Kansas City by train.

We drove south to Jefferson City on a rather chilly morning to catch the Amtrak to Kansas City. Having only ever seen the station deserted, it was quite a surprise to turn up to a full waiting room. People do use this service. Our train was on time, but the one going in the opposite direction, to St Louis, is late. Most people seem to be going in the other direction. Because there is no platform, when the train stops, the carriage attendant leaps out with a little stool and helps us up. Very old fashioned. He also helps people put their luggage in the rack. There is at least one attendant per carriage. The train is clean, comfortable, twice the seat and leg space of a british train and the aisle is twice the width. Brilliant. Also, the loos are clean and remain that way throughout the journey. The only downside is it is rather slow and the sandwiches are disgusting. Our fault. We should have made some. We are held up by the late train and then stop side by side, so that a passenger from our train can be helped down onto the track and up on the other one, because she got on the wrong train! That's service for you.
The journey is uneventful. We see quite a lot of pretty poor communities. Trailer homes and run down small clusters of houses.
Just before Kansas City we go through Independence, birthplace of Truman.

We arrive in Kansas City at Union Station, a new Union Station bang up against the old one. The old one is immense and has been restored but they do not really know what to do with it. At the moment it is full of christmas trees.

This waiting room used to hold 10,000 people.

We get a taxi to our hotel. Yes a taxi, quite a breakthrough for Roland, taking taxis is hard for him. It's buses from now on. The hotel is a Marriot, boring but in a good position. Kansas City, like most american cities is spread wide.

We are right next to the Plaza. This is a shopping and food area, started by a developer in the 20's, who could see the importance of cars in the future and incorporated a lot of car parks in the scheme. It is all in a faux spanish style, with copies of towers from Seville. There are fountains, courtyards, tiles, all in this theme, and lots of statuary.

Multi storied car parks are disguised behind ironwork and fancy brick work.

For a month and a half over the Christmas period, it is all lit up. A great draw for shoppers and tourists. There are carriage rides in buggies like cinderella's pumpkin coach. My photo of that didn't turn out!

You can get the idea though.

 This place is thriving. The shops and restaurants are full and buzzing. I love it! It may all be a copy, but it works and people like it.
We eat at a Brazilian restaurant. Lots of meat..... for a change! You can eat as much as you want- fatal for most, but there are also lots of veg. We retire full.

A Marriot breakfast is slightly better than others in that we eat off china plates. The food is crap and I use the word correctly.

We start the day with the Art Gallery and it turns out to be an absolute gem. A stunning collection of paintings, stain glass, sculpture, artifacts, china etc. It has paintings by Caravaggio, Monet, Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Gaugin, Winslow Homer, to name just a few. Artefacts from ancient Egypt, Rome and China, it just went on and on.

A world class collection, beautifully displayed.

This is a portrait by Joseph Wright of Derby, one of my favourite painters. I think he looks a bit like dad.

The money behind it came mainly from the local newspaper owner and most of it was bought in the depression at 'reasonable' prices. You could easily spend a week in there and it's tempting as it's bloody freezing outside. The building is huge and the grounds have Henry Moores dotted all over the place, as well as more frivolous pieces.

We head south where there is a very impressive museum dedicated to the first world very much of the period.

. We climb up to the top....

only to find the entrance is at the bottom on the other side! The view is good though.

It's still perishing outside and we can't face ploughing through death and destruction, good though it's supposed to be. We opt for a bus trip through downtown, which is a bit like the centre of Glasgow. Kansas City was wealthy and growing at the same time.
There are lots of fountains everywhere, mostly dry at this time of year. Kansas City has more fountains than any other city except Rome.

This one has local themes

We decide to visit a little museum down by the river- Steamboat Arabia. This turns out to be fascinating.
This is a small private museum and houses the full contents from the hold of a steamboat that sank just out of Kansas City in 1856. Wrecks are common. The Missouri is treacherous. The current is fast and it rips out trees at the edge of the river. The water is full of fast moving debris. There are 289 known wrecks between St Louis and Pierre in South Dakota.
This boat was big- 171 foot long and was crammed with goods for further up river. It sank in 5 minutes having been pierced by a tree stuck in the mud. The top of the boat was washed away, but the deck and hold sank in the mud with all the contents intact. They have displayed the stuff as if it is some well stocked shop from the period.

There is everything. Fine china, glassware, cutlery, boots, clothes, tools, full pickle jars, perfume, jewellery, bourbon......

Very enjoyable and a bit different.

Saturday night, everyone seems to be in town and we find it hard to get a table at any of the restaurants. We eventually ask if we can share a table in the bar and end up eating with the retired lawyer of the Kansas City Chieftans- the local football team. We eat a selection of fish, which makes a change.

Sunday we are brunched by the English Speaking Union, who invited Roland. Our hosts are charming, a mixture of expats and locals and they prove an attentive and interested audience. Some of them appear to be fairly wealthy (fur coats and expensive cars) and all are very proud of their city. We are then driven to the station to catch our train back. It's still very cold but a beautiful evening. We have brought edible sandwiches with us, so feel very smug tucking in with a beer from the bar.
A good trip. We liked the city and would like to see more. The train was also a success.

We now stay put till Christmas. We have our first snow forecast for this saturday, which is supposed to be vile. Freezing rain turning to snow with temperatures plummeting. We are going to the good supermarket in Colombia on friday to stock up- just in case it sets in.