May 18, 2012

Day 2 in St Louis, we took a trolley tour of the city named after one of them King Louis guys from France. They have a statue in his honor in the city's Forest Park which is said to be 500 acres larger than Central Park in NYC. The tour driver told us of many attractions that were free such as the St Louis Zoo. Well, it is free to get in but some of the attractions do charge a bit. The city was founded by Pierre Laclède and his stepson Auguste Chouteau. Actually Leclede dropped off his 14 year old stepson with 30 workers on the banks of the Mississippi and went back to Illinois to build a fort for 9 months. When he got back, his stepson had already established the city and had started trading with the Indians.

This is one of the views of Forest Park near the Art Museum, which was free admission.

The famous Blueberry Hill restaurant where supposedly Chuck Berry plays once a month. I will however add that some reviews of service at the restaurant are not great. We did not eat there.

The paddle wheeler "Tom Sawyer" on a tour up the Mississippi. We didn't get to go because it was full.

A statue to Lewis and Clark, down by the riverfront. It has been said that the city has been cleaned up a lot since the gangster days and business seems to be thriving. Another day in the high 80's and plenty of sunshine.