A View from My Room

To tell you the truth, because that is what I am all about on this blog – my last visit to St. Louis wasn’t the greatest. It was about eight years ago and I swear I was hearing gunshots while in my hotel room. And the hotel didn’t give me great hope – I figured that if I cut away part of the rug, I would happen upon a chalk outline…or two, or three.

But, I was going for work and cities change right? Well in the case of St. Louis, it is still pretty quiet. But definitely a nicer hotel and an overall better experience. And I think part of it is the location of St. Louis. Now, to all my midwest friends, this may be considered the norm to you. Strangers greeting you and saying hello on the street. I think hospitality was perfected in the midwest. But that is my personal opinion.

So I stayed at the Hampton Inn by the Arch. Nice, clean hotel that has been recently updated. And…breakfast is included in the price:) Plus, the photo of the arch above? Yeah, that was from my hotel room. Pretty nice, eh? So I just give you some highlights of my trip and places you may want to check out.

Buggy Ride in St. Louis

On Thursday night, I was able to take a horse-drawn carriage ride to dinner. Charlie Gitto’s Downtown – definitely check it out. Great Italian food. The homemade gnocchi will knock your socks off. The place is a little rundown and for those apt to fall down staircases (maybe one day I will get up the nerve to tell you one of those stories) the bathroom being all the way upstairs doesn’t really help. But fresh, fantastic food and the wait staff is incredibly nice and welcoming.

Downtown St. Louis is pretty quiet even during the middle of a weekday. I think all the recent economic troubles are definitely noticeable with many vacant signs and a severe lack of people during business hours. Then again, maybe they are all sitting inside in front of their computers reading this blog? Hehehe, a girl can wish.

I have the pleasure of having a friend that lives in St. Louis. And it is always great to explore a city with a local. Especially when you receive the reaction out of the local of, “I never knew this was here!”

We visited Six Row Brewery. Just recently opened, you can get a taster like below.

Okay, those glasses look much bigger than they really were. They were like little jam pots. I am not kidding! Looks like the samplers were all pint size. I am totally serious. They weren’t…then again, why trust me since I am the one who drank all five (burp*). So Six Row doesn’t have much in the way of food so don’t go expecting to have a big meal and then wind up ordering two pretzels with cheese, and then hotwings at the next joint and then wind up at the Four Seasons at the end of the night eating them out of high-class chex mix. I’m just saying, not that it happened to me.

Six Row Brewing Company is down the street from St. Louis University. And so is The Library Annex. Great big place to have some drinks (and hotwings…not that I know anything about that) and play some pool.

Where was this photo during Photography 101 in college? You know the one where the professor wants a photo that portrays a sense of isolationism? Anyways, enough of that.

From The Library Annex, we headed to McGurk’s Irish Pub. Maybe they should call it McGurk’s HUGE Irish Pub because that place was like the Winchester house, just kept going on and on and on. There was great live Irish music in the front bar and music on the back patio that sounded suspiciously like someone had stolen my Ipod.

Then on to The Four Seasons for a nightcap. The Four Seasons is set right along the river and has a great view from an outdoor terrace as well as an indoor bar. They have fantastic chex mix…so I’ve heard.

Coming to the end of this post, I would like to give a shout-out to the three cab drivers that helped us get from place to place. Though next time I get in Sunny’s cab, I may want to see about bringing along some free cologne samples from Sephora. Just an idea – because Sunny’s cab does not smell like sunshine. Oh no, it doesn’t.  

Signing Off, Smelling like Sunshine in San Diego,

Lynne with an E