A Day in St. Louis
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.
Tags: BIG TRIP 2011, In English 2005-2006, Missouri
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