professor had made the mistake of being highly critical of Churchill. The audience politely clapped, but it did not go down well. This was about Churchill and his friendships with Americans, forged at times of war, you couldn't really go wrong. Lots of photos were taken, but they don't seem to have appeared anywhere yet. So no photos of the big occasion. There was a wine and cheese buffet afterwards and Roland was pleased with it all. Fame for a day, now it's back to the routine. Roland claimed he didn't like all the attention, but I think he rather enjoyed it.
The next thing is our little trips to the Ozarks. Since I have no photos of the lecture I thought I would leave you with this enormous stick insect, found in the road outside the library.


It's the biggest one I've ever seen.


And I might as well throw in a few more Halloween pictures. They're getting sillier!




The last two were in a supermarket in Columbia.
This is an insurance office in town