Kansas City
March 3rd, 2005
Last weekend, Terah and I had a brief train trip to Kansas City. We hadn’t traveled much in awhile, so it was nice to get away for a bit. (Terah also wrote about this trip)
The first thing we noticed there was the beautifully-restored Kansas City Union Station. It was the second-largest passenger station in the country when it was built (New York’s Penn Station was #1), and is an amazing sight. The photos on its website unfortunately don’t do it justice.
The station was designed to accomodate up to 20,000 people, and at its peak, served up to 250 entire trains per day. The station has a fascinating history. It was the site of one of the most well-known mob killings; it was flooded in 1951; several presidents and other famous people passed through; and it was built at its present location through various political dealings amongst the railroad barons of the day.
They have a museum about the station right there in the station itself. The entrance to the museum was left untouched during the recent restoration effort (except for asbestos removal), so one can really get a sense of how poor the condition inside the station had become. The station was abandoned for a number of years. Parts of the ceiling were missing in places, causing great damage indoors.
Today, the station is abuzz with activity. When we were there, the magnificent North Waiting Room was being used for auditions for The Apprentice. We ate in the Union Cafe at the location of the old ticket counter, and got a great view of the building from there. The basement holds an IMax theater and a stage theater. I think waiting for our train Sunday was the most fun wait I’ve ever had. I had plenty of time to explore all the interesting areas of the building I could find.
After Union Station, we set out to explore Crown Center, a shopping and office complex that’s basically a block away. There is a covered walkway system called The Link that connects Union Station with almost all the different buildings in Crown Center. Crown Center has your typical mall-type shops, plus a giant Hallmark shop and a Hallmark visitor’s center that Terah enjoyed. There are also two hotels, many restaurants (not just the cheap/bad mall-type restaurants, either), a movie theater, and a live theater in the area.
For dinner Saturday, we ate at The American Restaurant, the only Mobil 4-star restaurant in KC. Very, very nice, though of course pricey.
Our only bad dining experience came Sunday at The Brasserie. I ordered one of the nicer items on the menu, and got a poorly-prepared piece of pork, together with a giant pile of french fries, and some vegetables that were buried underneath the giant pile of fries. The menu listed “pommes frites” as the side for about half the dishes. I remembered from my German that this meant “french fries”, and suspected that it did in French, too. Sure enough. I really felt ripped off at that place. I could have found the same quality of food for $4 at Wendy’s.
The other restaurant in the Westin, Benton’s, had a great Sunday brunch, though.
Categories: Travel
