When we got in touch with some old friends who had moved to St. Louis, they suggested we take our families to the City Museum of St. Louis. The museum website suggested we were in for something different, but we didn’t realize just how different.
The first thing to recognize is that this is not a “museum” in the way we normally think of museums. Kelli’s description is probably the best I’ve heard: it’s like an industrial playground. It’s “industrial” in its design and materials.
One thing that kept astonishing me throughout our visit is how such a place can exist in such a litigious society. Ultimately I concluded that the place must just be completely safe, as I let my 6-year-old go places I dared not.
Yes, that’s Jonathan, about three (or four) stories off the ground, climbing through some rod iron “tunnel.” It was a veritable maze, outdoors, with passages running hither and thither. Here’s a broader view of part of it.
There was also indoor areas (about four floors worth), with more tunnels, passageways, and caves. Some of it reminded me of the Bar Kochba tunnels, for those of you who have enjoyed crawling through those in the Shephelah.
A friend advised me to bring kneepads, and they came in handy. There were several slides, including a three-story chute that ended right near the museum entrance.
The more “famous” one is the ten-story indoor slide, which this photo does not do justice to.
Not everything was for the courageous, though I didn’t take as many photos of those sorts of things.
There were some more normal museum-type displays, such as this one with insects, but there were a number of bizarre collections that I was probably too stunned at to take a picture of.
In all, we had a great visit with our friends, and we were glad too that they continued to travel with us that evening and the next day as we headed toward Kentucky.
