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A Day in St. Louis

Monday, September 26th, 2011

September 5th

On Monday morning, Labor Day, we decided to start our day with a visit of the City Museum which was highly recommended by our guide book. When we arrived we realized that it was less of a classic museum and more of an indoor amusement park for kids. It was actually a reconverted factory building, artistically decorated with colorful slides and recycled materials- it looked like fun- but impossible on a public holiday. So we chose to skip it and return to the Old Courthouse that we had hastily visited the day before. This gave us a chance to explore the well thought out exhibits in more detail.

The next stop was the Anheuser Busch Brewery tour, brewers of America’s classic beer, Budweiser.  The free tour was actually very informative- the original old brick buildings that house the modern brewing equipment gave it a classic feel. We also got to see the beautiful stables of the Clydesdale horses. The Clydesdale horses, a passion of the Busch family, became a Budweiser tradition when following the end of prohibition; they were used to deliver the first case of beer to President Roosevelt in Washington D.C.  At the end of the tour, we went to the tasting room, where we could taste any of the beers produced under the Stella Artois label (the Belgian owners of Anheuser Busch.) I was surprised to find out that Longboard is also one of their labels. After two generous samples, we had a little buzz and were ready for some lunch.

We took our picnic to Lafayette Park, a pretty park, in a nice historic neighborhood. Our last visit of the day was at the Grant Farm, just outside of St. Louis. This was the family farm of Ulysses S. Grant, the 17th President of the U.S. following Abraham Lincoln. We visited some reconstructed buildings of a 19th century farm and learned more about Grant as an army general (credited for leading the Union to victory) and his anti-slavery views. Ironically, his wife came from a slave holding family. We would cross this difficult moment in U.S. history over and over again in this trip.

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Crossing Missouri and arrival in St. Louis

Monday, September 26th, 2011

September 4th

On Sunday morning after another noisy night in the campground, we left the state park and drove across Missouri. We stopped in the small state capital, Jefferson City, and visited the Capitol which housed a small history museum. It’s amazing to be reminded that 200 years ago, Missouri was the far west and the American frontier.  Today it takes another 3 days of straight driving to reach the western frontier. When the Civil War broke out, Missouri was a slave state but the divisions were so great that families ended up fighting against each other.  We took a walk around the capitol grounds which were deserted on Sunday except for a few families. There wasn’t much else to see so we continued the road towards St. Louis.

As we approached St. Louis we had the feeling we were approaching a ghost town- abandoned buildings, old industrial sites. When we arrived in downtown, there were more signs of life- people out with their families enjoying the nice weather around the Jefferson Arch and the sounds of music festival echoing through the air. We had time to do a quick guided visit of the old courthouse. We learned about the history of St. Louis, the Golden Era and the suburbanization, 50% of the population has moved out of downtown and to the suburbs in the last 50 years.  After the courthouse, we went to visit the visitor’s center at the Jefferson Arch. We decided to skip the tramway that takes you to the top- it was expensive and there was a long wait, but we did visit the Western Expansion museum. Just to get in to the museum, we had to wait 15 minutes in a line to pass security. The museum was packed with people and badly organized.  We had visited so many sights on this subject (we had been living it the last six months) that we already knew most of the history so we didn’t stay too long.  We walked around the arch and back to the car. After crossing the Mississippi River (a symbolic moment as we returned to the “east”), we stopped at a campground (actually in Illinois.) We would return to St. Louis the next morning to continue our visit.

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A Day Off

Monday, September 26th, 2011
September 3rd Finally, a day without the car! We needed a break from sightseeing and driving, so we spent the day relaxing ... [Continue reading this entry]

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Harry Truman and Missouri

Monday, September 26th, 2011
September 2nd Our day began in Independence, Missouri, a quintessential American town and the hometown of Harry Truman, president of the United States from 1945-1952. There are several Truman sites to visit in town- we chose the Presidential Library- the ... [Continue reading this entry]

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