Having walked all over Forest Park when I read in the local newspaper that there would be a guided walking tour in the Park, I could not miss the opportunity

Tuesday was the only day they had a walk in the evening…with the temperatures in the high 90’s, there was no way I was going walking in Forest Park at 10 am or 1 pm!

I was at the Visitors’ Center at five minutes to six, and met Harry Leip, a volunteer, whom you can see just outside the Center as we started our walk:

Yes, indeed he was Harry Leip:

It turned out that (just like the time when I decided to take the Lalbagh walk with Vijay Thiruvady ), I was the only person there! Harry asked me to choose one of the three walks he would do. Well, I was familiar with all the areas, but chose the one going to the World's Fair Pavilion. If the walk to Forest Park was uncomfortable, the walk around was not less so, in spite of both of us frequently drinking water! But the walk was very enjoyable, nevertheless. All the facts and figures that Harry gave me are on the Forest Park website...so here are the sights that met my eyes. We started and ended at the Visitors' Center: Walked to the Bandstand, where, at the turn of the twentieth century, bands had really played: The bandstand has no access from land, and musicians had to take their instruments across by boat! We went on to the World's Fair Pavilion, which I had not entered before: Here's the vista from the Pavilion, and you can hear, and then see, Harry explaining: In the pavilion there was a Tai Chi (well, perhaps Tai Ji) class in progress; I took their permission to click them: Here's the sensei: We passed the Muny (short for the Municipal Building) where KM and I had gone last week to see a Broadway musical, "42nd Street" (more about that evening later) We looked over at the Zoo, where this birdcage had been made in 1904 after the World's Fair , to accomodate the birds brought in from all over the world, and that formed the nucleus of the present Zoo: I have already photographed and written about Forest Park, so let all that stand! Meanwhile, the living things that I saw on my walk were fascinating! Near the Visitors' Centre was this bush of un id but exquisite flowers: This blue flower peeped through, too: On my way home, I took this quick snap of the only butterfly I have photographed this visit..it looks like our Indian Grass Yellow: It was really interesting to see quite a lot of SNAPPING TURTLES in the Des Peres creek. It started with one: (The moss growing on the backs of the turtles was really funny! A rolling turtle DOES gather moss, it appears!) Then there were two: And then there was a conference, which had Harry quite bemused, he says, in the video, that he hadn't seen anything like it before! I found that not only could one have witty number plates, one could just have a picture: But the other number plate of this car was far more sober: As I walked down the street where DnA live, I saw signs that we had a very, very influential neighbour:

Oh, well, it was the end of another day!