Riverboat cruise

This power station is, apparently, still in operation

Today's game is in the evening, so I had to day free to go somewhere, so I decided to try a river cruise on the Mississippi.

Unfortunately, this wasn't nearly as good as the tour in Chicago.  The captain was doing the commentary, which was sporadic.  To be fair to him, though, there's not exactly a lot to work with.

We went North up the river under a couple of bridges, past mostly derelict factories and docks, turned around and went South past the starting point, under a couple more bridges, past mostly derelict factories and docks, and turned around to arrive back at the starting dock.

Some of the docks were actually still working, and some of the boats being loaded or unloaded looked like they were about to fall apart with rust.

The whole area is really quite sad looking.  There's a lot of worn-out concrete with cars parked on the front.

I imagine the problem might be that St Louis doesn't own the land next to the river, so although there is a whole national park surrounding the Gateway Arch itself, but it doesn't stretch to the actual riverfront?

If they do, then it's really a shame that they don't make more of the area, because two decrepit wharves hosting the riverboats and the helicopter tours don't really make the area appealing.

The tour boat itself had a paddlewheel, but it didn't turn, as the diesel engines were what was powering it the whole way.

I had intended to take the train across the river to the other side to get a good photo of the arch, but I think I had a good enough picture from the boat and it's not very picturesque. 

In the end, it started spitting with the rain, so I went back to a restaurant for dinner and then back to my hotel.