Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Visiting St.Louis: Need Advice

So my birthday is coming up in April, and I decided that I want to celebrate it by going to St. Louis from Saturday to Monday (April 16th to 18th.) I've been living in this area for over a year and a half and I have never even been to the Gateway Arch. So now the time has come for me to discover what's fun about St.Louis.

For now, I have planned a stay at the Union Station hotel that I love and a visit to a seafood restaurant that I also really like. Of course, we'll also go to the Gateway Arch and take a river cruise. What else is there that I need to visit? Any landmark restaurants? Historic coffee-shops or bookstores? Museums? I know that there is also some international area. What is it called? Say, I get into a cab. What do I tell the driver as to where I want to go?

Any advice will be appreciated. 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to live there, and could never get enough of The City Museum ( http://www.citymuseum.org/home.asp ). It's hard to describe - science exposition / art installation / playground all apply equally. Great fun.

Anonymous said...

I'd love to go there because I fantasize that it still has a good jazz/blues scene. I'd be looking for the indie paper, or listening to the indie radio station, to find out about listings.

Duke Ellington on the East St. Louis Toodle-oo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY5D6uzxLuU

KT said...

1. There's a great Brazilian restaurant at 512 North Euclid Street. It's called "Coco Louco."


2. The Arch. Great place.

3. City Museum, nice place. It's like a wonderland of sorts and you'll find the atmosphere very fun to walk through (although I won't suggest that you try to get into any of its underground tunnels).

4. For art, try the Pulitzer Foundation of the Arts. (I blogged about it here: http://www.ktravula.com/2010/10/art-at-the-pulitzer/). It's free to enter. They're always having exhibitions. They're at 3716 Washington Boulevard. It's a very beautiful complex, and it shares a fence with the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, equally a great place. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_Art_Museum_St._Louis)

5. For shopping, try the St. Louis Galleria where you can find almost anything you want: malls, restaurants, coffee shops etc.

6. Then there's the Science Centre (http://www.slsc.org/)

There are many more that I can't remember right now. You'll have fun.

Clarissa said...

Oh, this really really helps. Thank you, people!!!

Amanda said...

I cannot WAIT to go back to the City Museum! It's the coolest, most fun place I've ever been.

Pagan Topologist said...

in keeping with your request with respect to grammar: "...I never even went to the Gateway Arch." should be "I have never even gone to the Gateway Arch." The form you used suggests that the possibility no longer exists, while the present perfect leaves open the possibility that it could still happen.

Clarissa said...

Thank you! It's been changed.

Now I'm really looking forward to the City Museum.

NancyP said...

1. The City Museum is a unique creation, and a hell of a lot of fun. There isn't another one like it in the USA.
Neighborhoods:
2. The Loop (strip of Delmar from a few blocks east of Skinker to Big Bend. Close to Wash. U., it has a lot of student and urbanite-oriented businesses,eg, the original art-house movie theater of St. Louis (Tivoli), good dead-tree bookstore (Subterranean), zillions of restaurants, boutiques, great people-watching.
3. Central West End - fewer students, but same selection of restaurants, boutiques, an independent bookstore that you absolutely need to visit (Left Bank Books, at Euclid and Macpherson; the store also has a branch downtown), people-watching in good weather.
4. South Grand Ave. (~15 block strip south of Arsenal): lots of restaurants, pan-ethnic specialty supermarket, good used bookstore close to Grand and Arsenal.

Public cultural institutions:
5. Pulitzer museum - very limited hours, must check in advance
6. St. Louis Art Museum, in Forest Park
7. St. Louis Zoo, also in Forest Park
8. Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the premier public gardens of the USA and one of the premier botanical research institutes of the world. (This is one of my absolute favorites)

Clarissa said...

Thank you for this detailed list, NancyP! This really helps.

In return for everybody's help I will post detailed accounts of the trip.