St. Louis - Day One

This weekend I'm on a girl's weekend in St. Louis, Missouri. We arrived on Thursday night and basically went from the airport, straight to bed. Yesterday was our first full day and after having a delicious breakfast at home we headed off into St. Louis.


First up was the arch. The first time I visited was back in college, probably about 8 years ago. Our visit was pretty much the same as my visit 8 years ago. However, this time around it was really empty and we were able to have our own pod on the way up to the top. At the top there was enough space to stare out the windows and look at the surrounding city and when we were ready to go we just hopped back on the tram/train/carousel pods and headed back to the ground level.


After the arch we headed to The Hill, the Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, for toasted ravioli at Rigazzi's. I have never had toasted ravioli before and in all honesty I am kinda sad that it has taken 27 years to try it. They were delicious!


After lunch we took advantage of the 80 degree weather and wandered around Forest Park, checking out the paddle boats at the boat house and stopping briefly at the St. Louis zoo to see the bears and the penguins.




At 4pm it was time for a tour of Shlafly Bottleworks, a local microbrewery in the heart of St. Louis. We arrived a little early so decided to sample the beer on their outdoor patio. Then at 4 o'clock we had our private tour of the brewery and a tasting with the brewmaster. Because there was only the three of us on our tour we were able to sample all of the beers that Shlafly had on tap, including their Coffee Stout. I have never had coffee beer before but honestly, this was amazing. I even considered getting some to have in the morning with breakfast. Apparently, 1 pint of coffee stout is equivalent to one cup of coffee.


Unfortunately none of us were prepared for the hot weather here in St. Louis, we had been expecting 60 degree temps, so on our way home we stopped by Target to pick up some flip flops, toenail polish and t-shirts. The evening was spent at home giving ourselves pedicures, cooking dinner and watching movies.

I have to say this is the most relaxed I have been on vacation in a long time. And I think I have just about caught up on my sleep. Today we are heading off to the Anheuser Busch brewery for a more commercial tour and then we'll see where the day takes us!