First stop after buying our all-day passes was out west on the parking lot of UMSL. The Gypsy Caravan was in town and Misty told me this was “a big artisan festival”. We have taken in a few of the “artisan festivals” in several towns including our own and while they are not my first choice of things to do, they are tolerable and sometimes I will find something to make it worthwhile.
If you have never been to the Gypsy Caravan let me tell you, it is NOT just another artisan festival. It is closer to what the name implies…Gypsy style. Never have I seen so much stuff that is not suitable for the average garage sale. Booth after booth of (I use the word very loosely) antiques and many things that I would just say are old. Beyond that there are countless tents of knockoff purses and sunglasses. I am not sure how this selling of clearly fake merchandise is legal in the US, but there it was, proudly on display.
Misty could tell within minutes that I was not enjoying the Caravan. While she was able to find the few artisans in the bunch and check out their jewelry I was left standing there on the hot pavement under the hot St. Louis Memorial Day sun.
It was a festival however, and that means festival food…and festival lines for said food. I wanted about 20 minutes for a corn dog that would make ordinary hotdogs jealous. Wash that down with about 32oz of soda and I was officially part of the festivities. Fattening and clogging my arteries just like the rest of them. We wandered aimlessly for awhile until I found this ol’ boy. I don’t recall ever seeing an organ grinder before. And Kudos to this guy for dressing the part. I am assuming that it may not be legal to have a live monkey on your organ anymore, so this guy replicated the sidekick with a stuffed one. Nice try…
From there we jumped back on the Metrolink to head downtown. It was about an hour before the Cards 3:15 game and the train was already packed. Quite a crowd getting on the train at Lambert or North Hanley. Whenever I hear that the Metrolink is not doing well I just try to add up what they must be raking in on game days. I ride the train down from U-City quite often and it is always a full train before the games. And not just one or two trains, it is crowded for an hour or so before the game. Don’t even get me started about how packed it is coming home. Let’s just say it is worth your sanity to find a post game beer or two somewhere before trying to catch a train.
We departed with the mob at Stadium Station and walked over to the Old Courthouse. For anyone wondering if advertising on the trains works, I am living proof that it does. I had seen ads for an art exhibit at the Old Courthouse that depicted what the St. Louis riverfront looked like a hundred-plus years ago. Before the Westward Expansion Monument was erected and surrounded by a park. These ads were adorning the walls of the Metrolink and after countless rides, convinced me to check it out. Ironically on the day we were to go to the exhibit, there was no ad to be found.
While the exhibit was small it was well done and told an interesting story. St. Louis was once a very vital city to this country. Much trading happened here of all sorts and these original paintings did a nice job of taking you back in time. Interesting fact #1: Did you know that the arch grounds were once bluffs and later grated for the city that took shape in that space? Interesting fact #2: The Old Rock House that now stands south of downtown and is a great place to hear live music once stood near where the north leg of the arch now stands? It is one of the few buildings to link us back to the old St. Louis.
The Old Courthouse is a beautiful space and would be a great place to rent out for a speech or other gathering. It had been years since I was in there (I think the last time was a grade school field trip) and it was Misty’s first visit. Very glad we stopped and let me offer up this…it is a good place to drop in if you have parked north of the stadium on a hot day. It has AC and a water fountain.
After learning about what the old arch grounds looked like before it was determined that it should be a park…we headed over to the arch. There was another exhibit going on there that chronicled the Westward expansion of baseball. Focusing more on the story than the artifacts this small exhibit tucked into the corner of the Westward Expansion museum was an educational find. Did you know that the song take me out to the ballgame is only the chorus of a longer (and much worse) song? Something about Katie Casey seeing a game. Not memorable…thus the reason the chorus was the only part to stick.
We were downtown, and there was a day Cards game going on, so that was always in our consideration. We waited out the brief rainstorm with a visit to the Over / Under on Washington Ave. then decided to see how low the scalpers would go on ticket prices. It was the top of the 4th inning and the Cards were down by 2. We were able to talk a guy down on tickets from $88 face value (for 2) to $25 for both – and these tickets were 4 rows off the field down the rightfield line.
We got to witness all of the excitement of the games (from a Cards fan’s perspective). The Cards scored 3 in the 4th and 5th and a five spot in the 6th. Ah…a beautiful day at the ballpark.
It was Memorial Day and the Cardinals asked all Military to stand and be acknowledged. Misty, not listening, saw several people standing up and she decided to do the same. I should have let her stand, but I couldn’t do it. This was about the veterans and it was there moment. A nice moment orchestrated by the Cardinals…classy.
The guy to my right was a veteran and he was quite opinionated about the Cardinals, oh and about the gulf coast oil spill as well. I did learn that he was a Cards fan who needs to complain about something – typical if you read the comments on stltoday.com. First he did not like our bullpen. I needed to remind him that the ‘pen was actually one of the strong parts of the team. He especially did not like Motte, McClellan, Franklin or Boggs. Since that is about the entire ‘pen, at least he was consistent. He wanted the Cards to sign Oswalt, though when I mentioned that it would cost them about $15M a year he said “maybe Houston will pick it up”…right!
We talked baseball a while longer. Most conversations resulting in him having a very grim impression of this 1st place team. Ah hell, he is entitled to his opinion.
After waiting out the crowd home on the Metro at Broadway Oyster Bar we finally headed home. About 9 hours after we started our rail venture. The train was quiet now. It was about 9pm on a holiday evening and most fans had left downtown for home for dinner. A decent crowd still gathered at Rib American festival listening to Blue Oyster Cult wrap up the weekend’s concert series. There would be another surge of riders still that night.
If nothing else, it gave me something to write about and something to laugh about as the day progressed. We were able to salvage a day of looking at stolen goods and make a memorable Memorial Day out of it. Every once in a while it is good to see what lies in your own city. What hidden treasures or tourist traps you have forgotten about that need to be experienced again. When you decide to see what is out there, think about taking the Metrolink to show you around town. No parking hassles and you actually feel like a tourist in your own town. I just challenge you to find an organ grinder…and if you do, ask him why he doesn’t have a live monkey.
No comments:
Post a Comment