Core of Discovery Tour

Since it seems like I have been eating my way through St. Louis (if you've been following me, I think you'll agree!), I thought it might be a good idea to get outside and walk. When I checked the Core of Discovery website, I realized there were downtown walking tours. So off I went!

There are two types of walking tours: one is a visual arts tour to see some of the visual artwork in the downtown area; the other tour is a architecture tour to see the different types of architecture in St. Louis. Since both appealed to me, I decided to do a combination of the two.

The tour started at the famous Gateway Arch located on the St. Louis Waterfront:

To be honest, I don't believe I had ever seen The Arch before. And is it massive standing underneath it! There are tours in which you can go up 630 feet to see out over the city. I had been forewarned by a friend that it can be a bit tight as you move up the arch. And since I am becoming a bit claustrophobic as I get older, I decided the best place for me was on the ground!

I had the chance to see Busch Stadium and the cool statues of players outside of the stadium:

One of the sights I was really looking forward to was Citygarden:

My pictures don't do the garden justice. I bet it's a beautiful place to be in the spring and summer when the trees have flowers on them and the flowers are in bloom.

As I started walking again, I saw a wonderful tribute to firefighters (surprisingly, not on the 'official' list of statues to see):

And you'll never guess what I saw painted on a completed street block...PINK RIBBONS!!!

I have no idea why the pink ribbons were spray painted on the ground. But it was certainly a nice and unexpected surprise for me!

I decided to walk a few extra blocks (OK, like 8 blocks!) to see St. Louis Union Station. I believe in its day, this was a pretty happening and terrific place. It has a hotel connected to it, and some shopping, but I don't know if it was worth the 8 blocks (16 round trip!) that I walked to get there. Just sayin'.
Probably my most favorite thing I saw all day was this statue:

Walking Figure

'Walker Girl' (as I like to call her) reminds me so much of myself since since I like to walk. To me she possess a 'can do' attitude just like me!

Although I didn't hit all of the spots listed on the walking tours, I did see a great deal of downtown St. Louis. The complete tour is listed at 3 - 3 1/2 miles. Honestly I think you can probably add on more mileage once you get to each of the items walking around the general area. A GREAT way to see downtown St. Louis if you are ever in the area!