"U" Is For Union Station St. Louis

St. Louis Union Station MM Sikes painting

As the Passenger to Paradise, I enjoy viewing the beautiful St. Louis Union Station among the photographs shown prior to the Cardinals' baseball games on satellite television. This picturesque structure that first opened in 1894 is also the subject of one of my paintings included in Hotels to Remember. Of course, it was my choice for "U" in the final week of A to Z blog challenge.

As I was completing my coffee table book, I was amazed to discover a complex with a similar appearance in the south of France. We were visiting the medieval walled city of Carcassonne and were fascinated by the relationship in design between it and the architecture of Union Station. On our return home I learned that Carcassonne, a fortified town that has stood in some form for 20 centuries, was indeed the basis for the Union Station design. At that point, I decided to use two of my Carcassonne photographs in my book.

Because Hotels to Remember is a "snapshot in time," it is not surprising that when my book was published the hotel that occupied Union Station was a Hyatt Regency. Today that hotel is a Marriott.

Change is certain. Nothing else is. We only have snapshots in time!