Meet me in St. Louis - Part 1

I went to St. Louis a couple of times in the 70s when my sister lived there and then once on business and for the 1985 World Series. Other than that, I never really gave much thought to that city. But, a couple of months ago I was chatting with a friend about how much I missed traveling - I never go anywhere except to Dallas and I'm bored with that. There is really nothing exciting about it since I lived there for 30 years. Well, except during baseball season and the Rangers are in town!! Anyway, he said I should start going to Kansas City and St. Louis - big cities with all the things I like including major league baseball. I have been to KC a few times since moving back to Tulsa, but completely ignored STL. So I headed up there for a couple of days a few weeks ago. My great-niece, Andrea, lives there and she acted as tour guide as drove all around the city. She is a very cosmopolitan young lady and LOVE St. Louis. I was really surprised....I thought STL was more cosmopolitan than it is. But, it's not. It's more industrial with a smaller feel to it than Dallas or KC. I guess you would say it is to KC what Ft. Worth is to Dallas......kind of the red-headed step-child.....but hey - nothing wrong with that. Y'all know how I get infatuated with cities and STL is my latest heartthrob. One of the first things I like to do in a new city is to check out the museums and universities. We drove to Forest Park - it is a 1,300 acre public park where the zoo, St. Louis Art Museum, History museum and science museum are located. Dallas friends - think Fair Park only much bigger and more beautiful. There was no time this trip to do anything but drive through, but planning on spending a day at the museum next trip. Next stop - SLU (St. Louis University). This is a private Jesuit school located in the midtown area. It's like Yale - it is not a contained campus, but is interspersed throughout the area so really not much to see and not too impressive. However, I did get to their art museum which was really great. Very small - one entire floor dedicated to Jesuit art. There were some wonderful antique lithographs of the Stations of the Cross. I really like religious art and history....Catholicism in particular, so this was a real treat. I had never heard of the Stations of the Cross until I went to Israel. There was also a modern art floor - not usually something that interests me, but I liked several of the pieces I saw here. We did a tour of Busch stadium (my first trip to the "new" one which I think was built in the early 2000's). VERY nice ballpark. Smaller than most - very cozy - I really liked it. Wanted to get my bearings there before upcoming trip to the Rangers/Cardinals game in June (next blog). We also visited the "old" and "new" cathedrals. Now I have seen so many wonderful cathedrals Europe that I almost skipped these, but I'm glad I didn't. The new cathedral contains 41 MILLION pieces of tiny ceramic tiles making up the windows. Pretty amazing. Had lunch at an Italian restaurant on THE HILL which is the Italian neighborhood. Someone had recommended it. It was great!!! Nothing fancy - in the words of the person who told me about it..."an Archie Bunker's Place" type of restaurant. And yes, there were pictures of Frank Sinatra on the wall. Good food - and I developed a taste for toasted ravioli. Don't like raviloi and wouldn't have even thought of trying this except someone recommended it. It's my latest craving!! After coming home, I went to several Italian restaurants here in Tulsa to try it - YUCK!!! My son and I made the rounds of the Italian joints in Krebbs - Isle of Capri wasn't bad, but didn't care for the others. Even Campisis in Dallas was bad - in fact it was probably the worst of all. (But still my favorite place for veal parm and fettuccine alfredo). Sunday morning before leaving, I went downtown for a cup of hot chocolate and "gooey butter cake" - another STL specialty - at the coffee shop where Andrea works. And guess what was right across the street? A local, independent bookstore!!! I was in heaven!!! Three of my favorite things - downtown in a big city, hot chocolate on a cold dreary morning, and a local bookstore. Now this is far from the best book store I've even been in (TATTERED COVER in Denver remains at the top of the list), but I did pick up a book about the first woman owner of a baseball team (Cardinals). So, all in all - I like St. Louis and am enjoying this mad little affair I am having with it. My girlfriends (and some of my guy friends) fall in love with men. Me, I fall in love with cities. Another blog to follow about second trip.