Lombardo's & Busch

We finally made it to Lombardo's Restaurant! And it was as wonderful as we expected and remembered. Russ' family has frequented Lombardo's for many years, and when we walked in, we immediately felt like family. Lombardo's is noted for making all their guests feel that way, but it's extra special when you actually know the owners! We sat in the bar, and Angelo soon joined us, chatting and reminiscing about the days when Russ' dad (and Russ) would come in at the old location on West Florissant. As you'll see from their website (http://www.lombardosrestaurants.com/ ), they moved to the Natural Bridge location across from the airport in 1993.

Their third-generation recipes are a mixture of Sicilian dishes and dishes from northern Italy. We started our meal with an order of calzone. Now this is not the standard calzone that you find in many restaurants or like Pizza Hut serves. This is a handmade, flat, flaky crust with ham and ricotta cheese baked inside and is so incredibly delicious. In all our travels, we have never found anywhere that makes it this way. Our next course was an order of their famous toasted ravioli. Now Favazza's was good but in no way compares to Lombardo's. These ravioli are obviously hand formed, big, and served with a side of a slightly sweet marinara sauce. Then Russ had to have a bowl of their turtle soup (another one of his favorites), and I got a bowl of navy bean, the soup of the day. Though we were now starting to feel a little full, we decided to share one more item. In all the years that Russ has been to Lombardo's, he says he had never had one of their pizzas, so that's what we decided to get, and it did not disappoint! Again the crust was handmade and flaky, and topped with four toppings plus Provel and Romano cheeses. Provel is a white processed cheese produced with cheddar, Swiss, and provolone. It's strictly a St. Louis cheese, and we know a former St. Louisan who lives across the country and has it shipped to them because the family doesn't like the taste of the normal Mozarella topped pizzas! It really does make a difference in taste and is sooo good. Needless to say we were so full that we didn't finish the pizza so brought the rest home, and it was almost as good warmed up the next day.

Wednesday night found us downtown at the new Busch Stadium! Steve was able to get his company's tickets for the game against the Florida Marlins with seats about 25 rows behind first base. Rick and his wife, Alyce, joined Steve, Patty, Russ, and me for a great game! We hadn't seen Alyce in over 20 years, and it was fun reconnecting with her.

Russ and I arrived early to walk around the outside of the new stadium and see the homage being paid to Cardinals history through statues, plaques, and banners. Though this is the stadium's second season, it's the first time we've been there, and I can't begin to tell you how excited I was! This is actually the third Busch Stadium. Back in 1953 after Anheuser-Busch, Inc., bought the Cardinals, they changed the name of Sportsman Park to Busch Stadium, but the funny thing is that growing up everyone I knew always referred to as Sportsman Park. In fact, until recently I thought that was its official name up till they tore it down! The second Busch Stadium was opened in 1966, and in 1982 Russ and I were there to see the Cards win the 7th game of the World Series. What a blast that was! Behind the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals have won the most World Series with 10 wins.

One of the monuments outside the stadium is that of famed sports announcer Jack Buck. For nearly 50 years, Jack was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals as the play-by-play announcer on KMOX radio and was inducted into the broadcaster's wing of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987. On Sept. 17, 2001, when baseball resumed just six days after 9/11, Jack Buck read a spectacularly heartwarming and patriotic poem that he wrote titled "We Shall Overcome" as part of a very special pregame ceremony at Busch Stadium.

"Since this nation was founded ... under God

More than 200 years ago

We have been the bastion of freedom

The light that keeps the free world aglow

We do not covet the possessions of others
We are blessed with the bounty we share.
We have rushed to help other nations

... anything ... anytime ... anywhere.
War is just not our nature
We won't start ... but we will end the fight

If we are involved we shall be resolved

To protect what we know is right.

We have been challenged by a cowardly foe

Who strikes and then hides from our view.

With one voice we say, "There is no choice today,

There is only one thing to do.

Everyone is saying -- the same thing -- and praying

That we end these senseless moments we are living.

As our fathers did before ... we shall win this unwanted war

And our children ... will enjoy the future ... we'll be giving."

There was not a dry eye in the stadium. Jack Buck passed away in June 2002.

As you can see by the photos above, the stadium was designed to incorporate a view of the St. Louis skyline while sitting inside the park. In the photo on the left you see not only the world famous Arch but also the top of the tall tower of the Millennium Hotel. Once upon a time way back when, it was known as Stouffer's Riverfront Towers and for those of you who don't know, is where Russ and I met. He worked Front Desk and hired me as a switchboard operator. We started dating about a year and a half later, and about a year and a half after that our wedding reception was held in Chad's, one of the hotel's banquet rooms. In the photo on the right you see the rotunda of the Old Courthouse, the site of many rallies, speeches and several important trials, including the suit by Dred Scott for freedom from slavery and Suffragist Virginia Louisa Minor for the right to vote.

History abounds in St. Louis and hopefully we're giving you a little taste of it through our journal entries. So for now from Rick, Russ, Steve, Patty, Alyce, and me, that's all for now from Busch Stadium. Oh, yeah, did I mention that we won the game 6 - 4?!!!!!! GO CARDS!!!!!!!