City MuseumI was about to do a big hodge-podge posting, but as I was editing all my pictures from the City Museum in St. Louis I decided it warranted its own space. This place was so amazing! I just relived the whole experience while editing pictures tonight.
Sophie, Sydney, Jon & I went down to St. Louis 2 weekends ago to celebrate my niece, Asja's 7th birthday and we were just blown away by the coolness of this place. This picture below is a view from the outside of the museum. It has this wonderful industrial look... very grungy, lots of found objects, recycled city parts, crazy textures and bizarre stuff to look at. The place is like a gigantic maze of metal and rock.
As we entered the old building... lots more textures, followed by intense colors and unusual pairing of elements. Here Jon stands in the main staircase with Sydney, who is just mesmerized by the crazy colors of the hand-painted stair banisters.
We went up to the third floor and were escorted by a friend of my sister's to this back room behind a heavy curtain. We walked through a dark corridor that housed an old miniature train engine before the "party room" revealed itself. The kids sat in a circus-like stage and watched intently while a couple of City Museum staff members demonstrated various balancing moves on trapeze and large rubber balls.
Sophie wasn't too sure what to think. She was a bit apprehensive (as you can see in the picture to the right) but eventually tried everything.Below is a collage of the three girls... from left to right, Sophie, Sydney and Asja (the b-day girl).
The girls had a great time playing together. After the party was over it was time to explore the museum... and WOW! What a place!
There was a room filled with old skating park ramps where kids could swing around on heavy-duty ropes.There was a bar/lounge type place with sultry red lighting. It had such a decadent feel! I went in to take some pictures real quick but couldn't stay long because we had all the kids with us. I did take a few minutes to go through a fun-house type labyrinth they had set up inside the bar with crazy mirrors and weird bouncy floors. I felt a bit claustrophobic ans I walked through these incredibly narrow corridors lined with metal bars and flashing lights.
Then we explored a bit more. Went down to the first floor where my camera did not leave my face for more than 2 seconds. There was this gynormous surrealistic whale made of , I guess, polished stone? The floors were covered in beautiful glass and tile mosaic and the ceilings had... well, I have no idea what it was ... looked like giant fish scales or something, but nevertheless amazing! We walked inside the whale and came upon yet another crazy labyrinth with pathways that were way too small for any human being to pass through (or so it seemed) but the kids went in & out without any difficulty.
Yes, those are thousands and thousands of metal bread baking pans that line these walls for the most incredible textures!
Sydney sat atop a giant turtle for a perfect photo op.
And if you are wondering... yes, I did not dress the girls properly for this excursion! I didn't do my research prior to this trip, but you can learn from my experience! If you ever go down to the City Museum in St. Louis, dress comfortably! Old jeans, sneakers and t-shirts are the perfect attire or this place. Remember you will be doing lots of climbing and the place is cool but very old and dirty. We were all filthy when we got out of there, but had just an amazing time exploring! We will definitely go back! :)
