St. Louis

...baseball and ice hockey teams. St. Louis Cardinals play baseball at the Busch Stadium opened in 2006. If you can’t get to see a game, you can always visit The St Louis Cardinal’s Hall of Fame – open Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. and Saturday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 12 noon with free admission.

My sister is a big Ice Hockey fan so we leave St Louis without a look at the home of St Louis Blues – the Scottrade centre.

~~Attractions~~
...for the celebrities associated with St. Louis. Each celebrity has a brass star and a bronze plaque detailing their accomplishments. Scott Joplin is there along with Chuck Berry, Tennessee Williams, T.S. Eliot, Charles Lindbergh, Ulysses S. Grant and many many more.

St. Louis Union Station was once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world. The Fred Harvey Restaurant with meals originally served by the Harvey Girls ... more

We first approached St Louis at twilight and were immediately charmed by the unusual skylight dominated by The Gateway Arch which was bathed in a warm amber glow. We had driven down from Chicago along Route 66 and were pretty tired so we has little time or energy to explore – St Louis would have to wait until daylight.

~~What’s in a name~~

First faux-pas of our trip! My pronunciation of St Louis was as in the title of the Judy Garland film and song. Wrong! A local born and bred in St Louis soon corrected me. The English pronunciation is lu-is. Lu-ee is the French pronunciation little used within the city.

St Louis is named after King Louis IX of France – the only French king that was made into a saint. The city was founded by French explorers, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673.

Saint Louis is often known as the Gateway City or The Gateway to the West as it is seen as the dividing mark of East and West America. The Gateway Arch, St Louis’ most known landmark, commemorates that very idea.

~~Music~~

Anyone who has read any of my previous reviews of the USA will know that our trip was music based. St Louis has a long-standing music heritage.

The seven month long 1904 St Louis World Fair brought ragtime into the forefront of world music. Classic such as “Meet me in St Louis, Louis” and Joplin’s “The Entertainer” were composed especially for the fair. Scott Joplin lived and composed in a house in Delmar Boulevard, St Louis from 1901 – 6. The house is now open as a museum to Joplin - more of this in a separate review. Well worth a visit – plan for about 1 hour.

Today, St Louis is renowned for its Blues Music with live music played daily in various restaurants and clubs. Many of the bands are local to St Louis.
St Louis Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1880 and is the second oldest orchestra in the USA. Sadly they weren’t performing at the time of our visit so we had to make do with a tour of their base The Historic Powell Symphony Hall on North Grand Boulevard. Tours of the hall are free of charge Thursdays and Saturdays at 9 a.m.

~~Sport~~

St Louis’ importance in sport cannot be ignored. Also in 1904 (a big year for St Louis), the first ever Olympic Games in the USA was held in St Louis.

Today, St Louis is famous for its baseball and ice hockey teams. St. Louis Cardinals play baseball at the Busch Stadium opened in 2006. If you can’t get to see a game, you can always visit The St Louis Cardinal’s Hall of Fame – open Monday - Friday 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. and Saturday - Sunday 9 a.m. - 12 noon with free admission.

My sister is a big Ice Hockey fan so we leave St Louis without a look at the home of St Louis Blues – the Scottrade centre.

~~Attractions~~

Without a doubt, the Gateway Arch is St Louis’ major tourist attraction. No visit to St Lois would be complete without a ride to the top. 630 ft high, the arch provides wonderful views over the city and beyond – well worth the journey up in the tiny tram.. Set below the arch is the Museum of Westward expansion with exhibits from Lewis and Clark’s epic expedition to the west. The arch is open daily from 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. Admission for adults is $10.00 and for children $5.00.

One of the clear views from the Arch is the Historic Old Courthouse. The courthouse was the scene of two major trials; Dred Scott’s legal attempt to be freed from slavery 1n 1847 and Virginia Minor’s suffragette case for women’s right to vote – both sadly lost. There is a special exhibition on the Dred Scott case which is extremely interesting. The courthouse is open daily between 8 a.m.and 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.

The St Louis Walk of Fame on Delmar Boulevard was founded in 1988 to provide a showcase for the celebrities associated with St. Louis. Each celebrity has a brass star and a bronze plaque detailing their accomplishments. Scott Joplin is there along with Chuck Berry, Tennessee Williams, T.S. Eliot, Charles Lindbergh, Ulysses S. Grant and many many more.

St. Louis Union Station was once the largest and busiest passenger rail terminal in the world. The Fred Harvey Restaurant with meals originally served by the Harvey Girls (remember the Judy Garland film) has been gloriously restored and gave us the best meal (and coffee) in St Louis – look out for the small Harvet Girls exhibition with uniform. Today, the 114 year old Union station building is a National Historic Landmark; restored and redeveloped as a shopping centre, hotel and restaurants.

~~Art / Museums~~

I have already mentioned a number of museums under different headings including The Scott Joplin Museum and The Museum of Westward Expansion. There are many many others in St Louis – to name but a few more:
St Louis’ Art Museum was built as the Fine Arts Palace for the 1904 World's Fair. It is housed in Forest Park and includes works by Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Picasso to name just a few. It is open Tuesdays – Sundays from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and is free. Sat in front of the Art Museum is the bronze statue of the city’s namesake Saint Louis.

St Louis’ City Museum is aimed at children with a plethora of interactive displays. Entrance is $12.00 per person. The City Museum is also to be found in Field Park.
The Mosiac Musuem has the world’s largest collection of mosaic art. It is housed within The Cathedral Basilica of St Louis., Entrance is $1. Opening hours are Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

~~The Mississippi River~~

St. Louis was developed alongside the Mississippi River and was vital to trade. The River still plays an important role to St Louis’ tourist trade with riverside entertainments, cafes, helicopter rides and of course steamboats.
Steamboats arrived in St Louis in 1817. Gateway Arch Riverboats offer a variety of cruises on the Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher steamboats from a one-hour sightseeing cruise with commentary to a two hour evening dinner cruise. The sightseeing cruise which we took costs $14.00 for adults and $8.00 for children.
The dinner cruises will set you back $42.00 for adults and $20.00 for children.

Look out for the Lewis and Clark sculpture actually set in the Mississippi River. At times the whole sculpture is visible and at others you may see just a hand.

~~Parks~~

There is an incredible 105 parks in St Louis. The main ones being:
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the riverfront landscaped to reflect contours of The Gateway Arch that forms the centre piece of the park.

Forest Park site of the 1904 World Fair is now home to St Louis Zoo open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily; St Louis Science Centre; Open from 6 a.m. - 10 p.m., the Art and City Museum.

Missouri Botanical Garden with a tropical rain forest, a Japanese Garden and founder Henry Shaw's Victorian home. Entrance is $8 for adults; free to children aged 12 and under.

~~Eating and drinking~~

St Louis has a myriad of restaurants and cafes serving food to cater to every taste. Laclede’s Landing in downtown St Louis is a veritable hive of restaurants and clubs. Obviously in just two days, we weren’t able to test every restaurant in the city so I make mention of just a few.

1860s Saloon & Hard Shell Café serving mainly steaks, seafood and pasta. Live music is played seven nights a week.
Bailey’s Chocolate Bar specializes in desserts – most made with chocolate. Need I say more!
BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soup. A restaurant chain specializing in local cuisine.
Blueberry Hill. Worth a visit just for the pop memorabilia. Renowned for their hamburgers.
Hard Rock Café. Reliable chain of restaurants with a good range of meals available. Again houses music memorabilia.

~~Where to stay in St Louis~~

Accommodation in St Louis ranges from high quality hotels to B & Bs. There are many of the value hotel chains including Comfort Hotels, Drury Inns and Holiday Inns. We opted for a Comfort Inn for our short time in St Louis. And yes, it was comfortable.

~~Getting to and from St Louis~~

St Louis is easily accessed by road with several Interstates leading to and from the city. Parking is ample in the city but there is of course a high charge.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is owned and operated by the city of St Louis with flights available to and from 80 cities.

Buses and trains both operate daily within the city.

Attractions are in clusters enabling you to walk and visit a number at a time. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial houses the Gateway Arch, The Old Courthouse and is close enough to the Riverside for the cruises. Field Park houses the Art and City museums as well as the zoo and science centre. Scott Joplin Museum is further up Delmar Boulevard from the Walk of Fame.

~~Summary~~

Our two and a half day stay was nowhere near long enough to fully appreciate all that St Louis has to offer. Hind sight is a wonderful thing and if I were to go back in time and re-plan our musical road trip, I would spend longer here.

The initial enchantment we felt on entering St Louis in the dusk did not depreciate in the daylight. I loved and have good memories of St Louis.

There is a myriad of things to do.We weren’t able to see or experience all that we would have liked – still that’s a reason to return one day.

 

...less