Como Conservatory

Como Conservatory

St. Paul, MN

Reviewed February 20th, 2005

Now that new additions have been built onto the hundred year old conservatory, I had to go check out what has been going on at my favorite winter refuge as soon as it was open for public exploration. The new exhibits feature dirt, concrete and lots of it. You'll also find bobcats, the kind that are more closely related to front end loaders than wild felines. Since the exhibits won't be complete until September, I wondered why they bothered to open it long before there is anything to see. Imagination is a powerful tool, especially when you choose not to use it. My failure to apply my mind was a failure to adapt, to envision a future and a place in it for a place. I saw dirt when I could have pictured a romantic desert full of warmth, struggle and possibility. I saw mini-bulldozers when I could have contemplated the alliance between expansion and development of opportunities for the leisure class and the preservation of artificial tropical ecology at the expense of local green space. I could've, but then I'm not that crass or sophisticated. All I can say is that I was bemused, that I walked around with the same open mouth as everybody else. Same goes for the restrooms. They were spacious, clean spaces defined by tile, porcelain and brick and little else. I was glad that the wheelchair accessible unisex restroom was private, had a lock and not just relegated to the status of a separate stall in either bathroom. It was like my own country, and I was king of it for all of one minute, and yeah I did let the power go to my head a little.

- Justin Teerlinck

RESTROOM RATING: 7
View Website   Send this review to a friend