Monday in St. Louis

Monday morning was the final day of three in St. Louis.  We checked out of the Moon Rise and headed into the heart of the city.  Our first stop was breakfast at Park Avenue Coffee.  It was a cute little coffee shop that is known throughout the area for its gooey butter cake.  They boast 76 different flavors, but they only had about 8 on hand that morning.  I had the white chocolate raspberry butter cake.  It was like eating dessert for breakfast: absolutely scrumptious!

Our final stop was the City Museum. This would be our third stop at a museum in three days. Meh.  Laura had this stop planned for us since day one, and the bartender at the Moon Rise Hotel had suggested it to us. (Bartenders aren't ones to usually suggest going to a museum.)  So, maybe this museum was different?  Oh, was it ever!

First, it cost $12 to get in; the other museum for free.  Second, we were greeted by a gentleman a couple of generations older than us and he was more than willing to give us a quick run down of what the museum had to offer.  "Caves and tunnels are over there, and when you get to the center, look up!  You'll see the 10 story slide above you!"

"Miss, let's your shoes... oh, good, practical shoes.  You'll be fine."

Um, okay...  So, this museum requires practical shoes to make it through caves and tunnels that are centered around a 10 story tall slide?  I would have paid twice the price of entry for this opportunity!

Two kids going through a suspended tunnel.

Laura peering around a cave wall.

So, I quickly found that I couldn't fit every place that Laura was going, and I fit in even less places than the people a third of my age were managing to squirm their way into.  Whatever.  I still had fun, and I went down the big slide TWICE!  Heck yeah!

On one of the other floors there was an actual museum.  Everything from gargoyles to insect collections were to be found.  Below is a picture of a doorknob collection. 

Another section had a carnival like atmosphere to it. Games, carnival advertisements, fortune tellers, and the like were everywhere.  Below are a couple of my favorite signs. 

Stan Musial swinging a corn dog.

For the record, yes, we enjoyed corn dogs for lunch!



Here's one of the pinball-esque machines that took only a quarter to play.  I won!  16 to 0!  Oh, good times.

Overall, I would give City Museum a 9 out of 10 on my rating scale.  It would have been perfect, but I couldn't fit everywhere.  I guess if I were between the ages of 8 to 12 it would have been a sure fire 10.  The hundreds of kids there seemed to think so at least!

For the record...   Laura is a top notch vacation planner and may have swayed my opinion a bit on the St. Louis versus Chicago debate.  That being said, St. Louis is O.K.  It took a lot of strength for this diehard Cubs fan to type that last sentence.

Actually, it was easier to get around than Chicago.  The Loop, park, and City Museum compare favorably to what Chicago has to offer.  The company though, well, that just couldn't be beat.