Midwest (3) – St Louis
2016 Thanksgiving Cloudy
St Louis is a part of Louisiana purchase, so you can see fleur de lis on the flags and also on the chocolate in stores. St louis is a gateway of the west expansion and early Europeans cross here through north American continental to discover the pacific. St louis is the place where the two famous rivers, Missouri and Mississippi meet. If you heard of Mark Twin, then the steam boats, the chimneys and industry buildings you have read from his books can all be found here.
City Museum: if you are a little bit crazy, you will need to visit here. It is built from an old industry building (a shoe making factory?!). The museum does not offer maps, so you will need to discover it yourself by crawling hard. The store stuff said you need 2 hours to visit the museum. Well, you probably want to stay longer. Parking is $2 across street.
Gateway Arch: a beautiful looking and engineering significant object. It is built in early 60s, taller than the Washington monument in DC. The architect Eero Saarinen was born in Finland, and he was also the designer of the Washington Dulles airport. The arch is built out of steels, shipped from the famous steel capital Pittsburg Pennsylvania. It is triangle shaped inside. Think about how you would put up an arch that is 630 foot tall? There are certainly no ladders released from the sky!
The arch is started from the two bottom ends using pieces of triangle shaped steals. Special cranes are built to mount on the in-progress arch, and they climb and lift as the structure grows until the two ends meet in the middle. If you come out night time, also check out the Laclede area nearby, step on the pebble stone street, have a drink and enjoy the Missinippi night breeze.
Confluence park: it is 45 minutes’ drive away from the city. In the old days, Missouri river curves and water runs fast, carrying a lot of sand and broken trees, it meets the Mississippi here and changes the direction … I can hear the roaring sound passed from then. Nowadays, people build a lot of dams to tame the rivers. So this is what you see. It is no longer naturally significant but certainly still geologically significant!
Blues on Broadway: yes, those old music! You will need to find a bar to listen to the live. The Beale on Broadway or the Broadway Oyster bar are one of the famous venues. The shows are 15$ each, street parking is available. A cold night, cozy lights, nostalgic music, a cup of cheek-warming drink and crowds of people, nothing better than that for a holiday season night life! Christmas music available Dec 23.
Central west end and chess museum: The world biggest chess is located here. Many interesting artistic chess pieces, including the one designed by Dali. The museum is free and hosts chamber music every week. Across the museum, is the chess club. Central west end has a few restaurants, bars and shops, with historical looking buildings.
Cherokee history district and bridge bread: A place you can visit if you are interested in St Louis locals. Walking into these shops, the owners will chat with you with a big smile. There is a small eat shop where you can find exotic Asian Mexican fusion food: Korean BBQ meat plus Vietnamese veggies plus Mexican tacos and burritos. Aww, guess what it tastes like?! Also, visit Bridge Bread! It is a charity bread shop that provides training and jobs to people who need it, adding to my favorite charity lists (others are famous people player in Toronto, make a wish foundation and Toms’ buy one shoe and give away another shoe). Walking on the Cherokee, and eating the tasty bread bought from the bridge bread, an old lady caught me up from the behind “hey can I have one of your cinnamon buns?” “sure” — this is how homeish feeling this street offers. Come to experience it!
Food: St louis’ food is cheap. If you like Asian food, considering Seoul Garden for all-you-can-eat BBQ for only about 20$ per person and joy luck buffet, including both hotpot and other stuffs, total also about $20 per person. There is also weihong seafood, a Cantonese restaurant with non-disappointing seafood and Asian kitchen Korea BBQ that offers 20 small side dishes.
Other places you can hang out include: Forest park and museums, where you can find architecture significant mansions (none of them is the same), as well as art museums and history museums – it reminds me of central park in NYC, the Delmar loop, shops, dinning near Washington University St louis, very popular brunch places, St louis’ zoo and botanical garden, Budweiser beer factory, Union Station and also ArtMart, a very impressive locally owned art supply store.
