The Arch: An Insider's Perspective

In a follow-up to last week's photo essay on the Arch, this week we follow our heroine in and up.

My brother Jay was in town, so I decided to go up in the Arch with him. When I went through the metal detector, it beeped; the security guard took me aside and asked me to lift each pant leg to mid-calf. I have no idea whether he thought I was carrying a knife or just wanted a better look at my ankles.

Because we had e-tickets, we bypassed the long lines and waited to board the tram. There are eight cars in the North Tower--more like pods than elevators, really, since they're very small and somewhat egg-shaped. My blood pressure started to rise as soon as I got in.

Jay was much more cool. We were crammed in with three young adults who were on a two-year service mission. It was very cozy. The pod lurched and screeched towards the top for four minutes.








Once up there, we were free to join the gallery of people looking out the narrow windows.

For a good view, we had to lean forward, which was vertigo-inducing.

We could see the Old Courthouse, where the original trial of the Dred Scott case was held.

We could also see Bush Stadium, home to the Cardinals until the end of the season, and next to it the new baseball stadium being built.






And, of course, the Mississippi River.

Jay wanted to figure out whether, if you threw a baseball from the top of the Arch, you could hit the river. I thought so, but I realized I remember virtually nothing of my high school and college physics classes. Wouldn't vectors be useful in answering that question?

The ride down was much more pleasant than the ride up because it was faster and we had a pod to ourselves. Before we got in the car to go home, Ben showed Jay some sights along the Mississippi.

This afternoon, Ben has been saying "Uncle. Airport. Plane." (Okay, it sounds like pay, but I know what he's saying.) Now that all our houseguests of the past 10 days are gone, I'm sad again that we've moved so far from friends and family. But it's only two and a half months till Christmas....