The Great Arch at St. Louis

While the great arch at St. Louis was very impressive, we learned that it was a US taxpayer funded project of an earlier generation. It was designed to revitalize downtown St. Louis. Since the downtown was nearly completely deserted, we guessed it didn't work. There was a museum grandly entitled "The Museum of Westward Expansion" in a basement area under the arch, which seemed to reflect some sort of organized bigotry against white people who headed West. Since it was a federal museum on national parkland, we didn't hold it against the people of St. Louis.

The mighty Mississip narrows at St. Louis, and we saw only one or two boats the whole time. This is quite unlike the very busy Rhine river--but for the recession we had hoped to visit again--which is loaded with traffic and pulsing with energy. Mostly this whole waterfront area hit me as one large federally funded ghost town.