Day 1

Zoo, Afternoon Tea, St. Louis Art Museum

Our flight out of DFW was full, but with my Gold elite status, we sat in the exit row. I think AA was trying to impress its passengers, so our plane pushed back on time, and was able to get off ground within 10 minutes. We arrived in STL 15 minutes early.

Zoo

We picked up our rental car from Hertz and headed directly to the St. Louis Zoo.
http://www.stlzoo.org/
Entrance was free, but parking was $9. Fortunately, we were able to find a free parking spot on the street, but that required a good 8-minute walk.

We arrived around 11am. The zoo looks old and tired, but the animals there were remarkably active! We have been to a good number of zoos where the animals were either sleeping, or better yet, nowhere to be seen. At the St Louis zoo, monkeys were jumping from robe to robe, lizards were running, polar bear was playing with a ball in the pool, elephants were playing with water with their trunks.

We were a bit hungry, so we spent $10 on corndogs, soda, and chips. We left a little after 1pm.

We drove to our hotel, Crowne Plaza, in Clayton. We checked-in and changed into something nicer for our afternoon tea at Ritz-Carlton.

Afternoon Tea
The Ritz-Carlton in St. Louis is located in Clayton, 2 blocks from the Crowne Plaza. We walked over there. Our reservation was at 2:30pm.

We arrived at the lobby lounge. The lounge is quite big with plenty of tables, but only one table was occupied by 3 women. Another table, right next to the fire place, was all set up for us. The interior of the RC was the usual old-world opulence. However, there is no window or direct light from the outside. It seems a bit too stuffy for me.

We were given a choice of 4 teas to choose from. After our selection, our food arrived in a 3-tiered stand. The top tier held 4 types of finger sandwiches (2 pieces each). The middle tier has scones, Devonshire cream, carrot cake, and pound cake. The bottom tier has 4 different pastries. The portions were small, but enough to fill us up. The tea was served in beautiful fine china by Wedgewood (yes, I peaked).

After we devoured all the food, our server brought out a piece of cheesecake with a lit candle on top for DH. When I made the reservation, I casually mentioned that we were celebrating DH's birthday. It was a nice gesture on their part.

The tea set was $27pp. Even though it's been a few years since I had afternoon tea, I think the Four Seasons tea was better. We left just before 4pm.

We headed back to the hotel, and I took a much-needed nap for about 1 hour.

St. Louis Art Museum

SLAM is open until 9pm every Friday.
http://www.stlouis.art.museum/
We arrived just before 6pm. Admission is free. The main entrance of SLAM was built for the 1904 World's Fair. In front of the entrance stands a equestrian statue of Louis IX, the city's patron saint.

The Art Museum has a decent and diverse collection, though the (old) European painting section is somewhat weak. It has quite a collection of German art, with one entire room full of Max Beckmann.

We found 2 hours was plenty of time to see the entire museum, so at 8pm, we headed to Puck's, the museum's restaurant, for our dinner reservation. Puck's is named after Wolfgang Puck, who designed the restaurant's menu.
http://www.stlouis.art.museum/index.aspx?id=8

Our table was right next to a window looking out to the Sculpture Garden. Unfortunately, it was dark by then and the garden was dimly lit. We could barely make out a few sculptures (one of them being a Henry Moore).

DH ordered the French Onion soup with Gruyere cheese, followed by grilled pork chop with polenta. I had a butternut squash soup, and then potato gnocchi with wild mushrooms. All four dishes were quite good. We were so stuffed that we skipped dessert. Service, OTOH, was rather haphazard. We were served by multiple waiters. After one had taken our orders, another one came by to see if we had gotten the menu. They were all very nice and courteous, but better organization would be nice. Dinner came out to $66 (tax/tip included).

As we were rather exhausted, we skipped the idea of visiting a jazz club. We headed back to our hotel instead.

Is St. Louis more like the midwest or more like the deep south? Or a cross between the two?

Day 2
Cahokia, Pulitzer, Botanical Garden, Concert

Cahokia Mounds
We left our hotel around 9:30am and headed towards the Cahokia Mounds over in Illinois. We arrived at around 10am. It is the largest pre-historic archaeological site in N. America, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
http://www.cahokiamounds.com/cahokia.html

We got to the visitor center just in time for the 10am introduction movie, then we viewed the exhibits. Afterwards, we headed outside to climb the highest mound, Monks Mound. From the top of the mound, we could see the skyline of St. Louis.

Lunch
We headed back to St. Louis around 12 noon. From Highway 44, we were able to see the sea of green in downtown (the St. Patrick's Day parade).

We arrived at the Contemporary Art Museum, only to find it closed for the day due to preparations for a ball that evening. I had planned on eating at the cafe (Tempt) inside the Contemporary, so we had to find an alternative. After consulting our St. Louis guide, we decided to go to Nadoz Cafe nearby.
http://www.saucemagazine.com/nadoz/

DH & I were tempted by the crepes on the menu, so we each ordered one. Unfortunately, they were not good. The crepes had been pre-made and were reheated when ordered. It came out crispy like a taco shell, and way too greasy. The fillings were too salty. This was the worst meal we had on the entire trip. Lunch was $24.

Pulitzer
We arrived at the Pulitzer Foundation at 1pm. It is only open 2 days a week - Wed and Sat.
http://www.pulitzerarts.org/

The building was designed by Tadao Ando. We were not surprised to find the building material the same smooth concrete he used to build the Fort Worth Modern.

The Pulitzer holds art exhibitions. The current one, which ends in April, is called Minimalism and Beyond. DH both enjoyed the exhibits. Apart from the usual suspects, such as Judd and Flavin, we came across some other cool works by Roni Horn and Felix Gonzalez-Torres.

A few pieces of work were commissioned for the Foundation, including Kelly's huge Blue Black panel, and Serra's Joe in the courtyard.

We decided to stick around and join the 2pm docent-led tour. Apart from talking about the works on display in the exhibition, she also explained the architecture of the building. We finally left the Pulitzer at 3:15pm.

Missouri Botanical Garden
Our next stop was the Missouri Botanical Garden.
http://www.mobot.org/
It was an unusally warm day with great sunshine. We arrived at 3:30pm and paid $8 each for admission. Much of the garden is still brown and barren, but we saw some beautiful blooming camellias. The garden was filled with birds and we saw quite a number of cardinals. We visited both the Chinese and Japanese gardens, and fed a few huge koi. We left at 5pm.

Before heading back to the hotel, we made a detour to Ted Drewes for some frozen custard! From what I've read, skipping Ted Drewes is like skipping Pat's cheesesteak while visiting Philadelphia. The place was packed! DH & I both licked our cups clean. We then returned to the hotel so that I could take a nap.

Concert
We had tickets that evening for a chamber music concert at the Pulitzer, with musicians from the St. Louis Orchestra. The concert is held in conjuction with the current Minimalism exhibit and featured modern music. Before the concert started, the director of the Pulitzer Foundation, Matthias Waschek (a German, who worked at the Louvre prior to his current position), introduced the guest conductor, Pascal Rophé. Rophé gave a brief but informative introduction to the 2 pieces of music he picked for that evening. His explanations made the music more interesting to listen to, especially when it comes to modern music. The 2 pieces were:
Etwas ruhiger im Ausdruck by Donatoni
Vortex temporum by Grisey

I wouldn't say I enjoyed the music, but the concert did open up my horizons a little bit. The Vortex contains music written in quarter-tones.

Dinner
Our dinner reservation at Trattoria Marcella was for 10pm, but with the concert shorter than I thought, we arrived at 9pm.
http://www.saucemagazine.com/drill.php?EstID=440&page=TextSearch.php&Text=trattoria
Fortunately, we were able to get seated right away. We shared an appetizer of "polenta fries" with wild mushrooms, then DH had veal scallopini and I had lobster risotto. The appetizer was excellent, while the entrees were quite good. Dinner came out to $80.

Day 3
Arch, Union Station, Anheuser-Busch

Gateway Arch
An early start got us to the Gateway Arch just after 9am.
http://www.gatewayarch.com/
Unfortunately, it was quite foggy that day. We decided to tour the museum first and go up the arch later, hoping that the fog would clear up.

The exhibit inside the Museum of Westward Expansion is rather confusing and chaotic. In one corner is a small section dedicated to Eero Saarinen, who won the competition in the 1940s to build the Arch.

We then took the "tram" to ascend the Arch. It is quite an ingenious design. I found the ride to be the best part of the trip. Once up there, I was somewhat disappointed. For some reason, I had this idea that there would be a cafe and gift shop at the top (I don't know why). In reality, the space was very small. As we looked out the windows, I found myself developing some vertigo. Even though the fog had cleared up some, we still weren't able to see too far.

Union Station
On our way from the Arch to Union Station, we drove past Wainwright Building, which was designed by Louis Sullivan.

The Union Station in St. Louis is a shopping center, not a train station.
http://www.stlouisunionstation.com
Well, it used to be a train station long time ago. We walked through the entire center before we found what we were looking for - the Grand Hall. It is truly breath-taking.

Brunch
Our next stop was brunch at SqWires located at the historic LaFayette Sq. We very much enjoyed the atmosphere there as well as the food.
http://www.sqwires.com/

Anheuser-Busch
Our last stop in St. Louis was the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Saving the best for last, you can say.
http://www.budweisertours.com/docs/stltour.htm
We arrived just before 1pm, but we had to wait for the 1:30pm tour. In the waiting area are displays about beer, and of course, a gift shop.

The tour lasted for 1 hour. We started off with the stables where the Clydesdales reside, followed by the cellars, brewhouse, packaging plant, and finally, free beer! Each visitor was allowed 2 free beer samples, but DH & I only had one each.

Admirals Club
Our drive back to the airport was smooth, as well as returning the rental car. We were inside the terminal by 3:15pm for our 4:30pm flight. As we had 45 minutes before boarding started, I got us into the AA Admirals Club.

I am not a member of the Admirals Club, but I received a complimentary visit card in the mail a few weeks ago. The card is only valid until end of April. DH didn't receive one, but the staff at the AC was nice enough to let him in also.

Wow! It was so nice there. Unlike the noise and chaos in the normal waiting area, the AC was quiet and peaceful. We sat down in the leather seats, and we both dozed off immediately. Soon enough, it was time to board the plane.

Even though the AC was nice, I am not willing to dish out $400 for its membership fee.

Our flight to DFW was uneventful. We again sat in the exit row. Our plane touched down at DFW 15 minutes early, but our gate was not ready. In the end, we sat on the runway for 15 minutes.

I think a lot of people have a misconception that there's nothing to do in St. Louis, and we definitely found that NOT to be true. As I mentioned in the beginning, we experienced:
art (SLAM, Pulitzer)
architecture (Arch, Pulitzer)
culture (Cahokia Mounds)
music (St. Louis Orchestra)
high society (tea at Ritz-Carlton)
nature (Missouri Botanical Garden)
wildlife (St. Louis zoo)

I found the food to be much better and more affordable than Dallas.

Having said that though, I think it's gonna be a long while before we will revisit St. Louis again...

My best friend comes from St. Louis and I've always wanted to know what fun was their besides beer (which I don't drink) and baseball (wrong team for me). You have really opened my eyes and now I want to go! thanks!

YK,

Thanks for such a nice report, it's always interesting hearing a visitor's perspective on St. Louis. I agree with your view on most of what you visited., I went to the Pulitzer 2 weekends ago (saw Emily Pulitzer in her jeans showing the collection to a friend) and the museum shows well, yet only requires a short visit to see what there is to see. The architecture is just as interesting,if not more interesting, than the art.

I don't think that you mentioned that the Pulitzer has free admission. As does the zoo and the Art Museum. Complaining about parking fees when admission is free (and parking is free at SLAM) seems kind of petty. Especially when there is plenty of free, on street parking, you just have to find it and walk from it, as you found out.

Union Station, as I've said before, has not had trains in a long time. It was developed as a mall in the early '80's, and is currently in the process of being bought again by yet another developer. It is, however, the site of the famous Harry Truman photo holding up the newspaper with the headline "Dewey beats Truman".

SLAM has all it's Beckmann's because of the bequest of Morton May (May Co.) an important St. Louis benefactor and art collector. Cass Gilbert was the architect for the original Beaux-Arts building that now houses SLAM. There are beautiful cabinets that he designed in the SLAM Library.

We like both Sqwires and Trattoria Marcella, you picked some good restaurants to visit. We've had decent dessert at NaDoz, sorry that you had a bad meal there.

I do have to take issue with your comment about the zoo looking old and tired. There has been an unbelievable amount of construction and new buildings at the zoo during the last few years, and I think it looks fresh and inviting. Did you go to the River's Edge? That's where the elephants, among others, are now housed. It relaced a tiny area the elephants had before and was built so that the male elephant (Raja) born about 15 years ago to a St. Louis zoo female elephant, would have enough space to flourish.

And, to Timberwolf, I don't think St. Louis is in any way like the deep south. Please note that St. Louis city and county vote decidedly differently than the rest of the state of MO.

But doesn't southern Missouri have a reputation for basically being the deep south? Also doesn't Kentucky and Tennessee?

You asked about St. Louis. St. Louis is NOT in southern Missouri. The "bootheel" of Missouri is probably the area you are thinking of. It is the most southern/eastern part of the state of MO and borders Arkansas, Tenn and KY. This is the area that has produced the state rep. that has proposed making the State of Missouri recognize only a "christian" god. I don't/would never live there.

I can't comment on Tennessee or Kentucky being part of the "deep South", I don't live there and have only visited each state once.

<<But doesn't southern Missouri have a reputation for basically being the deep south?>>

No it does not.

suze, why do you feel the need to answer all my posts?

Are you my biggest fan on here?

I grew up in St. Louis and we never felt southern. But I'm amazed at the number of people I know from true southern states who feel this southern bond with me. I always believed the state was split, both historically and as a matter of self-opinion.

Just happened to know the answer to what you asked.

Liz-

Thanks for your comments. Yes, there are some new sections at the zoo. I think I got the "old and tired" impression from the entrance, and also the first number of buildings we visited (we started off with the Eastern side of the zoo, and ended with the newest addition).

I thought $9 for parking is a bit steep. I know, the zoo is free. But the last time we visited a zoo was the one in Washington DC, so we're kind of spoiled.

And no, Timeberwolf, St. Louis does NOT feel like the deep south at all.

yk, nice of you to clarify, but Timberwolf got thrown off the forum yesterday for trouble-making on other threads

yk

You certainly covered a lot of ground. I was impressed that you ventured over into Illinois to see Cahokia Mounds. Well worth the visit.

Your report was very detailed and most helpful to anyone planning a trip.

Thanks for taking the time to share your long weekend.

Sandy

Even where I am at in southwest Mo, HERE it doesn't feel like "the south" to me.

I LOVE St. Louis and go there quite often for a 'city fix' of great dining and culture. (I have been to the south, New Orleans, Savannah and St. Louis to me feels like a small Chicago...) KC, MO. feels more "mid-west" than the Lou.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents....

Thanks yk for a great report! We walked into the Ritz for a look see and it looked like a retirement home...
It WAS claustrophobic and stuffy.

YK, the next time you go, try the Westin downtown! It's great.
I got the Renaissance on Priceline
downtown and it was great too.
You can get around pretty easy.

beachkomer-

Next time we go to St Louis (whenever that might be!), we most likely will stay in downtown. The reason we stayed in Clayton was that we wanted to avoid the St Patrick's Day parade.

The Priceline bids for downtown hotels are definitely lower than for Clayton, and I bet any 4* DT hotels will be better than the Crowne Plaza in Clayton. We didn't really like the Crowne Plaza at all...

yk,
I got the Hyatt Union station for $50 and it was very easy to get around from there...right near 40. I liked the activity (except most of the stores are just t-shirt/tourist shops).Our room was nice, no view really, but for $50 it worked! I got the Ren. downtown two diff. times for $50ish....nice! Lots of marble and fancy without fussy. Check out the pictures online. It was just renovated a few years back.

Did you go to the Central West End? I didn't see it in your report. Check it out next time. Artsy, great dining. Right near Forest Park.

Next trip, just avoid summer: it is smokin' hot, probably with more humidity than Texas?

Great report! I need to visit some of the places you got to.

Now I'm reaping the benefits of this report and the replies to it! Going in Mid-October. GTG?

Fall is a perfect time to go to St. Louis. If the Cardinals are still playing, score some tickets!

There is so much to see in St. Louis, it's a nice city.

Have fun!

Faina- You'll have a good time in St Louis. Enjoy!

Faina - Yes a GTG sounds great!!

Keep in touch as the date gets closer!!! I travel a lot in Oct though, I hope I do not miss a possible gtg.....

Anne

Just re-reading my trip report from over a year ago. Interesting to read that I wrote about the St Louis Art Museum having a huge Max Beckmann collection...

I was at a art exhibition today at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth, and learned that Beckmann left for the US after WWII and taught at Washington Univ in St Louis. Now THAT explains the Beckmanns at SLAM! From SLAM's website:

"The Museum boasts 39 paintings by Beckmann-the largest public collection of Beckmann paintings in the world."

The St Louis Art Museum is now hosting

Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style - it is the first venue in the US to host this. Many pieces are from collections in UK and France - even Versailles.

I plan to go this week . It has bben open for a couple of weeks and will be here till sept.

As the search is not working, I'm taking this to the top. Or over the top

I'll be there October 14-24, the first week in the city.

Faina - I still need to get in touch with you...
WE need to post for a mini get together!!!
I think I am actually in town - and it si my busy travel season at work!

Anne, my e-mail is faina22@hotmail.com

somebody else posted his/her e-mail for a GTG, and I can't find the thread

Thanks for excellent report, yk -- find we'll be in STL over Easter and above information is very helpful, especially re Art Museum which we've somehow missed on previous stays.

There are some great things to check out -

Free Italian Film Festival at Washington U. this weekend and an exhibit at St Louis u on Russian Relics.

I will try to post links later today - I am at work!!

http://www.italianfilmfestivalstlouis.com/index.html
It is free!
April 10-25, 2009
Brown Hall 100, Washington University

and,

Relics of a Glorious Past. Imperial Russian Artifacts from the Collection of Dr. James F. Cooper
Judith and Adam Aronson Gallery, 1st Floor
February 27 - December 20, 2009

Just some ideas!!

I would also suggest the Missouri History Museum. We took the light rail there from downtown, so we didn't have to drive, which was nice. Good museum, very enjoyable if you like history.

We also visited the zoo on our trip, and we laughed a bit about how the free zoo outing ended up costing us about $75 by the time we paid for parking, lunches for four, and some special thing that I can't recall now (children's zoo? carousel?). We really liked St. Louis and will return.

Appreciate the new information -- I should have explained that this is really a family visit, so we will be doing well to visit the Art Museum. Happy Easter & thanks!

nyse - Enjoy the family and Happy Easter!!!
Sat is supposed to be nice and Sun it is supposed to be sunny for the early part of the day!