A Trip to St. Louis

Although I often have to drive to St. Louis to see customers, it's often during the day and I am in a hurry to get there and in a hurry to get back home because I know I have a long drive ahead of me. I rarely take time to really enjoy exploring the city. Yesterday, Ryan and I decided to drive to the city to just get away for a day.

We started out by going to the Cetral West End district, which is a pretty chic part of town near several of the large hospitals. We decided to have lunch at Rasoi, a great Indian restaurant. In Mt. Vernon, Ryan and I often lament that we only get to choose from American, American, and more American cuisine. (Chili's, Applebees, Lone Star, etc.) We really enjoyed the great Indian buffet there. Aside from the food, I love the color scheme of the restaurant. (In fact, I already have a bedroom in my houe decorated with the exact color scheme of red, pink, peach, orange, and yellow.) Several of the walls are covered with glass tiles in these bright colors.

We were not too far from St. Louis's Forest Park, a large, Central-Park-like park in the middle of St. Louis, so we decided to walk there. The park hosts a number of "park like" assets, such as long bike trails, soccer and baseball fields, and tennis courts. However, the park is also home to, among other things, the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, a paddle-boat pond, a butterfly house, a municipal theater, and the St. Louis Science Museum. It was rather hot outside, so after a few miles of walking, we encountered the Missouri History Museum.

Quite honestly, I thought it would be pretty boring. (Sorry!) I thought the museum would be full of old Indian hides and muskets, which isn't too interesting to me. However, it turned out to be a really wonderful museum, much to my surprise. It turns out that Forest Park was home to the 1904 World's Fair, (also known as the "Louisiana Purchase Exposition"). There was a great exhibit about the fair and about the enormous number of structures that were built for the fair, which were raised after the fair to return the land to a park setting. Viewing the exhibit made me wish I had been there to see the grandeur of such a magnificent complex! Part of me wishes they hadn't turned the land back into a park.

There was also an interesting exhibit on Charles Lindbergh, who as you might know, was the first man to fly over the Atlantic. He did so in his famous plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis".

The museum itself is housed in a "Jefferson Memorial", commemorating the man who made the Louisiana purchase.

During our walk to the park and back, we enjoyed encountering some very interesting bridges that provide pedestrian access over various highways, creeks, and train lines. One in particular caught my fancy, with its large iron decorations.