Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: St. Louis

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – One Day Three Nations

    Three Flags Day was when on 9 and 10 March 1804 Spain gave Louisiana to France, who then gave the entire territory to the United States. What became known as the Louisiana Purchase took place in St. Louis. The Spanish flag was taken down on 9 March, the French flag flew for one day and then the US flag was raised. Very symbolic.

    Above is the site of the ceremony to mark the near doubling of United States territory. It was certainly an incredible piece of negotiation, the intention had been to acquire New Orleans from the French for around $10 million and instead they got 530 million acres for $15 million. Bargain.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – Gateway Arch

    I didn’t get chance to visit the observation deck as it was closed during the time that I was in St. Louis, but this is the tallest arch in the world and the structure with the most stainless steel. The arch was built between 1963 and 1965 but the whole structure looks much more modern to me, so there must have been a lot of innovation involved with the whole project.

    The arch is so large it isn’t the easiest to take photos off…. It stands 192 metres tall, which is only around 40 metres shorter than Canary Wharf. As well as being 192 metres tall, it’s also 192 metres wide, otherwise I guess it might fall down…..

    The arch and the Old Cathedral, the oldest building remaining on the waterfront.

    The arch in the morning as the sun was rising.

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – St. Louis Zoo

    Unfortunately the mists of time have rather made me forget much of this visit to St. Louis Zoo from two years ago, but judging by the number of photos I clearly had a marvellous time. I do recall it not being particularly busy during my visit in January 2017, but it was a clean environment.

    Anyway, what do exist are a lot of photos, and here are some of them…..

  • United States – Missouri – St. Louis – Boathouse

    Between my visits to St. Louis Zoo and the Missouri History museum I decided that an interesting food option was the Boathouse restaurant. The zoo, museum and restaurant, amongst much else, are all located within the Forest Park which is towards the west of the city.

    Visiting in January inevitably meant that there wasn’t a chance to sit outside in the warm gazing over the lake, but instead it meant sitting inside near to the fire.

    And here is the wood burning fire….

    The food was fish and chips, and as usual the Americans do this rather well. The meal is, or at least was since I was there back in 2017, one of the specialities of the restaurant and although the presentation isn’t particularly noteworthy, it tasted of a decent quality. There was a crispiness to the batter and the portion size of tartare sauce was sufficiently generous.

    The reviews of this location on-line are a bit mixed, although it’s towards the better end of reviews overall for the city, but it was a warm and comfortable place to stay for a while. Service was attentive and polite, with the restaurant being busier than I had expected in January.