For the last several days I've been playing host to the soloist in our upcoming concert. Julia Meynert, who will be playing the Brhams Violin Concerto with the TCSO on Sunday (2:30 pm at Principia's Ridgway Auditorium:13201 Clayton Road, St. Louis 63131) was born in Germany, and lived in Vienna, and presently jets back and forth between Chicago, New York, and Boston. (Which is to say she's been around a bit and knows the sexier towns.)
She was utterly shocked at how beautiful and inexpensive things are here. (She basically expected another zero behind what I paid for my house. Full honest to god order of magnitude.) She was surprised at how cheap groceries are. She loved Vietnamese food and had never encountered a Vietnamese restaurant before in Boston or New York. Or Afghani. (Or Bosnian, come to think of it.) Even East Coast immigrants can see us as surprisingly diverse. (You know, when you drive along the right strip of Grand. Or Olive for a little while longer.) She loved our parks. She was surprised that Tower Grove Park is not the largest park in town. (And deeply impressed, particularly by the busts around the bandstand. Yeah classical music! Says symphonicpoet. Of course.)
We didn't do a lot that was touristy, as this is a working trip. But there will be more time, so I'm hoping to drag her one or two other places yet. (Got to hit the Japanese garden. This is a must. Since she's half Japanese and going to the original in a couple of weeks on business.)
The short version was she was impressed. I didn't drag her to the most abandoned parts of town, but I didn't shy away from the rougher parts of Dutchtown, at least. (Heck, I took her to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant near Grand and Chippewa, since that's my wife's perennial favorite. Stopped at a grocery there too. And she didn't blink.)
I've assured her that there are issues and even talked about some of them, since they're national issues as much as local. And she's moving into this mess. (Which I would like to officially dub the "redeveloping world" with all the baggage that might carry.) . . . (The US, that is. She's lived here five or ten years, but she's only recently become a card carrying i-number bearing permanently staying person.)
To get back to the topic at hand, all in all her impression was remarkably favorable. We have problems. They need to be fixed. But when you look at the place right apparently it is in fact still quite pretty. Remarkably so.
(I do always try to give a good impression. Think of me as a sort of bespoke civic booster. I craft new believers one at a time with tremendous care and effort. . . . In a way that doesn't really scale well.)
. . . (And remind me to drag my camera out next time. There's got to be a photo op or two here.)
She was utterly shocked at how beautiful and inexpensive things are here. (She basically expected another zero behind what I paid for my house. Full honest to god order of magnitude.) She was surprised at how cheap groceries are. She loved Vietnamese food and had never encountered a Vietnamese restaurant before in Boston or New York. Or Afghani. (Or Bosnian, come to think of it.) Even East Coast immigrants can see us as surprisingly diverse. (You know, when you drive along the right strip of Grand. Or Olive for a little while longer.) She loved our parks. She was surprised that Tower Grove Park is not the largest park in town. (And deeply impressed, particularly by the busts around the bandstand. Yeah classical music! Says symphonicpoet. Of course.)
We didn't do a lot that was touristy, as this is a working trip. But there will be more time, so I'm hoping to drag her one or two other places yet. (Got to hit the Japanese garden. This is a must. Since she's half Japanese and going to the original in a couple of weeks on business.)
The short version was she was impressed. I didn't drag her to the most abandoned parts of town, but I didn't shy away from the rougher parts of Dutchtown, at least. (Heck, I took her to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant near Grand and Chippewa, since that's my wife's perennial favorite. Stopped at a grocery there too. And she didn't blink.)
I've assured her that there are issues and even talked about some of them, since they're national issues as much as local. And she's moving into this mess. (Which I would like to officially dub the "redeveloping world" with all the baggage that might carry.) . . . (The US, that is. She's lived here five or ten years, but she's only recently become a card carrying i-number bearing permanently staying person.)
To get back to the topic at hand, all in all her impression was remarkably favorable. We have problems. They need to be fixed. But when you look at the place right apparently it is in fact still quite pretty. Remarkably so.
(I do always try to give a good impression. Think of me as a sort of bespoke civic booster. I craft new believers one at a time with tremendous care and effort. . . . In a way that doesn't really scale well.)
. . . (And remind me to drag my camera out next time. There's got to be a photo op or two here.)
