St. Louis - Week 1

Well, you know how sometimes the best laid plans don't always work out? Our plan for Monday was to have lunch at our favorite St. Louis restaurant, Lombardo's, but when we arrived, they were closed. There had been a storm Sunday night, and some areas of the city lost power including theirs. So we headed to The Hill, an Italian neighborhood in St. Louis known for its nationally acclaimed restaurants, specialty groceries, immaculate lawns, tightly woven community, and red, white, and green fire hydrants (the colors of the Italian flag)! We had heard that Favazza's was still very good so decided to give it a try, and it definitely did not disappoint. Of course we had to start with an order of toasted ravioli, which is exactly what it sounds like....ravioli that has been breaded and toasted (ok, maybe they actually deep fry it) and served with a side of marinara sauce. Mmmmmmm! The rest of the meal was delicious, and we felt we made a good choice though I think any restaurant on The Hill would have been good.

After leaving the restaurant, we took a drive through Forest Park, a beautiful park located in the heart of the city. At 1,293 acres, it is approximately 500 acres larger than Central Park in New York, and was the site of the 1904 World's Fair. It's home to the region’s major cultural institutions—the Zoo, Art Museum, History Museum, Science Center, and the Muny Opera (the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theatre) as well as an 18 hole golf course and many other sports activities. As we drove by the Muny Opera, it dawned on us that this was the sight of our first date followed by a visit to an area bar where Russ was asked to dance....by a guy. After some hesitation, as he was quite cute, Russ declined and we quickly finished our drink and left. If you'd like to learn more about Forest Park, check out this link http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/

Tuesday was another day spent inside except for our trek to Wal-Mart for groceries and a few other items. I'm sure you've been curious about the weather....it's been HOT! Every day since we've been here has been over 100, and since there hasn't been much rain recently, the humidity's been uncharacteristically low. But it rained last night, so the humidity has returned.

After running a couple errands Wednesday, we stopped by the San Bar again to visit with Bob while he was working. Mike stopped by again while we were there, and of course that meant more beer was involved! But we didn't overdo this time as we had John and Deborah coming over for pizza so we needed to get home.

Mainly because it's so hot, we decided to just stay inside Thursday and Friday and watch the Cardinals on TV. Kind of nice to just veg a couple days, but we've got plans this weekend so will write more later!