Monday and Tuesday in St. Louis

Monday and Tuesday of our vacation was spent doing some sight-seeing around the area.

Monday we wandered around St. Charles, which was the first capital of Missouri and the third oldest city west of the Mississippi. The historic part along the Missouri river is quite quaint with a number of shops and restaurants. Most of which are closed on Mondays. Oops. No matter, we got the feel for it anyway and probably save money in the long run. :) I did find a quilt shop (yay!) and bought a little fabric for a quilt I'm planning for one of the guest rooms. We also found a glass shop. They had materials for making stained glass and other things. I actually bought a bunch of handmade marbles. I don't really know why. This is what I said on Facebook:

I just bought a bunch of marbles. Is it because I want to feel younger? 

Or because I feel old and I am worried about not having any marbles? Hmmm....

 I love to buy something just for fun to remind me of a trip I have taken.

Monday night we went to an area in St. Louis called The Hill. It's a historic Italian neighborhood. There are several blocks of what is called shotgun houses.  Shotgun houses are no more than twelve feet wide arranged with one room after the other.

 

We had fun wandering around a grocery store on The Hill. I know that sounds kinda odd, but we find it interesting to see foods from other cultures. The variety of olives, pasta and anchovies is fascinating. We bought a few things to bring home with us. Supper that night was at a recommended restaurant. I had some pasta with marinara and meatballs. At first I thought it was a bit stingy that there was only 2 meatballs on the plate. But the size of them was deceptive. They were nestled down into the pasta and were so large, I had a difficult time eating them both. We both enjoyed our meals.

Tuesday we packed up our stuff and headed for a day in downtown St. Louis before we hit the road again. 

We went to a house that Scott Joplin lived in for three years. He composed ragtime music for the piano in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Hubby loves his music and can play several of the pieces quite well. At the end of our self-guided tour we were treated to a piece on the player piano.

We had enjoyed a yummy breakfast at an IHOP, so we didn't need lunch. We went straight to the Mississippi River for a river tour on a steamship. 

We took lots of pictures of the Gateway Arch.

Does every one know that you can ride in an elevator type thing (I actually think it looks a bit like a clothes dryer that's big enough to sit inside)  to the top of the arch? Above is a close up photo of the windows at the top. We did not go up there this time. We have done it three or four times in the past.


A few more shots of the Mississippi River:

I got a big kick out of the cargo this train was carrying:

We enjoyed our couple of days in St. Louis.

Tuesday afternoon we left St. Louis and headed towards Kentucky. We were making our way to Memphis, Tennessee. But first we stopped in Paducah, Kentucky. More on that in the next post...

(Oooo... another cliff hanger!)