That Ain't Pittsburgh: Adventures in St. Louis Vol. 3

The second half of my full day in St. Louis was to be a walk around the University City neighborhood and dinner with Marlana's boyfriend at Blueberry Hill. As part of our walk, Marlana took me to Vintage Vinyl, a huge record store. I stepped inside, and it was like stepping back in time. I miss awesome record stores. Rather, I miss relying on CDs or tapes or records. I'm just too lazy and MP3s are too accessible.

Mural on the side of Vintage Vinyl.

This is the University City City Hall. A beautiful building with some vicious lions outside.

The next day was Monday, which meant my time in St. Louis was almost at an end. My flight wasn't until the afternoon, which left Marlana and I with plenty of time to go up to the top of the Arch, check out the remains of the World's Fair that was held in Forest Park, and have a quick lunch at the St. Louis Bread Company (which is actually Panera Bread).

View from the top of the Arch. We had to ride in these super-closed in little pods to the top. Very odd experience.

Excited to be at the top!

Here I am, in front of the Arch. Proof of my existence in St. Louis for roughly 48 hours.

I am fascinated by World's Fairs. There are hundreds of reasons why living in the 21st century is great, but one setback is that life and discovery moves too quickly now. There's fewer and fewer opportunities to be outwardly in awe of invention. When visiting Chicago and Montreal, I made it a point to walk around the former World's Fair grounds, so Forest Park was on my must-see list. Above is the Pavilion.

The St. Louis Art Museum was part of the World's Fair. We didn't have time to go in, but it's free and open to the public, which is awesome.

Our last stop in Forest Park before we made our way to lunch and then the airport was the Jewel Box, a greenhouse that seemed to sparkle, even on a cloudy day.

I've been to a lot of cities in the United States and Canada. I've been to big cities and small towns alike. St. Louis is a city I fully endorse as a great place to visit - and probably live, but this girl's a Pittsburgher for life, so you'd have to ask Marlana about the living part.

What I will tell you though, is that I am already trying to devise a way to fly a group of friends down to St. Louis so I can have a birthday party at the City Museum. I guess I'll have to start playing the lottery.