Wednesday, July 1, 2009

City Garden, Part One

When I first wrote about City Garden back in April, I noted that there was a lot of work to be done. However, I’m happy to report, the Garden open yesterday – virtually on schedule!

What a cool place. Filled with water features, sculpture, and lush green vegetation, downtown St. Louis residents and commuters alike managed to jam the place on its second day in business. Here’s some pictures so you can see why. (In fact, it was too hard to narrow down which ones to share, so I’m going to do this in two parts.)

Lots of marble and slate, plenty of places to sit ... and water you can walk through -- or run through -- as some of the tinier visitors preferred. Notice the giant sculpture off to the right in the background.

Lots of rocks and water everywhere. And, in this fountain, a pink flamingo, too.
Nice touch.

I mentioned that there is all kinds of sculpture and there is. There are several whimsical pieces including this overgrown statue of Pinocchio. It's just not the kind of thing you expect to see in the middle of a metropolitan area.

Then, you don't necessarily expect to see a bench even fashioned into a sculpture shape. Of course, I thought the girl taking a sit-down on it gave it a freaky kind of modern twist on the classic The Thinker. See what I mean?

There literally was something fun, interesting or beautiful to see in whatever direction you happened to be looking. It seemed to be more of something you'd expect to find in the middle of Manhattan -- not in the center of downtown St. Louis!

There really was water everywhere. And everywhere there was water, there were people in it! It was warm today, a beautiful and perfect mix of sun and clouds with a breeze that occasionally -- and only occasionally became something more.

What a wonderful addition to have in downtown just ahead of the influx of visitors for the All Star game!

4 comments:

plumbelieve said...

There's no place like home...one of our friends will fill the restaurant space, I think to be name the Terrace View. I think this is where it will be located. Which streets are nearby?

He also owns 3 other restaurants, one in Clayton, Maplewood and Central West End.

Thanks for the great pics, NV.

Mama Martha said...

Lovin the flamingo!

Vicki said...

Beautiful! I'm loving big city life and all the attempts and efforts the planners are going through to make as much of the public spaces green. Your new water park is another great example!

NV said...

PB -- I know, great, isn't it?! Yes, there is a restaurant right along the top, streetside. Let's see, you're going to make me map this in my head! Ninth street maybe and Chestnut. I think those are two of the boundaries.

MM -- That flamingo was one of the first thing I noticed and it cracked me up.

Vicki -- You're right. The PROPER use of green space is SO important! (Not like the crap they pulled some years back to put in a small park that no one uses and they tore down the gorgeous Ambassador Theater to do it.)