Busy, Busy, Busy.

I am trying to fit it all in before I leave: the sights, tastes and experiences only found in a big city. St. Louis is a grand old city and to me, of humble origins, it seems down right cosmopolitan and refined. Folks from places like Chicago, Philadelphia and cities in California laugh at my naivete. They lament the lack of chic. Me thinketh that a bit precocious.

What we lack in urbane sophistication we make up in open space. Really, isn't that more important? Doesn't that make up for any and all shortcomings? I recently spent time in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky. Hardly a park to be found. Unacceptable, in my mind.

Tower Grove Park, in the south central portion of the city, is spectacular. I would have to say it is the crown jewel of St. Louis Park system. Forest Park gets a lot more press due to its sheer size and central location. Tower Grove Park easily surpasses it in beauty. Henry Shaw, the man who founded it back in 1868, imported more than 8,000 trees, shrubs and plants from around the world in his attempt to create an exemplary, wooded Victorian Park of national significance. I would have to say he succeeded.