We made the trek to St.Paul Sunday to visit the Landmark center. It's a pretty easy drive. We took highway 65 to 694 to 35E, then took the wabasha exit, right on 7th, left on 5th and we were there. We parked in the Macy's ram, which is free on Sundays and disembarked.
After walking about two blocks, we saw the building.
The building itself is huge, and quite impressive to look at. There are little alcoves when you are in some of the rooms that you can see here, on the exterior they look like the turrets of a castle.
When we got inside, the place was awash in color. There was an event going on today called: Urban Expedition; Chile!, and there were many people dressed in the traditional garb of a Chilean celebration. The floor was covered in chairs and tables, as well as a stage, where performers were dancing in well choreographed routines that are traditional in Chile.
Since the floor was mostly covered, it was impossible to see very much of the tile work on it. But I could see enough of it to recognize the patterns reflected the massive skylight overhead.
We browsed around at the offerings of the vendors, all of which were reflective of Chile or Chilean culture, some of which were very nice and quite interesting.
Our attention then turned to the building itself. On the walls were pictures from the long history of the building which at one time was a courthouse, a government building, a post office and an office building. Heading to the second floor, we passed all kinds of different doors like this one.
John Dillinger was here, along with many other famous, or infamous, mobsters from just after the turn on the century and into the 1940's. Was he held in his room? I don't know, but just the fact that he, and others, called St.Paul home for some time is fascinating to me. There were old political cartoons on the wall depicting images of prohibition, as well as many other interesting moments in time. These walls have seen more history than any of us could imagine.
On the second floor, we entered The Schubert Club museum. The first thing we saw upon entering was this...
The statue is composed of hundreds of instruments that are no longer usable. All of the instruments were donated by Bill Kugler upon his death. He was a collector of instruments and a music teacher, and donated several thousand instruments in his will. These were some of the ones that were no longer playable, so instead of throwing them away they were incorporated into this monument to music. Continuing through the gallery we saw pianos, harpsichords and hundreds of hand written letters from some of the most influential composers the world has ever seen. We saw instruments from across the globe, and the museum itself seemed to travel forward through time and track the history of music.
We even saw an Edison phonograph, just like the one we have at home and both are pictured here.
Continuing on, we went to the upper levels of the building. We explored the courtrooms, admired the craftsmanship involved in making the various fixtures, and the views from the turrets. I always get a little weak kneed when looking down from great heights, so the view from the balcony and the top of the staircases was a little unsettling.
Overall, the building and exhibits were pretty cool. Many of the upper level spaces have been turned into offices for various people or companies, but the history of the place itself is still there.
Now, it was time to eat. I was starving, so we walked a block north to a place called The Great Waters Brewing Company to get some food. The food was awesome! I had something called The London Broil, and Cori had a hamburger with mushrooms on it. I was also thirsty, so I ordered the beer sampler. It came with ten different beers, all of them four ounces, and all of them brewed right there.
Overall, it was a good trip. I like small, out of the way places like The Great Water Brewing Company because the food is usually very good, the service is awesome, and it's not too expensive. It was well worth the $50 bill for what we got.
That's all for now, I'm looking forward to our next outing!
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