St Louis

Saturday 26 April 2008

Although our flight wasn’t leaving until 11.30am, our taxi driver asked to pick us up at 7.45am because she had another booking at 9.00am. I can tell you that, after such a full schedule, I was ready for a lay in. Maybe tomorrow . . . In any case, it was just as well we went a bit earlier because there were so many people, it was difficult to know what was going on. Once again, Jill’s wheelchair went some way towards expediting our trip to the book-in counter and before long I was sitting in the departure lounge with a croissant and coffee for breakfast.

We boarded an American Airlines flight and headed west. By the time we were coming in over St Louis, we caught refreshing glimpses of green grass and trees everywhere – so different from LA, which wasn’t very different from Melbourne insofar as the ‘big dry’ was concerned. Because of the 2 hour time difference, we landed at around 5.00pm after a 3 ½ hour flight. A relatively short taxi ride and we were at the very comfortable Hampton Inn & Suites. Unfortunately, not at the $25 per night rate of H.O.M.E.

Our St Louis contact, Joan Headley – Director of Post-Polio Health International, met us at the hotel and took us cruising in search of a good Italian meal. They have an area here that seems to feature Italian restaurants but being Saturday night, most had up to a one hour waiting list. We eventually found a hotel restaurant that served excellent Italian cuisine and I enjoyed one of the best risotto’s I’ve ever had. I can only assume it had about 1 million kj’s because it was so good. Jill had a seafood ‘soup’ which was pasta and seafood (curiously no liquid) but must have been good because there was nothing left. Joan also had a risotto which she said was delicious – so all good. What was not so good was that our conversation was cut short when a small band set up shop and proceeded to serenade the diners. Actually, by that stage, the area we were in had reverted to a bar – including the smoking crowd, so we beat a hasty retreat.

Joan then took us on a night tour of down town St Louis which looks quite lovely and I’m keen to see it tomorrow in the daylight. There are many old buildings and a huge symbolic arch which represents the ‘Gateway to the West’ (I think – Joan told me but I forgot!). Apparently you can actually ride up the arch, so that sounds like a good Sunday thing to do. This arch is positioned near the river separating Missouri from Illinois and the river is currently lapping over some parts of the road due to rain and snow melt.

We now have internet access in the rooms, so I can upload to the website to my hearts content.

Tomorrow we tour St Louis city.