Kansas City

National WWI Museum and Memorial

In honor of Memorial Day, today I’m taking a look at the National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, MO, which Chickadee and I visited back in March.

The first thing we did was take the elevator to the top of the Liberty Memorial Tower. I’ll be honest…when I planned our visit, I wasn’t looking at the information too closely, and I didn’t even realize that was something you could do until we got there! It only costs $6 per person, and I think it’s well worth it.

The view of Kansas City from the top is amazing!

The area around the base of the tower is also really cool. I especially like the pair of Assyrian Sphinxes, one which faces east towards the battlefields of France, and the other towards the west and the future, with both shielding their eyes from the horrors of wars and the unknown.

There is a really cool gallery in the basement that is an open storage center…hundreds (thousands?) of WWI artifacts on display with minimal or even no explanation:

The main museum has an impressive, large-scale timeline of the events of the war, split into two sections…one focusing on the battle prior to US involvement, and the other after we joined the fight.

There are many items on display in the main exhibit, too, including weapons:

And vignettes that give a glimpse into life during the war:

I always enjoy a glimpse at propaganda:

As well as all the other many items on display:

And going into and coming out of the exhibit, you pass over a lovely and moving poppy field:

This is an amazing museum, and one that I wasn’t even aware of until fairly recently. I’m really glad we had the chance to visit, and now I’d like to go to the WWII museum in New Orleans!

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Today I’m taking a look back at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, which Chickadee and I had the opportunity to visit when we were in Kansas City in March.

The reason I wanted to visit the museum in the first place was because I had seen photos of their shuttlecock sculptures, and they really amused me!

We didn’t have a lot of time to explore the museum (it’s quite extensive!), so I asked a museum employee what his favorite piece was, and he directed us to this Chinese sculpture, “Guanyin of the Southern Sea”:

I asked another docent what the museum was most known for, and he directed us to paintings by Monet, van Gogh, Rembrandt, and especially Caravaggio, a master whose works are not often found in the US.

I always like to check out the religious art, and I was really impressed with how their collection was displayed:

And Chickadee was excited to see the Egyptian art, especially anything that has to do with mummies!

Who doesn’t love a good suit of armor or two?

I wasn’t expecting to find an art museum this large in Kansas City, and now I’m really hoping we can go back someday when we have more time to dedicate to it!

Elevator Controls

I couldn’t believe these old-fashioned elevator controls at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City…not even when visiting Marshall Field’s of Blessed Memory on State Street in Chicago, a location I know had “Elevator Girls” back in the day, have I seen such an artifact of elevator history!

Mondrian-Style Door

This door, done in the abstract style of Piet Mondrian, was the perfect entrance to the Artist & Craftsman Supply store in Kansas City, which announced it would be closing earlier this year.

Western Auto

This mutlii-story sign in Kansas City really caught my eye…it takes the idea of a vintage road sign to a whole new level! The building it sits atop was originally the Coca-Cola building before it became the Western Auto Supply Company headquarters…today it is on the National Register of Historic Places and was renovated into condos. It bet it looks really cool when it’s lit up at night!

Shuttlecocks

These large-scale (18 feet high!) sculptures of shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City were the main reason I wanted to visit the museum in the first place. There’s something so whimsical to me about sculptures of everyday things supersized that I couldn’t resist, and these did not disappoint! We almost missed the fourth one, because it’s on the other side of the museum grounds from the other three, and we stumbled upon it quite by accident…I’m glad we found the complete set!

Town-Topic Hamburgers

I’m always on the lookout for vintage roadsigns when we travel, and this one for Town-Topic Hamburgers in Kansas City did not disappoint…I just wish I could have seen it lit up at night!

Chickadee Thursday

Here’s a look back at the three-day trip to Columbia and Kansas City Missouri Chickadee and I took, starting with a visit to Mizzou:

We had a great time in Kansas City, where we visited the National WWI and Memorial, had lunch at Town-Topic Hamburgers, did a quick run-through of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and road the KC Streetcar:

And we took a small hike around Rock Bridge Memorial State Park and explored a cave:

This was a really fun little roadtrip!