BOO

Halloween is a big deal here, like most of the US, following several decades of commercialization. Leave it to American marketing to monetize fear. This spooky scene is at the City Museum. There is a 11 story open space at the back of the building, originally filled with chutes and conveyors to move materials and finished shoes between floors. Now it contains spiral slides up to the full height of the space. (I wouldn't dare. I'd probably get stuck.) The museum also installed a pipe organ, seen in red at the back. You can almost hear the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, https://tinyurl.com/354rbtz6, by stepping into the space.             

CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF

Another thing to climb and crawl on in Monstro City at the City Museum, the stripped fuselage of an old private jet. It's not going to fly through the buildings any more.           

METAL CRANE

Seen in the outdoor area at City Museum known, for no apparent reason, as Monstro City. There are lots of metal constructions to climb up and through. This metal crane is fanciful and just for decoration.               

METAL CRANE

In the outdoor area an outdoor area at City Museum known, for no apparent reason, as Monstro City. There are lots of metal constructions to climb up and through. This metal crane is fanciful and just for decoration.               

UP ON THE ROOF

The City Museum occupies an 11 story former shoe factory and warehouse. (We were the center of shoe manufacturing in the U. S. before it all went offshore.) The roof, which will close in a few days for the winter, has a variety of things for kids to climb/crawl/slide over/under/down/through.         

HTRIM MEHYAM DNA YRETSYM

There is a surprise around every corner at the City Museum. Mirrors may distort your sense of space, stairways seem to go nowhere and phantom photographers lurk in corners.         

MADELEINE MONDAY

The kid had last Thursday and Friday off school for fall break, a concept unknown in my day. Maybe it's because the academic year now starts in mid-August. Due to the other adults' schedules, I became the child entertainment coordinator. One day we went to our popular children's museum, The Magic House. The van de Graaff generator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator) is a constant hit, but it's even better if there is a record.              

COMBAT

One of the big draws at the Renaissance Faire is fake jousting. Two people dress as knights, whip the crowd up and have at one another on horseback. Unfortunately, there had been some rain and it was announced that the field was too muddy for the horses. This led to other displays of ferocity.             

MERMAID BARBIE

An annual feature of the Renaissance Faire is Mermaid Cove. Women sit by a little fake pond wearing fishy scales and flippers over their legs. What this had to do with the likes of the Medicis, Leonardo, Copernicus, Shakespeare or Montaigne is - well, nothing at all. Kids like it. This one was supposed to be Mermaid Barbie. Maybe poetic license taken to the extreme.           

WIZARDS

The next step in kid entertainment during her fall break. We went to our unique City Museum, https://www.citymuseum.org/, which is packed with weird stuff for children and adults. One of them is a hall of old pinball machines. For a $6 supplement over the regular admission price you can play all day.         

BITE ME

What this has to do with the Renaissance is beyond me. Someone was walking around in this costume at Artica a couple of weeks earlier, where it seemed more appropriate. Unless there was a little-known Jurassic Renaissance (of what?), this can't be about anything more than dress up and be silly. That's worthwhile by itself.         

THE CHORUS

A group of young women dressed in period costumes, more or less, at the Renaissance Faire. Their sound was beautiful but the picture illustrates a problem for me and, I'm sure, some other photographers. I don't remember what they were singing. I/we can focus so much on getting an image that we fail to really experience what is in front of us. My loss, but I don't multitask well.       

MADELEINE MONDAY

The kid had last Thursday and Friday off school for fall break, a concept unknown in my day. Maybe it's because the academic year now starts in mid-August. Due to the other adults' schedules, I became the child entertainment coordinator. One day we went to our popular children's museum, The Magic House. The van de Graaff generator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_de_Graaff_generator) is a constant hit, but it's even better if there is a record.              

COMBAT

One of the big draws at the Renaissance Faire is fake jousting. Two people dress as knights, whip the crowd up and have at one another from horseback. Unfortunately, there had been some rain and it was announced that the field was too muddy for the horses. This led to other displays of ferocity.             

 

MERMAID BARBIE

An annual feature of the Renaissance Faire is Mermaid Cove. Women sit by a little fake pond wearing fishy scales and flippers over their legs. What this had to do with the likes of the de Medicis, Leonardo, Copernicus, Shakespeare or Montaigne is - well, nothing at all. Kids like it. This one was supposed to be Mermaid Barbie. Maybe poetic license taken to the extreme.           

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

https://tinyurl.com/mr369u2y  We leave Our flaming Lady of Artica until next year. Next up is another autumn STL event, the Renaissance Faire. The conceit is that our town and Lyon, France, are sister cities (actually true) and it's supposed to be 1400 or 1500-something, I forget, over there. There are events like this around the U.S., mostly run by a for-profit business. It's pretty hokey and people dress up as all sorts of silly things that have little to do with the Renaissance. My granddaughter loves it. 

I believe this chap was heard to exclaim NI!         

BURN

A short time after I took the photo in yesterday's post, the body of Our Lady of Artica was ablaze. A couple of minutes later the arm pennants collapsed all at once and the head became a torch. In a little while the whole structure crumbled to the wild cheers of the crowd. Bands returned to the stages while people danced into the night.         

TWILIGHT OF THE GODDESS

Darkness was not yet complete. Some color remained in the sky and soft light reflected from the clouds as the burner crew, clad in fire suits, put the first torch to the base of Our Lady of Artica. The St. Louis riverfront sure ain't Valhalla but within moments the effigy was on its way to complete destruction.            

ARTICA - TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN

Artica has a theme every year. This time it was turtles all the way down, which may refer to an ancient myth of the nature of the world or a modern restatement of the idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down . In another sense, it is an illustration of the problem of infinite regress in epistemology. Articans took a lighter view of the concept, such as Trash Turtle here. Nothing but garbage was riding on its back.           

ARTICA - MULTI-TALENTED

The female stilt walker in yesterday's photo had other skills. The colorful nylon ribbons suspended from a pyramidal frame are becoming a frequent sight here, used in what is described as aerial dancing. I've only seen women do it. In a theater with stage lighting it looks spectacular.               

ARTICA - SHAKE A LEG

Another activity beyond the imagination of clumsy me. Consider the coordination and strength required. Note also that they are walking on pegs across a rough field. And the man has one foot in the air. And no one fell down.           

ARTICA - THE ENTERTAINER

There were two performance stages at Artica, far enough apart that both could be going at once. This person performs as El Draco, in one of the few poses where he was still enough for me to get a clean shot. OMG was he full of energy. Pretty good singer, too.            

      

ARTICA: WHY EVEN ASK?

A sign propped up on a building at the sidelines of Artica. It's been there more than a few days. I think we know the answer.             

ARTICA: RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD

Well, why not be prepared, even if there is still blue in the sky? Some Articans made a number of brightly colored and patterned umbrellas, then put LED lights on the inside. The effect was best after dark but it got your attention at any time of day, even in full sun. A parasol is as useful as a parapluie.         

ARTICA: LOVE FOOL

Lots of people came to Artica in costumes that had varying degrees of sophistication. We think the best was Phil here, wearing an outfit made by him and his friends. It's a riff on a jester's suit, topped by a hat that said Love Fool on the  side. He was friendly, even charming. If you look carefully, you can see a camera on the right side of his staff. It is a tiny Fujifilm Instax, sort of a mini Polaroid instant camera. He took a couple of pictures of our family and gave them to my granddaughter.              

ARTICA: RAISING OUR LADY

The center point of Artica every year is the tall wooden effigy known as Our Lady of Artica. The design is always similar. It takes a lot of engineering and carpentry skill to design and erect. When we arrived Saturday afternoon it was lying flat on its back, the head not yet attached. The top picture shows it being hoisted into place, a cable hooked to its chest and the other end on the tow hitch of a Jeep. 

The second picture is late Sunday afternoon. When it is fully dark, a crew in fireproof suits puts the torch to it and the crowd goes wild. We will get to that.            

ARTICA: AS YOU LIKE IT

 

When I saw this person from a way off I thought she had an infection in her right eye. Up close, it turns out she has red eye liner and a red contact lens on the right, with blue on the left. I wish I had gotten a full length shot so I could show you her red vinyl over-the-knee boots with buckles on the sides from top to bottom, all mounted on three inch heels and soles.               

ARTICA!

October in St. Louis brings the return of Artica, https://articastl.com/, one of my favorite local events. Hap Philips, with his late wife, Nita Turnage, got this going I don't know how many year ago. He is our guiding star. Anyone who wants to create art of any kind is welcome. Everyone who wants to come is welcome. It's free, funded by contributions and grants. One of the policies is that no money changes hands. (BYOB and BYOF.) There is so much to see and hear and do. Check back for more.            

STL DPB LEAVING ITALY - TUSCAN LANDSCAPE

A last picture from Tuscany, taken from the hilltop of Montepulciano. The light wasn't great, I admit, but you get what you get. Vineyards and olive groves cover much of the valley. 

Lots of local events starting this weekend, which we should see starting Sunday.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE OWL OF PIENZA

Pienza is a smaller Tuscan hill town. An event was going on when we visited but we didn't understand what it was about. Some people were dressed in Renaissance clothing. A group of young people stood in front of the church with trained birds of prey. This owl was spectacular. We have never seen anything like it.               

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - IL CAMPO

Il Campo, the central plaza of Siena. It was paved with brick in 1347 and divided by marble strips to create a shell shape. The major buildings in the center-right are the Torre di Mangia and Palazzo Pubblico.            

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - SIENA SKYLINE

We visited the civic museum in the Palazzo Pubblico, whose courtyard was in yesterday's post. A couple of floors up there were windows looking southeast across the city to the valley below. The view gives some idea of how steep and high the climb is from the parking lots at the base. The church is the Basilica of San Clemente in Santa Maria dei Servi, https://tinyurl.com/mu9xm24 .  We had not heard of it until I did some research to identify it in this photo. The outside is plain but the interior is spectacular. We wish we had gotten there.              

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE HEART OF SIENA

The very center of the old city of Siena is the fan-shaped plaza known as Il Campo, or The Field (even though it is paved). It slopes downward from the curve of the fan to a center point at the Palazzo Pubblico and the famous Torre del Mangia. The palazzo contains the civic museum, which is worth a visit. The entrance courtyard is open to the sky, making for a dramatic view.         

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - THE PORTICOS OF BOLOGNA

I have not gotten back out on the street singe we returned from our travels. There is a lot going on over the coming weekend to fill my memory cards but for now we remain in Italy. Bologna has a unique feature in the old city center, block after block after block of sidewalks covered with porticos. Some are arched, some are flat but, besides the beautiful sight lines, they offer protection for rain and sun when out about your business. No enclosed shopping malls needed.