Last day in St Louis

Allo, Allo,


The program of the day was a short visit to the local Anheuser-Bush Brewery (Home of Budweiser and a few other brands, which equals 50% of the national consumption of alcohol. Crazy). The visit of the brewery was quick and fun...and we had a free sample.  Yay!

The plan was to go to the ice rink in Forrest Park in the afternoon. Forest Park is one of the largest urban parks in the world, exceeding Central Park in New York City. The weather was great, it was a first try to Meli while Yumi, Tiff and Carlos hadn't ice skated in 15 years. Nobody fell and apart from sore feet and shins, everybody was all smiles.

 

 

SLU basketball game

Brandy, Tiff's friend and a St. Louis native, came over and made us a feast of ribs, potato salad and baked macaroni and cheese.  The mac and cheese almost didn't happen as the boys forgot to buy the pasta.

While the girls had a night in, Thomas and Carlos became "Billikens" for a night. "Billiken" is the name of St Louis college teams.

Tonight was SLU vs. Rhode Island. The Americans are crazy about sports. There was the national anthem -as usual- sung by a 8,000 strong crowd. For a College Basketball game! Even our best basketball or volleyball teams don't get that in France (I won't even mention the UK here...) ! They also have a shop in the arena where you can buy the team's merchandising, caps, shirts, fleece, just like a pro team!

The Billikens were really bad in the first half, trailing RH by 10 points at the intermission, but came back and played some great basketball to claim the game by 7. The atmosphere was amazing.

It was a really good experience...

Interesting fact about the Billiken:

The Billiken is a charm doll created by an art teacher and illustrator from St. Louis, Missouri. It is an  elf-like creature with pointed ears, a mischievous smile and a tuft of hair on his pointed head. To buy a Billiken gives the purchaser luck, but to have one given to you is better luck. The Billiken was one of the first copyrighted dolls and the first likenesses of the Billiken, banks and statues, were produced in 1909. After a few brief years of popularity, like many other fad toys, the Billiken faded into obscurity.

Today, the Billiken is the official mascot of Saint Louis University and St. Louis University High, both located in Saint Louis, Missouri.

St Louis city museum...

It's some weird cross between an amusement park, a warehouse and some antique shop. We went to play outside in some tubular, fencing like bridges. We had some concerns about the security of these "bridges" but it was fun. 

 

Always remember to mind your head when you get there. It hurts, especially if you have no hair like Thomas...

 

 Meanwhile...

 

Botanical Gardens

So freakin' lucky!Yeaaaaahhh!

Yumi, Tiff and Meli

 

Swimming? Hmmm.No.

We made it to St Louis! (hey, did you know it was named afer the French King?)

We arrived on Saturday 13th, after a short stopover at Chicago. It was already freakin' cold: -8 degrees!

As soon as we arrived in St Louis, we said a quick "Hello!" to Tiffany, Carlos and the kids Meli and Catalina.

An hour later and "Titi Yumi" and I were at the Scottrade Center to watch the blues against the Capitals. It was a great game and the spectators were really living it up, our neighbour screaming every single time the Blues had the puck.

On Sunday we went to downtown St Louis; it was cold. Really cold: -13 degrees! Brrrr.
The Gateway Arch on the Shore of the Missouri River is impressive. We couldn't get to the top as it was fully booked -how? we don't know as there were only a handful of people around!- and the visibility was really bad too.

On Monday we tried the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, 5 miles down the road, only to find it closed. It was Presidents' day...

Today we made our way to the "Magic House" with Tiff and the girls. It was good fun seeing Yumi playing with electrostatic generator and the giant pin screen. We got some cool impressions with it.

 

 

As soon as we get home, the TV is normally switched on and we follow the Olympic Games. Niiiice. :)  Thomas is obsessed with hockey.

St Louis!

On Saturday 13th of Feb we'll be going to St Louis, MO. to visit Yumi's best friend Tiff and her family.
We'll keep you updated on this, it should be another fun trip!

Byyyyye