Day 6 - St. Louis Blues

Didn’t wake up until 6.00am. The plan today was to get an Uber into St Louis, see the sights, get an Uber back out & then head west.

Breakfast, showered, then I went to see went to see the campsite staff, if it was still ok to leave our RV here until we had seen what we needed to see in St Louis. Yes it was, so I fired up the Uber+ App & typed in my requirements. The journey into St. Louis was showing to be $34 - gulp.

Urgent googling revealed that it was cheaper to stay at the Casino Queen RV park, then walk over the Mississippi River on Eads Bridge. We booked the Casino Queen RV park online, then headed out to see a couple of places of interest in the St Louis suburbs. Firstly we crossed the Mississippi alongside the Chain of Rocks Bridge & picked up Route 66.

We followed the scenic river road, then took the ring road around St Louis intending to visit Laumeier Sculpture Park. It all got a bit hectic & at one point we ended up on a Highway with just 3 options to take Highways to either Chicago, Kansas City or Memphis. Using my extensive knowledge, we opted for Memphis & managed to get back on track.

We arrived at Laumeier Sculpture Park just in time for it to absolutely pour down. No time to wait for it to stop, we headed out & squelched around the park. Highlights were the eyeball & for Jackie the big tall deer. 30 minutes later & pretty damp, we got back into the RV & headed off for Ulysses S. Grant National Park.

Ulysses S. Grant was the victorious General who saved the Union. Well we drove round & round in circles, occasionally shouted at each other, and finally found it by accident. Time was now too precious, so we took a photo as we sped past it. No idea what delights we missed.

We managed to get to the Casino Queen RV park without too much trouble. We arrived around 1.00 pm, but couldn’t get through the barrier. Our access code didn’t work, but luckily a fellow RV’er helped us to get in.

Quick sandwich & coffee, then we walked the mile & a half over Eads Bridge spanning the Mississippi to Downtown St. Louis. The sun was back out. We went straight to the Gateway Arch which looked so impressive against the St. Louis skyline.

We queued up for tickets, $14 for the tram ride to the top of the Gateway. The next hour & a half were painful. We moved between several 10 minute queues with an Indian family consisting of 4 adults of varying ages & 2 kids in front. Our guide was hilarious, not on purpose, but he had trouble with his iPad sound, which only seemed to only work when he was talking to a trainee with him. One of the kids was an absolute s**t & permanently screaming.

My absolute nightmare, which only got worse, when he & his mother were allocated the same tram as us. It wasn’t a tram, it was a tiny capsule which required normally sized people to have to bow our heads just to get in.

The tram took 4 minutes to reach the top - 630 ft. We peered out of the window slots, then waited for an age to take the tram back down. Jackie wasn’t impressed with the experience. It was painful, but I would have regretted it if we hadn’t of done it. From the top we could also look down into Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals were playing Cincinnati Reds. The Cardinals won 6 - 3.

We went & out over to the Old Court House, popped in & then out, then waited close to 30 minutes for a trolley bus. We passed our time watching hundreds of youngsters all dressed up for their prom night posing for photos in Kiener Plaza Park.

I was planning to go to the City Museum. We bought a $2 hop on hop off ticket but unfortunately the bus that turned up was terminating at the Enterprise Center across town from the City Museum. We got on it anyway & then walked from the Enterprise Center (Home of the St. Louis Blues ice hockey team). There was lots of noise coming from within the Enterprise Center, which turned that their game with Dallas Stars was being shown on a big screen. The Blues lost 4 - 2.

Our lengthy walk took us passed significant buildings of The Stifel Theatre, the Soldiers Memorial Military Museum & St. Louis Library. We finally arrived at the City Museum, which is like a giant art installation made from recycled junk. It is difficult to describe, but for example it has a fighter jet suspended over the entrance & a lorry hanging over the roof 6 storeys up. Unfortunately we could hear, it is also a glorified kids playground. More screaming kids was just too much for us, so we caught a bus back to the Gateway.

We celebrated with the Cardinals fans in Caleco’s Bar & Grill with a couple of the local 4 Hands beer, then marched back across Eads Bridge to the RV.

Jackie cooked a lovely chilli con-carne, whilst I caught up with blog. Again we were asleep by 9.00pm, shattered.

FITBIT - 17,781 steps / 8.25 miles.

Song of the Day - St. Louis Slim by Seasick Steve.

Bonus Songs of the Day :-

Eyes Without A Face by Billy IdolRead more