Yesterday my good friend Marcus Miers and I added to our collection of trips to view art together (here’s Dallas/Fort Worth and here’s the Milwaukee Art Museum) by trundling off to Saint Louis, Missouri. We took in two locations: The Saint Louis Art Museum and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis, which is known for its extensive mosaics.

Before heading to see the art we stopped at SweetArt Cafe (located at 2203 S. 39th Street, St. Louis, MO 63110), a place of vegan and confectionery glory. HOLY. MOLY. SO good!

Here’s the meal I had at SweetArts – Tom’s Throwback Veggie Burger and Kale Salad. Really great!

Marcus enjoying his burrito!

After the food we headed to the SLAM.

Marcus enjoying Guston…

…and Betty…

…and the elevator.

We particularly liked Andréa Stanislav’s installation piece about Saint Louis.

We also enjoyed Andy Goldsworthy’s Stone Sea installation piece.

After the SLAM, we headed over to the Basilica. I only recently learned about this cathedral from my friend Billy, and wasn’t entirely prepared for how awesome it is.

I really responded to the visual dynamics of the various designs, especially at the smaller scales along the columns. See below:

The overhead archways and exquisitely detailed geometric mosaics up there were glorious:

Just unreal.

Here we are, looking intently at our social media devices and preparing to document the art.

It was a great time. As always, laughter and deep conversation were had. I’m really thankful for Marcus, his weirdness, passion, and sense of humor. Another awesome trip in the books!