We had a full day on Saturday. Our hotel is well-positioned in the city to access all the best points of interest. After a quick breakfast, we headed out for the first of our adventures. Our hotel sits almost directly across the street from KC's own Union Station. Built in the early 1900's this station served as a hub for massive amounts of east/west travel over the decades. It's huge, has at least two restaurants, and a boatload of shops and other services. Pretty awesome. I think it eclipses 30th street station in Philly, but doesn't quite reach the same level as Grand Central in NY.
This city has done something pretty neat. They've built a new trolley system to tote people from Union Station to points downtown. It's used by tourists and locals alike. Saturday morning it was very popular, taking people from all points to the City Market. This open air market is like Philly's Italian Market or the Pike Market in Seattle. It's probably not quite as big as either, but still very popular with a huge array of fresh veggies, homemade goodies, and flowers for sale. It also had dozens of food stands and booths. Oh..the aromas! It was only 10:30 but second breakfast now seemed in order. We went to a Moroccan food stand. Robert had curry chicken and hummus, while I had a delicious curry lentil soup. Both were fab.
We trolleyed back to Union Station to explore our next stop, the National World War I Memorial. Dedicated in 1921, this monument sits atop a hill above Union Station and includes a grant plaza and tower. Both were built of granite and designed in art deco fashion. There are relief sculptures on the walls of the foundation which thank those who gave the ultimate sacrifice as well as extolling a future without war. We all know that WWI was supposed to be "The War to End All Wars," but of course it hasn't turned out that way. Knowing their hopes would not come true made me feel a bit sad.
Onward, we went to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Robert had read about the museum and it's great collections. Get this - it's free. The museum is arranged in chronological fashion, so you start in the lobby, goes clockwise through galleries of everything from Egyptian relics to Roman statuary, medieval art, renaissance art....on to the present. You get the picture. TBH, this place was larger than I expected and after about two hours I was on overload. My favorites included a massive, early Assyrian tablet and a huge atmospheric water lilies piece by Monet.
(Winged Genie)
By this point we were tuckered out and needed a rest, so we ubered back to the hotel. Our driver, Reginald, was a lifelong KC resident, with an accent as thick as his waistline. He was a gregarious fellow and we chatted animatedly nonstop. We asked about the barbeque scene and he rhapsodised about his favorite places, even extending our trip a bit to drive us by one of his favorites close to the hotel. Needless to say, he got a big tip from us :)
After cleaning up, we headed out to dinner, to Reginald's recommendation: Jack Stacks BBQ. It was within easy walking distance. The only snag was the angry woman on the street screaming at some others about an unknown slight. I think she set a world record for the mosts f-bombs dropped within a 60 second period. And man, was she creative in terms of who, what, and how the aforesaid f--ing was to occur. We picked up our paced and moved along.
Dinner did not disappoint. After salad, I had a combo platter, including burnt pork ends. I didn't know exactly what burnt ends were, but guessed correctly and they were delectable. Why I chose to wear a white shirt to a BBQ restaurant is beyond me, but luckily the napkins were large and plentiful and my shirt survived.
After, we waddled back to the hotel, crossing the overpass above the train tracks. We were of course treated to one last training trundling by. What is it about trains that inspires such a feeling a comfort?
