City Museum
The City Museum in St. Louis,
Missouri is one of the most unique museums in the nation, using
repurposed materials left over from industrial and architectural
projects, inside of what used to be the old International Shoe
building in the Washington Avenue Loft District of the city. It has
become very popular with the locals and visitors, coming here to
enjoy in many ways the eclectic blend of children's playgrounds,
architectural oddities, a funhouse and strange pavilion. You are
offered the opportunity to take advantage of all the marvelous
contraptions by climbing, touching, feeling and playing in the
numerous exhibits and displays that are found here. In 1999, the
museum welcomed 300,000 visitors and by 2007, that number had
doubled. It has won numerous awards from local and international
sponsors and been called a great public space by the Project for
Public Spaces. The museum started with artist Bob Cassilly, who is
still the artistic director of the space, with his former wife, Gail
Cassilly. The old building that houses this unusual venue had been a
shoe factory and warehouse before the Cassillys purchased it in
1993, with the constructional changes starting in 1995 and opening
to the public in 1997. It has continued to grow, both in size and
amount of visitors, adding new exhibits whenever possible. These
include the Monstrocity in 2002, Enchanted Caves and Shoe Shaft in
2003 and the World Aquarium in 2004. There is a wonderful circus
located on the third floor that puts on live shows every day, and
there are antique braiding machines that make colorful shoelaces
that are sold to supplement the income. On the fifth floor, there
are apartments, named the Lofts at City Museum and range in size
from 1300 square feet to over 2800 square feet. It also hosts
concerts and has welcomed Miley Cyrus in 2007, as well as the Jonas
Brothers. The main part of the museum is located on the first floor,
which was part of the original change, and contains a Bowhead whale
that allows visitors to walk through and look into a big fish tank
or look down into from the mezzanine. There are many marvelous and
exciting obstacles and other types of tunnels and shoots, with many
variations on the usual types of playground equipment. The mezzanine
houses the food court and areas that are connected with the main
floor. The second floor contains a vault that was manufactured in
the mid-19th century and located elsewhere in the city, but is now
the portal to the MonstroCity. Another unusual feature located here
is St. George's Chamber, which leads into the Enchanted Caves, with
the chamber containing vintage opera posters and a statue of St.
George himself, that was rescued from St. George's Catholic Church
in Chicago. The World Aquarium is an extension of the city's
children's aquarium and contains a big shark tank that has a glass
tunnel running through the center of it, although it is only big
enough to allow visitors to crawl through. The Enchanted Caves
and Shoe Shafts float through the middle of the museum, rising all
the way to the 10th floor and filled with unusual sights and
obstacles, making it one of the most favorite. Inside the caves is a
1923 Wurlitzer Pipe Organ that was put in in 2007, that came from
the Rivoli Theater in New York City. There are many more attractions
on the third and fourth floors, with more exciting things to do then
could be done in any one day. Outside the main building is the
MonstroCity, which contains two Saber 40 aircraft fuselages that are
suspended in the air, four foot wide Slinkies that you crawl
through, a ball pit filled with big rubber dodge balls, a castle
turret, 24 foot cupola and a fire engine. Just below the Monstro, is
a place called the Cabin Inn, which is a bar and entertainment
center, and had originally been the home of the son of Daniel Boone.
There is even a school bus hanging over the edge of the building
that invites you to try traveling through it, but does cost $5 more
to venture up to the roof. It is one of the most fantastic places
for all members of a family and well worth visiting.
St. Louis Zoo
The
St. Louis Zoological Park in Forest Park that is located in St.
Louis, Missouri and has been recognized as one of the best zoos in
the nation in relation to research, conservation, animal management
and education. It is free to visit, making it even more of a
fantastic day's adventure, although there are some special
attractions that do cost. One of the most favorite venues is the
Zooline Railroad, which is a little passenger train that goes around
the zoo, stopping at the more favorite venues. The initial exhibit
that the city bought, from the Smithsonian Institute, was the Flight
Cage, that was leftover from the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, and
then, once it had been started, it would continue to grow with more
displays and exhibits, areas and structures, that would improve the
care of their animals, the range that they could travel and the
education and interpretation of the animal care. The zoo has what is
called zones, and contain most of the features, like the River's
Edge exhibits that include; the African Savanna, with carmine
bee-eaters, bat-eared foxes, black rhinos and red river hog. The
African Nile is also part of this zone and houses spotted hyenas,
dwarf mongoose, hippos and cheetahs; with the hippos held in a large
exhibit called Hippo Harbor, that has only a number of inches of
grass that separate visitors from these 3000 pound behemoths as they
play in their 60,000 gallon pool. The Asia section is also in the
River's Edge zone with big adult Asian elephants; the North America
section that houses the fish and wildlife of the Mississippi and
Missouri Rivers and South America that contains giant anteaters,
bush dogs and capybaras. The Discovery Center exhibits have the
children's zoo with many marvelous and exciting venues, as well as
the Monsanto insectarium and butterfly garden, and the education
department with gift shop, exhibit halls, cafe, guest services and
movie theater. In the Wild Exhibits zone you'll find the bear pits,
penguin and puffin coast, conservation carousel and fragile forest.
Their inside exhibit is the first walk through venue of
sub-Antarctic penguins in the continent and a window half wall
keeping you safe from the Gentoo, King and Rockhopper penguins. The
Historic Hall exhibits include the primate house, bird house, bird
garden, Chain of Lakes and Sea Lion arena and the 1904 flight cage
and Cypress swamp. The Red Rock exhibits house the big cat country,
antelope house with giraffes, kangaroos and ostriches, banteng,
Somali wild ass, takin, addax, antelope, zebra and camels. So, as
you can see, this is one outstanding zoo with more animals and
sights that could possible be seen in just one visit.