Busy St. Louis Day #2

We did a lot today, almost too much to talk about. First we went to the old historic courthouse building. It is run by the national park service and gives a history of St. Louis and the westward expansion. It was not anything amazing. Next, we went to the Arch. It was amazing. I think it is one of the coolest architectural things I have ever seen, right up there with the Eiffel Tower. We took the tram ride to the top of the tower which was a little scary since you ride in the huge steel barrel type things that I have to duck in the whole time. It was a pretty smooth ride overall and it was cool to see out the top. It was also very cool to see some of the pictures of them building it. I took lots of pictures of the arch. Next we went to this really old cathedral down the street, it was the first Catholic cathedral west of the Mississippi. They had lots of pictures of the church dating back a long time that showed all the changes that had happened around it which was pretty interesting.

It was then time for lunch. We went to the Schlafly Taproom. It was really good. Margo had a steak sandwich and beer cheese soup and I had a roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes. We really like their food. It was the restaurant of the brewery we went to yesterday. Have I mentioned that their beer is really good, especially the APA.

After lunch we went to the City Museum which several people had recommended to us. It was amazing. It is probably the coolest place for kids that I have ever seen. It is really hard to explain. It is like a huge McDonalds playland but 1 billion times better and made with wood, cement, metal, and recycled materials. There are all kinds of amazing places to climb and explore and they have some amazing slides. I highly recommend taking your kids there if you are ever in the area.

Next, we went antiquing a little bit. There is a street we read about called Cherokee street that has lots of antique shops. It was pretty good, we bought a couple things. I think I like our antique shops in Arkansas better. As a side note, the best antique stores I have ever been to where in Pennsylvania.

After antiquing we went to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard which is a famous place on old Route 66. It was really good but I did not think it was much different than Shake's in Fayetteville.

After relaxing at the hotel for a little while we went to hang out and have dinner with an old high school friend of mine who lives here, Travis and his wife Emily and their son Owen. It was really fun to hang out with them and reminisce about old times. Travis was president of our senior class and I was vice president. Our 10 year high school class reunion is this year so we worked on planning that a little bit.

We took lots of pictures today but I am having problems uploading them to the blog. I think it has something to do with the crappy hotel internet. I was able to upload the pictures to our Picasa web album so you can check them out there. Just click HERE. Some of the pictures have captions to tell you about them.