We've been on vacation all week, which isn't really what you think. Vacation for us means our shop is closed unless we happen to be there doing things, which is every day since we have packages to ship out every day. But it also means our schedule is more flexible.

So we decided to go to the aquarium on Friday. Well, we actually had to decide last week to go this week because you have to make reservations because of the Virus and all that. 

This aquarium is new for us. It is the St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station. It was just finished last fall I think it was or maybe it was early this year. Don't remember exactly. It is a nice aquarium, although it is smaller than I thought it would be. The exhibits they have are really nice ones and if you have young children, there are a lot of hands on things for them to do. We don't have small children anymore. My youngest is in high school. But he enjoyed the aquarium as well.

When we made our reservations last week, I had no idea that a Tsunami was coming!! Tsunami is the beautiful sea turtle in my photo. She actually arrived early this week. She is in the large tank with the sharks and many other fish including a very large Grouper. It was fun to watch her swim around and interact with the other residents of the tank! From what I understand her story is that she somehow ended up in a rehab facility and could no longer be released into the wild. The tank she was in at the rehab facility was much smaller than her new home at the St. Louis Aquarium. I am so glad they were able to give her a larger home. She seemed quite happy.

Here is a little history about Union Station. St. Louis Union Station is a National Historic Landmark train station in St. Louis, Missouri. At its 1894 opening, the station was the largest in the world that had tracks and passenger service areas all on one level. Traffic peaked at 100,000 people a day the 1940s. The last passenger train left the station in 1978. 

I was lucky enough to discover Union Station in 1977 when I was in 5th grade. We had a school field trip where we went over to Union Station (I lived across the Mississippi River in Illinois) and rode the Amtrak Train from Union Station to Springfield, Illinois. What a treat that was! That day, I fell in love with Union Station. It was so beautiful!! Then, the next year, the trains stopped running and this magnificent piece of history just sat there. Fast forward to the 1980s when Malls were all the rage. They transformed Union Station into a shopping mall! They also built a hotel inside Union Station. The old train shed was transformed into parking, a lake, some office buildings out on the edge of the property, and a few restaurants including the KSHE Real Rock Cafe which later became the St. Louis Hard Rock Cafe. I don't remember the details, but there was some dispute with the name and the Hard Rock may have filed a lawsuit. Like I said, I'm not sure on those details. Union Station as a mall thrived for many years, then it started to die off. The hotel was still doing business, but very few shops were left. Again this piece of history was just sitting almost idle until a few years ago when they announced there was interest in building an aquarium inside! Excitement started building again for this historic place and now the Aquarium is open, along with a very large ferris wheel called the St. Louis Wheel, a ropes course, mini golf, a carousel, and a mirror maze. I am so glad to see life at this fantastic place that I have loved since I was a child! If you go in the front of Union Station, there is what is called the Whispering Arch. You can stand on one side of the archway and whisper and someone on the other side can hear you clear as if they were standing next to you! The Whispering Arch is marked with a plaque on the second floor of St. Louis' Union Station, nearest the north entrance. It is totally cool!!