Gateway Arch?! Gateway Arch.

Last night, Chris and I were, in a slightly muddled manner, discussing the brilliant song “Yr City’s a Sucker” by LCD Soundsystem. I said that I reconstrue the song in my mind to be a “New York is the best place in the world!” song, when in fact it probably isn’t even about New York. And we started talking about cities the song could be directed against, which included Cincinatti, Chicago and St. Louis. Then Chris said, “St. Louis is the place with that giant arch, yeah?”

Now, bear in mind that I am not really an American, evidenced by certain gaps in my cultural knowledge, such as having never seen Indiana Jones or Star Wars. Well, I’ve seen bits of some Star Wars. Anyway, this arch was news to me. I know of arches in Paris, and Nice, and Washington Square Park. But not St. Louis.

Chris informs me that it is an “American icon.” I become convinced that he is pulling my leg. So out comes the iBook.

With only a small amount of googling, I discover that there is, indeed, a gigantic arch in St. Louis. And it does, indeed, look like the kind of thing that would be a national icon.

Here’s my question: How is it even remotely possible that I am 22 years old, have lived in the USA for almost my entire life, and have never had ANY IDEA THIS ARCH EXISTED!?

It appears that one can go to the top of this arch. It appears it has been there for 40 years. It appears that at this arch you can learn about fur traders and riverboats. It appears that millions of people visit this arch every year.

Where have I been?