Americas Heart & Soul - Part 2 - "St Louis"

Day 4 and we hit the road meeting our coach driver Ted who was a really nice bloke.

One stopover was Springfield Illinois of course known for one person Abraham Lincoln (well other than Bart Simpson). First part of the visit was to his Grave or should I say Tomb, had done this 2 years ago on route 66 but followed at the back of the group.

Then it was on to a new museum dedicated to Lincolns life, showing all stages of it, enjoyed this as it was all new to me. This also coincided with lunch and a few of us walked a couple of blocks and just past the old state capitol building was a place called Robbies and was really nice, good food with real friendly staff.

After we had been fed and watered it was onto Lincolns house but a bit of a botch up with the bookings resulted in our group not been allowed in. Apparently JY had been told it was closed but had been given the December schedule instead of November.

Must say Springfield is just about Lincoln with pictures & statues everywhere which resulted inthe term "Lincolned Out" been used, think John Wilks Booth nearly became our hero.

Then onto St Louis and the check in at our hotel, nice place but think they got the staff from MacDonalds failures, totally let a nice hotel down. Fortunately i was ok in my room but many others in our group where doubled booked, some had key cards that didn't work (took 45 mins to reprogramme) and bar staff that went awol when you wanted a drink.

To be honest St Louis wasn't my favorite part of the holiday, I'd come on the trip with a injured ankle and had been taking prescribed anti-inflammetries which were making me feel ill. Was also very tired as not been sleeping too well again due to problems i brought from home swimming around in my head.

First night in the city people scattered in all directions, some came with me to Lacledes Landing as i'd promised to take them to a bar i know called Show Me (ok the servers are good on the eye). We had to cross some road works to get there and nearly got run over in the process as no footpaths.
Getting there found most places including Show Me closed, did find a Pubwhere we ate but can't believe how quiet the so called entertainment district was, certainly gone downhill since my previous visits.

On day 5 we visited the Gateway Ach which most of our group went up, done it before so i decided to check out the museum underneath. Then it was the City Tour which was good took us to lots of places, Forest Park is a beautiful part of the world and we also stopped for lunch at the market (although i had a sarnie from subway) before finishing the tour at the Brewery (never mind the tour the freebies was good).

After getting back to fawlty towers some of the group decided to go to the City Museum but I was struggling with a mix of ankle pain and tiredness so decided to go to my room for a rest only to find room service there so went back to the bar for a beer while they finished.
Finally got to me room to find the had taken all the towells but missed the bath towell i had hung on the back of the door, decided to use this for everything rather than try get sense out of reception.

That night we ate at a Chinese restaurant close to the hotel, was good can recommend to others visiting the city. Was planning to go to some bars i know past the Baseball stadium as they have good live music but i was too tired and opted for an early night (unheard of for me). Lack of sleep, sore ankle had taken their toll and believe it or not i crashed at 9-15pm. Slept really well which put me in much better form for the rest of the holiday, my ankle also got better from this point.

So that was St Louis and the following morning we hit the road to Memphis not before leaving a note for room service to tell them my tip was with my towells.

City Breaks - Meet me in St Louis

Later this year (november) on my "Americas Heart & Soul" holiday with Just You I'll be visiting St Louis for the 3rd time. Did it a couple of years ago while doing Route 66 but my first trip there was in 2006 when I did a short City break.

Picture on the right is Charles Lindburgh's plane "spirit of St Louis"

From a sports fan particular football it doesn't hold great memories because it was in one of the bars on Lacledes Landing that I watched England go out of the world cup on penalties to Portugal. Even managed to get the locals supporting England and believe me its one city in America that knows nothing about footie.

Their main sport is Rounders (Baseball) and my hotel was very close to the Busch stadium home to the Cardinals. They were home to Kansas City Chiefs while I was in town and each night the hotel was packed with fans of both teams. Apparently its the big missouri state derby and I learned Kansas City isn't in Kansas, most of it is in Missouri.

Now must say I've normally nothing against American sports fans but took a dislike to Cardinals supporters they are so arrogant, didn't help when some tried to push in front of me in the bar. So when it comes to Baseball I now support whoever plays the Cardinals.

So more about St Louis well the main tourist attraction is the impressive arch otherwise known as the "gateway to the west". Didn't actually go up on this trip but but that to rights during my route 66 visit.







Have already mentioned Lacledes Landing where there are a number of bars and restaurants. Its a old part of town by the Mississippi and good fun on a night. Well who can forget the lovely ladies that serve you in "show me" and the "big bang" piano bar is great fun.
Saying that found a cracking place not on Lacledes landing but past the Busch stadium called "beale on broadway", had live blues playing in the floodlit beer garden, in fact everyone was outside as it was still really hot even late at night. The two ladies behind the bar were a good laugh and remember one night some mouthy Cardinals fans came in and asked for the baseball on the TV only to be told that it was a music bar and to f--- --f to a sports bar if they want to watch the game, made me smile.







St Louis historical Union Station is now a shopping complex with bars and restaurants and well worth a visit.






One place to go for those like me that enjoy walking is Forest Park and its up there with Central Park in New York and Lincoln Park in Chicago. Definately can spend a full day there.









On my rounds I came across a museum, a Zoo, A boat house with a good restaurant, a visitors centre with a cafe, a golf course, a opera house, a tennis centre, a art gallery plus plenty of scenic views.
Just a great place with something for everyone.

So that was St Louis.