Thursday, June 14, 2007

to the train, to the bus, to the train

...Ok, yesterday I said I was done talking about St. Louis, but then Abbey reminded me I hadn't talked about everything. So if you can stand one more post on it, then I'll tell you about the joys of public transportation and the zoo.

I have to say--when Seth told me he wasn't renting a car because St. Louis has a MetroLine (a train system), I was a little wary. Even though he said that I would like it because I am all for being environmentally-friendly lately. And because of that, I never said anything to him about my reservations.

And I have to admit, it wasn't bad. The train takes you about anywhere you want to go and although there were a few strange characters, if you just don't notice them, then they aren't that strange. Example: One time we were riding to the zoo and I heard a woman's voice behind me just talking away. I didn't think too much about it--cell phone probably. Later, Seth said she was just talking. No phone, no one beside her, just talking. But because I didn't actually look at her, I wasn't nervous about it. See? :)

St. Louis has a lot of friendly people as well. They were more than willing to help us out when we needed directions or needed to know exactly how to get to the zoo.

For that, we needed to take the train and then the bus. So we were immersed in public transportation this weekend. I think every city needs a train service like St. Louis. Really.

***

The zoo was amazing. It is really beautiful there too. The snakes were housed in this beautiful building and there were beautiful buildings all around. They had this very neat penguin exhibit but inside was so cold, I could not stay. I am sure that is a hit in the hot summertime!

The funniest animal was the naked chimpanzee. I did take a picture of her but can't find it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. She had no hair but was tan so you really had to look for her. I was disappointed that they didn't have a sign explaining why she was naked, but maybe it was just how she was born. I don't know.

It rained on us at the zoo and the boys and I got a little chilled. So we left to go to Union Station. But it was pretty awesome.

***
Speaking of rain, it is raining here again! I can't believe how much it has rained here this past spring. They said we could get at least 3 more inches by Saturday. Wow.

Have a good day!

4 comments:

Krista said...

I would love it if there were a commuter train in my city. I would ride it without hesitation!

Abbey said...

I do take the train to work. It is fantastic b/c it saves us a ton of money and me many headaches from traffic. D.C. and London also have really good public transportation systems. Thanks for finishing the stories!!

H Noble said...

I love zoos and haven't been in forever! Poor chimpanzee- you probably hurt her feelings calling her naked. Perhaps she is hair challenged? ;)
Have a good weekend!
H

MomofK9s said...

Hi-Krista's sister-in-law here. This is what I found out about the hairless chimp:

Many of our visitors want to know more about Cinder, our female chimpanzee who has no hair.

When she was born in 1994, Cinder had a full coat of hair. But when she was just five months old, most of her hair fell out -- almost overnight! After many tests, our veterinarians diagnosed her with a condition called alopecia universalis. This is an autoimmune problem in which something triggers her body's defense system to prevent hair growth.

Other than her lack of hair, Cinder is perfectly healthy. Our other chimps don't seem to care about her baldness, and treat her no differently than they would if she had hair.

Hope this helps!