Sure, We Have People Dressed Like Penguins Walking Down The Street All The Time

The commander of our ship, Ellie, insisted we get out to the Loop Ice Carnival despite the cold and high winds. It takes place on a section of Delmar Boulevard straddling the line between St. Louis proper and the inner suburb of University City (named for adjacent Washington University). We call it The Loop because it is where trolleys used to turn around to go back into the city. It's pretty hip, at least by our standards.

I'm not sure what these two were all about, other than being a photo op. They had some brochures with a map and list of events.  If someone paid you to walk up and down in a penguin costume would you do it? Would ya?      

Disorientation

Running low on material but still finding images from the Ice Carnival a couple of weeks ago. This was a strange amusement, apparently a double sphere, the inner and outer connected by these green pins. Someone gets in and then runs like crazy down a track bordered by inflated tubes, trying their best not to fall or go upside down. It's actually a race. There is a second sphere, not shown here, in which another contestant tries to go down and back more quickly.

I don't think there was a prize for the winner but second place got a packet of Dramamine.
                        

The theme for City Daily Photo bloggers on February 1 is

"A Scene from a Cafe or Coffee House."

Still Playing With Fire

Still far beyond the limits of my coordination and risk tolerance but not as nuts as the chap in yesterday's post. At least she can put her hands on the object connected to the fire. Better dressed, too.            

Kids, Don't Try This At Home

A fire juggler at the Ice Carnival. I don't like the look of this. Does he value his nose and, um, whatever else?

Something else most of us wouldn't want to try.

                   

Bernie

A garish Ice sculpture of Bernie Sanders at the Carnival in The Loop. Tells you something about the inclinations of the neighborhood. I don't know which he needs most, a haberdasher, an orthodontist or a barber.

No Hillary sculpture. And Ted Cruz would be very unwelcome if he crossed the University City limits.                

Hanging From A Wire

A bit more zip line action. You can see the tower in these shots, roughly three stories tall. I am grateful to whoever set up the cloud explosion for my background in the first and third shots. 

Some of the commentators to yesterdays post said that they would never do this, or they tried once and would never do it again. We've had the opportunity in Costa Rica. Mrs. C tried it once and is done for life. I have some spine and joint issues, plus I'm usually carrying about a twenty pound camera bag, so I took a pass. Which is to say, I weenied out.
                  

Zip Line

When I think of zip lines the image I get is of cables strung high in the canopies of Costa Rican forests. Well, you don't need tropical mountains or even a hill. Flat Delmar Boulevard will do just fine.

The Ice Carnival brought in a mobile zip line contraption. People stood in line to climb a tower, get strapped into a harness and shoot off to a low platform a block away. Pretty cool. I may run some more of these.                    

No Explanation

This chap and a companion were on the sidewalk in front of the trendy Moonrise Hotel during the Ice Carnival. The other one, a woman, was wearing a very long white gown. Both had those springy running-walking curved stilts made of fiberglass or something. This one seemed to specialize in mad gesticulations and expressions. I saw no particular need for meaning.    

Honk

Many of the businesses in our Delmar Loop district had frozen sculptures outside for the Ice Carnival. Some of them obviously had corporate sponsors.

Goose Island is a large mud flat in the north branch of the Chicago River but is now heavily developed. The city's leading craft brewery was founded there. I assume you can get their products extra cold at this establishment.                  

                      

Pizazz To The 6th Power

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Another ice sculpture. I don't remember what business sponsored this. It looks like a frozen version of a mask from a Mexican Dia de los Muertos party. The number 6, the exponent, should technically be to the right but the dead play these games backwards.

WHAT MOST OF AMERICA IS FEELING: relief and hope.

TOMORROW: Thursday Arch Series, as well as a new Arch photo on Gateway.

Frozen Stogie

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Why shouldn't a frozen lion smoke a cigar? King Of the Beasts, alpha dude, all that Freudian stuff that cigars imply. As is happens, this sculpture at the Ice Carnival was in front of what they call a smoke shop in this country (selling supplies for more things than tabacky, although they got that). The whole ice tablet was shaped like a cigarette lighter and it said "Zippo" across the top.

WHAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT AT THE TIME I WRITE THIS: George H. Bush has 15 more hours in office. Let's hope Cheney doesn't pull a fast one overnight.

TOMORROW: pizazz to the 6th power.

Would You Like A Whack At This?

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Two bucks, two swings at a block of ice with a sledgehammer. Would you have gone for it, or just secretly wished to? I got bum shoulders so I was out of the competition. Good thing that the nearest bar was across the street and not right next to this. Still, there were plenty of watering holes to choose from at the Ice Carnival.

WHAT I'M WONDERING: should I have done something to protect my lens while I was shooting these? Too late now.

TOMORROW: We freeze vegetables. We freeze burgers. Should we freeze cigars?


There is a new Arch photo
today on Gateway.

The Loop Ice Festival

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The Delmar Loop is a stretch packed with restaurants, entertainment venues and unusual shops. It lies mostly in University City, so named because most of the main campus of Washington University is within it, and is growing into St. Louis proper. It got the name Loop because years ago there used to be a loop of track where the trolley cars turned around to go back to the city. In 2007, the American Planning Association named the Loop as one of the ten best streets in America. Really.

On Saturday, The Loop put on an Ice Carnival. Pretty weenie stuff for you far northern types but fun for us. There were ice sculptures up and down the street. This one showed a lot of imagination.

WHAT I CAN'T GET OUT OF MY HEAD: We Sail the Ocean Blue from Gilbert and Sullivan's H. M. S. Pinafore. What's wrong with me?

TOMORROW: another frozen treat: gee, this looks like fun. Plus a new Arch photo on Gateway.