Take me to Kansas City’s downtown
The neat thing about visiting Kansas City in mid-Autumn is that it seems to have a later fall season than we do in Omaha. Amazing how a couple hours’ drive south can differ. It still had some nice fall colors, as well as a lot of blue. Blue? Yep. The city was still honoring its World Series champion Royals.
Lisa wanted to check out the championship celebration leftovers, so we thought downtown might be the place to go. Yep. The fountain in a park across the street from the Marriott hotel still had Royal blue water flowing. We couldn’t be there for the celebration (can you believe that 800,000 people lined the downtown streets for a celebration?), so we wanted to glow in the after-celebration. LOL.
Championship banners hugged the light poles along downtown streets. It’s been 30 years since the city has had a national championship to celebrate, so who can blame residents for wanting to keep the feeling alive?
As we strolled downtown, we took in some of the beauty of the buildings. It’s a mix of older and contemporary buildings. A glass-fronted building across from the Marriott showed a reflection of a couple of older buildings.
The old Aladdin Hotel is now a Holiday Inn, but the art deco structure has been restored and maintains an older exterior appearance.
The Folly Theater has been home to stage performances since 1900. It has hosted acts ranging from Vaudeville to burlesque to today’s comedy and musical artists. The theater has been closed randomly during its 115 years, but has survived.
It was targeted for demolition in 1973, but was spared. The Folly was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
We moved farther from the main downtown area to the Union Station-Liberty Tower section.
Union Station was once a bustling passenger rail depot. It still handles Amtrak trains, but not like it did back in its heyday. Union Station is another facility that has withstood the test of time. The building has seen its use change from a passenger train center to a community-based facility. Theaters, special exhibits and events are located here.
We love the architecture of the Union Station. It’s an old facility with a lot of heart.
Across the street is the Liberty Tower. It’s home to the National World War I Museum. People will go to the top of the tower for an amazing view of the Kansas City area. However, you can also get a great view of the city from the base of the tower.
If you’ve never been to the WWI Museum, you must plan a visit. You can combine a trip to Kansas City focused on just museums.
We had a fun time checking out downtown and the surrounding area during our recent visit. We plan to head back down again and check out even more architecture beauty in the Royal city.
