Cards Against Humidity
Today was yet another lazy morning, but we were determined to go do at least some things in the extremely hot heat that was also muggy and gross. We started by locking the dog in the trailer and heading to Union Station, a famous train station built in 1914. It was one of the busiest centrals in the country and reached it’s peak in 1946 when the soldiers returned home after being over seas during World War II. There are still trains that run through it, mostly cargo, but a few passenger trains meant for tourists. It’s also the site of the infamous Union Station massacre, when FBI agents were escorting the gangster Frank Nash out to his train. Somehow his gang mates had found out about the day of his being moved and ambushed the party outside the doors. Everyone was killed, including Nash. There are still bullet holes in the wall. Union Station was almost abandoned, but the city made the decision to restore it after it had already been closed down for a number of years due to lack of use. The grand reopening happened not to long ago, although I can’t remember the exact year. The main chamber still has it’s original three 3,500lb chandeliers
hanging from the 60ft ceilings. Almost the entire building is made out of granite. It celebrated it’s one hundredth birthday last year and is one of the oldest buildings in the city. It’s certainly one of the nicest in my opinion, but I do happen to love old buildings and train stations, so that might have something to do with it. There were also some train models in one of the back rooms of the station, which were extremely cool, and a working model of a steam engine sitting in the main corridor. It was all very interesting. Our next stop was across the street in the World War I museum. Now, the second World War is the war most often talked about, but the first was much messier, was fought in worse conditions and was not nearly as high tech. Fun fact, it was the last war ever fought on horseback, and the first war fought in airplanes. Fifty-seven and a half million people fought in that war, and ten million never came back. The number of military and civilian casualties pushes thirty-seven million. The trenches were rat and disease infested. The Germans
made a gamble in unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking military, transport and passenger ships with their U-boats. In the museum, there was a map of the waters surrounding Great Britain and a marking in every spot where an Ally’s boat was sunk. The tally was incredible, in that area alone. But as many missile as Germany had, England had more boats. For many civilians in the five powerful countries, Austria-Hungary, Germany, France, Great Britain and Russia, war was hoped for before it actually broke out. Tensions were high in the midst of treaties and agreements between these five powers, a bigger gap was forming between upper and lower classes and anything out of the ordinary could have tipped the balance of peace. That thing just so happened to be the assassination of the archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, 1914. A week later, the war broke out. I learned many facts about most of the war, especially the beginning and the entrance of the United States into the war in 1917. It’s very interesting. Apparently, the French were the targets of the enemy, thanks to their blue and red uniforms left over from the nineteenth century and their outdated bayonets, which was one of the factors that led to their early surrender to Hitler three decades later. The economy of the States thrived during the war, because they were the suppliers of the countries overseas, the enemy and the Allies alike. Their late decision to enter the war changed the tide and won the war. If they hadn’t stepped in, the world would be much different today, but they could have made the decision sooner, c’mon guys. Just kidding. After we left, we headed back to Union Station to catch a bus tour of downtown KC. That was full of fun facts, such as Kansas is the home of one Jesse James. In the early twentieth century, there were a total of two cars in the entire place. Those two cars totalled each other when they crashed on a corner one morning. The top speed then was a whopping 18mph. Wow!
Such fast! Much speed! We drove past some of the other oldest buildings, such as two courthouses, a Hallmark factory in Crown Centre and the most famous fountain in the City of Fountains. We looked out across the Missouri River Valley, twenty miles across. The river has been dammed up time and time again, but twenty miles was the original width. The old bank has a pretty steep drop and in the 1920’s, multiple bodies were found at the bottom, victims of the local mobsters. In the early days of the city, Tom Pendergast had quite a few friends in the area of politics and convinced the runners of the town to hire all his mafia friends as police officers. There were over one hundred officers with a couple of felonies on their records at that time. Safe place to be, don’t you think? We also learned that the origin of the Kansas City Chiefs’ name came from one of the mayors, Roe Bartle, who the locals called Chief, because he wasn’t going to have a team called the Kansas City Texans. That’s the fun bits of trivia I can remember right now. Our guide also showed us the best places to eat, one of which was the local market, which is surrounded by different types of cuisine: Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese. That took us and almost two hours, so after the tour was done, we went back home for some dinner, before going out to the outdoor Starlight Theatre in Slope Park to see the play Pippin. Pippin was weird, but I really liked it, unlike mum, especially the first half before the intermission.
SPOILER ALERT
It was the story of a prince, Pippin, who was looking for a fulfilling way to live his life. At first, he decided to become a soldier like his half brother, Lewis. That didn’t work out so well, mostly because he was uncoordinated as all hell and overthought everything. Then he decided his father, the king, was unfair to convert everyone to christianity or kill them and set out to murder him while he was praying in his chapel. The end of the first half happened when Pippin stabbed his father and he was crowned king, much to the chagrin of his stepmother and half brother. There was also a fire alarm backstage during an interaction between Pippin and his grandmother, so that was kind of hilarious, especially since it was the last showing. After intermission, Pippin tried to be fair to his subjects, but too much pressure started to come down upon him and he ended up acting just like his father. He abandoned the role when, naturally, the king came back to life. Pippin lost the will to live and lay down on the side of the road where he was rescued by a widow, Catherine. He spent a year with her and her son, Theo, and there was a love story blah blah blah, but on the anniversary of his arrival to their house, he left, saying that it wasn’t big enough for him, he needed something more worthwhile. As it turned out, the fulfilling thing his guidance counsellor person thing wanted him to do was high dive into a ring of fire and burn to death. At this point, it’s necessary for you to know that all the actors acknowledged the audience was there, thus breaking the fourth wall, and the guidance counsellor person kept yelling at Catherine when she got her lines wrong or added in a part. So, when Pippin decided he wasn’t going to jump and went back to the simple life, all the costumes were taken away, props taken down, makeup removed, music cut off. Pippin hadn’t performed his final act, so therefore the show was apparently over. But as soon as Catherine and Pippin left the stage, Theo hung back and started singing the song Pippin had sung at the beginning to call up the guidance counsellor. Sure enough, all the actors appeared back on stage, the circle of fulfilment started all over again and the curtain dropped. The end.
SPOILER ALERT
It was definitely not your typical performance, but I would recommend it as something different. We didn’t get home until 11:30pm once again, yet another long day. Alas, I didn’t even fall asleep for another two-three hours. Thanks brain, glad to have you in my head. One more day left in Kansas. Peace out m8s.
