Sight Seeing in Kansas City:
National World War 1 Memorial
:The tour of the National World War 1 memorial in Kansas City on June 21, was not exactly a guided tour as we were pressed for time and were in a hurry to have breakfast. Our host and guide Mark (travelman727) told us we would stop by briefly for a photo shoot and then move on to the fountains before breakfast. Of course I was one of those who was dying to eat so I kept asking where we would have breakfast. I would have loved to know more about the memorial as well as have the opportunity to go into the museum. But Mark indicated we would need paid passes and more time to do so. We settled for photos and left a little after 30 minutes up there. By this time, we id not have all confirmed TB members with us, at the memorial were RJ (rj1982ster ) who gladly agreed to take photos for me as I did not have my huge DVD recorder that replaced my stolen camera.
I later found out from a security guard at MCI airport that for reasons not well established, Kansas City was chosen to be America's site for the World War I memorial: this despicable war was 1914 and lasted almost four years.
Andrew, the security guy seemed to know plenty about the memorial so I offered to buy Starbucks coffee and hear more about this memorial. My flight was not due for another hour or so.
Andrew, went on to tell me that in the early twenties (please don’t take the dates for gospel truth because I’m only retelling what he told me), Kansas City erected a tower that was almost two hundred feet tall: At the top of it a huge burning flame in commemoration of the fallen soldiers. At the bottom of the tower, a museum was placed with all the earnest telling of the war. He said that the original museum was closed because of some safety issues in the early nineties. But then in the early two thousands the museum was reopened with the help of some great architect from Washington. And now it draws many tourists and families of fallen soldiers every year.
Andrew said that in all the years he has visited the site, he has found out that the oldest people who visit the memorial are majority the children of the men who fought WWI.
"The City of Fountains"
- Our host Mark (travelman727) id not stop reminding us that Kansas City is the City of fountains and of the fact Kansas City is said to be the home of more fountains in the world, than any city except Rome. Exactly how many fountains Kansas City has I don't know because we did not have enough time to see all of them. But I must say Kudos to Mark because he did his best to make us see a few. My favorite was probably the smallest of them all: a little boy playing with water from a frog/toad's mouth. It was absolutely hilarious.The more popular and most photographed of all Kansas City Fountains is the J C Nichols Memorial Fountain. It is the one outdoor fountain that is the most famous and most frequently photographed.
The four heroic horsemen in the fountain are representative of the rivers of the world. The sculptures were sculpted in Paris.
Some of the other fountains include: 1) Crown Center Square Fountain, 2) Thomas H Swope Memorial Fountain, 3) Fire Fighters Fountain, 4) William Volker Memorial Fountain, 5) Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fountain, 6) The Children's Fountain, 7) The Northland Fountain, 8)Women's Leadership Fountain and many others.
Nelson Artkins Museum of Art:
Sculpture Park. Apparently this Museum and its park have over 30 sculptures allover the park. We were able to only see 6 of them. I went online to find additional information on the museum because we did not have enough time to tour.
Located at 4525 Oak St, Kansas City, MO 6411. Telephone:(816) 751-1278 You can also visit the museum website at www.nelson-artkins.org
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