If You're Traveling Into St. Louis...
Some helpful information from the Wikipedia:
There are several museums and attractions in the city. The St. Louis Art Museum, located in the City's premier park, Forest Park, houses an impressive array of modern art and ancient artifacts, with an extensive collection of master works of several centuries, including paintings by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Picasso, and many others. The privately-owned City Museum offers a variety of interesting exhibits, including several large faux-caves and a huge outdoor playground. The Eugene Field House, located in downtown St. Louis, is a museum dedicated to the distinguished children's author. The Missouri History Museum presents exhibits and programs on a variety of topics including the 1904 World's Fair, and a comprehensive exhibit on Lewis and Clark's voyage exploring the Louisiana Purchase. The Fox Theatre, originally one of many movie theatres along Grand Boulevard, is now a newly restored theatre featuring a Byzantine facade and Oriental decor. The Fox Theatre presents a Broadway Series in addition to concerts. The St. Louis Union Station is a popular tourist attraction with retail shops and a luxury hotel.
There are several notable churches in the city, including the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, a large Roman Catholic cathedral designed in the Byzantine and Romanesque styles. The interior is decorated with lovely mosaics, the largest mosaic collection in the world. The Basilica of St. Louis, King of France is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi River.
The Gateway Arch, part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, is arguably the city's best known landmark, as well as a popular tourist site. At 630 feet, it is the tallest manmade monument in the United States. Located below the Arch is the Museum of Westward Expansion, which contains an extensive collection of artifacts and details the story of the thousands of people who lived in and settled the American West during the nineteenth century. The Arch, and the entire 91 acres of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial park, occupy the exact location of the original French village of St. Louis.
The Saint Louis Zoological Park is one of the oldest and largest free-admission zoos in the country, and is home to an Insectarium and the Prairie Village. The St. Louis Zoo enjoys the distinction of being the most visited zoo in the United States, having surpassed the San Diego Zoo in terms of popularity. It boasts many exhibits which are animal-friendly in terms of habitat. The zoo is located in Forest Park, adjacent to the St. Louis Art Museum.
Laclede's Landing, located on the Mississippi Riverfront directly north of the historic Eads Bridge, is popular for its restaurants and nightclubs. St. Louis also possesses several distinct examples of 18th and 19th century architecture, such as the Soulard Market district, the Chatillon-de Menil House, the Bellefontaine Cemetery, the Robert G. Campbell House, the Old Courthouse, the original Anheuser-Busch Brewery, and two of Louis Sullivan's early skyscrapers, the Wainwright Building and the Union Trust Building.
The Delmar Loop, in University City, just west of the St. Louis city line, is a popular entertainment, cultural, and restaurant district. The St. Louis International Film Festival runs for 11 days in November every year and is one of the top regional film festivals in the United States. Six Flags St. Louis is an amusement park in Eureka, Missouri, in far west St. Louis County. It is one of the original Six Flags.
St. Louis is the home of the world-renowned Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the second oldest orchestra in the nation, and which has over the years been honored with six Grammy Awards and fifty-six nominations. Historic Powell Symphony Hall on North Grand Boulevard has been the permanent home of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra since 1968. The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis is an annual summer festival of opera performed in English. Union Avenue Opera is a smaller but thriving company that performs opera in the original languages.
St. Louis has long been associated with great ragtime, jazz and blues music. Early rock and roll singer/guitarist Chuck Berry is a native St. Louisan and continues to perform there several times a year. Soul music artists Ike Turner and Tina Turner and jazz innovator Miles Davis began their careers in nearby East St. Louis, Illinois. St. Louis is also the home to successful modern musical artists. Rock artists include Sheryl Crow, Gravity Kills, Story of the Year, Modern Day Zero, Stir, Greenwheel, Ludo, 7 Shot Screamers, The Impact, and The Urge. It is also home to local record label Big Muddy Records. Rap and hip-hop artists include Nelly, The Saint Lunatics, Ali, Murphy Lee, Chingy, Huey, Ebony Eyez, J-Kwon, Jibbs, Akon, and others.
The city operates 105 parks that serve as gathering spots for neighbors to meet, and contains playgrounds, areas for summer concerts, picnics, baseball games, tennis courts, and lakes.
Forest Park, located on the western edge of the central corridor of the city, is one of the largest urban parks in the world, outsizing Central Park in New York City by 500 acres. It offers many of St. Louis's most popular attractions: the Saint Louis Zoological Park, the Municipal Theatre, the largest and oldest outdoor musical theatre in the United States, the St. Louis Science Center, the Saint Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, several lakes, and scenic, open areas. The Zoo-Museum Tax District provides them operating funds, so general admission to them, as well as to the History Museum, is free.
The Missouri Botanical Garden, also known as Shaw's Garden, is one of the world's leading botanical research centers. It possesses a beautiful collection of flowering plants, shrubs, and trees, and includes the Japanese Garden, which features a lake filled with koi and gravel designs; the woodsy English Garden; the Kemper Home Gardening Center; a rose garden; the Climatron; a children's garden and playground; and many other scenic gardens.
Enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans give the city a reputation as "a top-notch sports town" and "Baseball City USA." The St. Louis Cardinals, one of the oldest franchises in Major League Baseball, have won 10 World Championships, second only to the New York Yankees.
The city of St. Louis has earned 12 professional sports championships. The St. Louis Cardinals have won 10 World Series Championships. The St. Louis Rams have won one Super Bowl Championship, and the St. Louis Hawks (who later moved to Atlanta) gave the city its lone NBA Championship. On top of that, the St. Louis Blues hold the record for most consecutive playoff appearances in all of sports with 26 straight. The Blues have also made 3 trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, but have never won the championship. It was also home to three prominent twentieth-century boxers, Henry Armstrong, and brothers Leon and Michael Spinks. The two are the only brothers in boxing history to have both captured the Heavyweight boxing title.
. . . Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Like most American cities, the main method of transportation is the automobile. Use of the automobile is supported by the existence of many limited-access Interstate highways (I-70, I-55, I-44, I-64, I-255, I-170, and I-270), as well as numerous state and county roadways.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is located in northwest St. Louis County, but is owned and operated by the city of St. Louis. American Airlines and Southwest Airlines have the greatest number of flights serving the airport. However, the number of flights operated at the airport has been sharply reduced (including the cessation of Lambert being a hub) with the acquisition by American of TWA and the reduction of service by the combined airline. MidAmerica St. Louis Airport is located 25 miles east of the city in Illinois adjacent to Scott Air Force Base. Constructed as a reliever airport to Lambert, it has failed to attract any major airlines, primarily due to its distance from downtown and low population in its immediate vicinity in spite of free parking and proximity to the light rail system. Shortly after its opening, it was used by some smaller airlines, including Pan Am, an airline operating a few Boeing 727s and not related to the original Pan American World Airways. Spirit of St. Louis Airport, located in nearby Chesterfield, Missouri is the second largest of the country's general aviation airports, with the first being Van Nuys Airport located in California.
Public transit serving the St. Louis area is predominantly provided by Metro. Metro is a bi-state agency that operates most of the region's bus system and MetroLink, the region's light-rail train system. Madison County Transit, also, provides bus service to downtown from nearby Madison County, Illinois.
Passenger train service is available via Amtrak to Chicago, Kansas City, and Texas from the St. Louis Amtrak station just southeast of Union Station. A new Multi-Modal Station is currently under construction and will serve as a hub for Metro busses, MetroLink, Greyhound buses, and Amtrak. The new station is expected to be completed by early 2008. Other regional train stations served by Amtrak exist in the suburb of Kirkwood and nearby Alton, Illinois.
In the first half of the Twentieth Century, St. Louis enjoyed a moderately extensive streetcar system, but after World War II, streetcar service was gradually phased out, and in 1966 the very last line stopped running. Although nothing comparable to the old system exists today, many bus routes and a few segments of MetroLink closely follow the former streetcar lines. Additionally, a movement is now afoot to reinstate limited trolley service.
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