So we left the "Gateway to the South" to head westward on the I-64 to the "Gateway of the West", or something like that. It took us about four hours to make the drive through Indiana and Illinois to St. Louis, which sits just across the Mississippi River in Missouri.
In planning a trip our stay in St. Louis, I convinced David that we should stay at a nicer hotel near the main attractions of the city; namely, the Gateway Arch and the
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. I made us a reservation at the
Hyatt Regency at the Arch which sits just across the street from the arch. It was too expensive to book a room with a view so I chose a cheaper option but it turns out our room did have a view of the arch.
We didn't have a full view, but we could still see quite a bit of the Arch and surrounding area which was awesome. I loved our view.
Zara did too. The Hyatt was the fanciest hotel we stayed during our trip and I'm glad we paid the extra bit of money for the experience. It was a nice room, had a great view, and their breakfast in the morning was absolutely delicious.
Our first stop after getting checked in and settled in our hotel room was to visit the
Old Courthouse, which was the site of the Dred Scott case in 1857.
Here's the inside of the rotunda of the Courthouse. It's a beautiful old building and now contains exhibits about St. Louis history and the Dred Scott case.
The Courthouse closed shortly after we arrived there so we headed over to the Arch to get our tickets for a ride up to the top.
It was starting to rain a bit so we were happy to get underground and out of the brewing storm.
Underneath the arch is this large showcase about the architects of the arch. There's also a gift shop and a general store full of old-fashioned candy and games.
While we waited for our turn to ride up to the top, we went through the Museum of Westward Expansion. I vaguely remember this exhibition from my family's big cross-country roadtrip when I was seven. I don't think the exhibit has changed since then.
Before entering the cable car/elevator to the top, you walk through an exhibit about the design and construction of the arch. Once at the top, we had to lean over to peer through these tiny windows to see out to the world below. (And yes, Zara and I are totally matching because we're awesome like that.)
By then the rain had really started to come down so we didn't get the clearest view.But it was still incredibly breathtaking to view the world from so high up. It's too bad that pictures never do panoramic views justice.
After coming down from the top of the arch, we wanted to head back to our hotel before figuring out where to eat dinner. As we emerged from the underground complex, we discovered just how big of a storm we were in. It was absolutely pouring and there was a big group of people huddled by the doors, trying to wait the storm out. We didn't know how long that would take so I snapped on the head covering of Zara's Ergo carrier, covered my head with a plastic map of the USA I had just bought and we ran for it. Luckily, our hotel was just across the street but between the downpour and waiting for the lights to change, we were completely soaked by the time we made it back to our room.
Since we didn't want to venture out into the rain again, we opted to get food from one of the restaurants in the hotel (a little bar/grill type place) and take it back to our room to eat, relax and watch a little TV before taking showers and calling it a day.
The next morning, after an absolutely amazing breakfast (by continental breakfast standards), I insisted that we take in a little bit more of St. Louis before heading out. I wanted to visit Union Station and so we walked there, stopping to admire buildings, parks, and statue gardens along the way. I really wish that we had had more time in St. Louis. From all I read about it, it sounds like a very cool city, with lots of interesting sites and attractions, many of which are free and very family friendly.
After a long walk, we finally made it to Union Station. It was started in 1893 and, like Union Station in Washington D.C., now serves as a mall, food court, and subway stop. It was also where the classic historic photo of Truman holding the incorrect newspaper reading "Dewey Defeats Truman" was taken.
A portion of is also used as a hotel, which is run by Marriott.
It's a beautiful stone building. I just love stone buildings. They look like they will always be there and remind me that man can erect some pretty amazing structures. I wish we still built buildings like this.
Once we finally figured out to get inside the station, we wandered through the hotel (which is the best preserved part of the building) and was filled with beautiful stain-glass windows and art deco decor.
This is the lobby of the Marriott. The rest of the station, including the mall portion, weren't as interesting. It doesn't seem like they get much foot traffic through there which made for a pretty sad little shopping center.
It was so boring that poor Zara fell fast asleep in her stroller. Since we needed to get back to the hotel in order to check out on time, we rode the subway to the closest stop to our hotel and got all set for a day backtracking through Illinois. I sure hope we get to spend a little bit more time in St. Louis in the future. It's one cool town.
In planning a trip our stay in St. Louis, I convinced David that we should stay at a nicer hotel near the main attractions of the city; namely, the Gateway Arch and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. I made us a reservation at the Hyatt Regency at the Arch which sits just across the street from the arch. It was too expensive to book a room with a view so I chose a cheaper option but it turns out our room did have a view of the arch.
We didn't have a full view, but we could still see quite a bit of the Arch and surrounding area which was awesome. I loved our view.
Zara did too. The Hyatt was the fanciest hotel we stayed during our trip and I'm glad we paid the extra bit of money for the experience. It was a nice room, had a great view, and their breakfast in the morning was absolutely delicious.
Our first stop after getting checked in and settled in our hotel room was to visit the Old Courthouse, which was the site of the Dred Scott case in 1857.
Here's the inside of the rotunda of the Courthouse. It's a beautiful old building and now contains exhibits about St. Louis history and the Dred Scott case.
The Courthouse closed shortly after we arrived there so we headed over to the Arch to get our tickets for a ride up to the top.
It was starting to rain a bit so we were happy to get underground and out of the brewing storm.
Underneath the arch is this large showcase about the architects of the arch. There's also a gift shop and a general store full of old-fashioned candy and games.
While we waited for our turn to ride up to the top, we went through the Museum of Westward Expansion. I vaguely remember this exhibition from my family's big cross-country roadtrip when I was seven. I don't think the exhibit has changed since then.
Before entering the cable car/elevator to the top, you walk through an exhibit about the design and construction of the arch. Once at the top, we had to lean over to peer through these tiny windows to see out to the world below. (And yes, Zara and I are totally matching because we're awesome like that.)
By then the rain had really started to come down so we didn't get the clearest view.But it was still incredibly breathtaking to view the world from so high up. It's too bad that pictures never do panoramic views justice.
After coming down from the top of the arch, we wanted to head back to our hotel before figuring out where to eat dinner. As we emerged from the underground complex, we discovered just how big of a storm we were in. It was absolutely pouring and there was a big group of people huddled by the doors, trying to wait the storm out. We didn't know how long that would take so I snapped on the head covering of Zara's Ergo carrier, covered my head with a plastic map of the USA I had just bought and we ran for it. Luckily, our hotel was just across the street but between the downpour and waiting for the lights to change, we were completely soaked by the time we made it back to our room.
Since we didn't want to venture out into the rain again, we opted to get food from one of the restaurants in the hotel (a little bar/grill type place) and take it back to our room to eat, relax and watch a little TV before taking showers and calling it a day.
The next morning, after an absolutely amazing breakfast (by continental breakfast standards), I insisted that we take in a little bit more of St. Louis before heading out. I wanted to visit Union Station and so we walked there, stopping to admire buildings, parks, and statue gardens along the way. I really wish that we had had more time in St. Louis. From all I read about it, it sounds like a very cool city, with lots of interesting sites and attractions, many of which are free and very family friendly.
After a long walk, we finally made it to Union Station. It was started in 1893 and, like Union Station in Washington D.C., now serves as a mall, food court, and subway stop. It was also where the classic historic photo of Truman holding the incorrect newspaper reading "Dewey Defeats Truman" was taken.
A portion of is also used as a hotel, which is run by Marriott.
It's a beautiful stone building. I just love stone buildings. They look like they will always be there and remind me that man can erect some pretty amazing structures. I wish we still built buildings like this.
Once we finally figured out to get inside the station, we wandered through the hotel (which is the best preserved part of the building) and was filled with beautiful stain-glass windows and art deco decor.
This is the lobby of the Marriott. The rest of the station, including the mall portion, weren't as interesting. It doesn't seem like they get much foot traffic through there which made for a pretty sad little shopping center.
It was so boring that poor Zara fell fast asleep in her stroller. Since we needed to get back to the hotel in order to check out on time, we rode the subway to the closest stop to our hotel and got all set for a day backtracking through Illinois. I sure hope we get to spend a little bit more time in St. Louis in the future. It's one cool town.
