Home again, home again, jiggety, jig

Whirlwind trip 2 complete, I'm safely home again.

My meeting went well yesterday. Short and to the point. I managed to spend an hour in a peaceful park, under a tree, in the sun, in +25C weather... doing work ;) Took some time during the late morning to visited the Gateway Arch, downtown. Quite an impressive structure, really. Unfortunately I did not have time to learn about it, just admire.

If you are ever in St. Louis, try the Rooster. It was a really great restaurant. Atmosphere was trendy, very downtown in feel, and the food and service are fantastic. Though famous for their crepes, I opted for a delicious sandwich.

After work hours, I met up with a friend who recently moved to St. Louis. He offered to take me around to all the cool places. First stop, Forest Park. This park (where I spent some of my afternoon working in the sun), was created in the late 1800s as a place for families to gather. Located in the park are the Zoo, the Art museum (check out Javier Mendoza, who gave a free concert there last night), History museum, a golf course and acres and acres of green space. And everything is free (except some of the parking). I'm a big fan of urban parks as a means of escaping city life, and Forest Park is perfect for that.

We then went on a tour of the trendy districts, including Delmar Loop, which is filled with great restaurants.

I have apartment envy, as my friend lives in a really cool downtown apartment with asymetric walls, a roof-top pool and games room and great views, as you can see in the above picture.

It was good evening!

I have become one of those travelers who no longer remembers when flights are, or where they go. I thought my flight home was at 11am, and planned my Saturday morning accordingly. Nope... it was at 3:15pm. We had missed going to the zoo last night, so I hopped in my rental, and headed to the zoo. What a great way to spend a Saturday. Once again, the weather was beautiful, and it was good to just be outside. According to numerous personal sources, the St. Louis Zoo is the second best zoo in the country, and it didn't disappoint.

Though a little fuzzy, this is my favourite picture. This little boy just wanted to hang with the ape man.

Verdict on St. Louis. Nice midwestern city. Big, yet its like Saskatoon, in that the pace of life is easier to manage, and people aren't jaded big-citiers.