St. Louis, Missouri

It’s hot, very hot here. We’re sweating as soon as we get outside and get exhausted from the shortest walks.

The night we arrived Jason took us to his aunt who lives next door and then out to a typical St. Louis pub on the loop. He also introduced us to his charming parents and his brother and to his mom’s famous tuna salad.

First place Jason took us the next day was the Arch in downtown St. Louis right by the Mississippi. We got our tickets for the elevator to the top but had to wait a couple of hours before we could get on that magnificently designed monument (Finnish deign by the way). Meanwhile we visited the museum of westward expansion, had something to eat and tried as well as we could to escape the burning sun. When it was our turn, we got into these ferry’s wheel type of gondolas that fit five people and take you to the top. Two oversized and not so young women shared our ride. Jason had to comfort one of them since she was terrified of heights and probably claustrophobic, too. He earned us big hugs from them when the two women safely made it down later. From the top the view over the city was great. We got back home and had a thin crust St. Louis Pizza and the famous toasted raviolis.

We got up a little bit earlier the next morning and headed out to the world famous free St. Louis Zoo. This Zoo deserves its reputation such that we had a great time observing all animals. The penguin’s tank was especially impressive since it was inside an open concept where the proximity between the visitor and the animal is impressive. We could have touched the animals if we hadn’t followed the visitor’s rules.

After the Zoo we had a sushi lunch and drove out to the Anheuser-Busch brewery of St. Louis where we enjoyed a comprehensive tour followed by a free tasting of their beers. The free tour was obviously a marketing tool but the free beer just seemed irresistible. After a couple of glasses we met up with John, Jason’s younger brother and drove downtown to the St. Louis Cardinals Baseball game. Even if I still find baseball slow and not particularly interesting it was a fun and exciting experience. The Cardinals won 5 to 0 against San Diego. We got back home rather exhausted from this busy day in the heat but got motivated later for our last night out with our super cool beat-boxing free-styling (and calculated? :-o) host.