Judy's Postcards: Start Route 66 Chicago to St Louis by train

We left Chicago on a 7am train bound for St Louis. The train travels mostly alongside the road that is Route 66.
The train trip took about 6 hours and there was plenty of great scenery from the train along the way.

We arrived in St Louis in the early afternoon and checked into our hotel and set off to explore the town.

The first thing you see as you arrive in St Louis is the Gateway Arch. A 630 foot shiny steel monument next to the Missisipi River.

You can take a tram ride to the top of the Arch. Colin did go up the arch. I looked at the ''tram'' which is a tiny compartment with no windows and they are 8 cars connected and travel up inside the arch to the viewing windows at the top and then you come down again in the tram. I didnt like the idea at all. It takes 4 mins to go up and 3 mins to come down again.

We visited the beautiful old Courthouse.

One of the most important cases, Dred Scott and his wife Harriott, ever tried in the United States was heard in St. Louis' Old Courthouse. The Supreme Court decided the case in 1857, and hastened the start of the Civil War.

We visited Forest Park which is a huge park just outside the city centre of over 1000 acres. We took the metro to get there. We bought a day pass for $7 each and that entitled us to ride the metro, the Downtown shuttle and the Forest Park shuttle. It has beautiful gardens, museums, a golf course, the zoo and several ponds and fountains. The shuttle bus has two routes and we took both of them.

We also visited the National Blues Museum. That was really interesting. It tells about the history of Blues music which began in the cotton fields. It houses a lot of memorabillia, photos of famous Blues musicians and singers and displays of intruments and costumes worn by famous musicians. You can create your own songs and put them to music. There was even a Pianolo there. A Pianolo plays music on a roll and you operate the foot pedals and air is driven thru the music notes punched into the holes and plays the tune. As a child I remember my aunt had a Pianolo and we used to play it often.