I’ll bet you all were hangin’ on the edge of your seats in anticipation of our last day in St. Louis, weren’t you? So to recap – we had day #1 on the Delmar Loop and then day #2 on Laclede’s Landing.
So sad to leave our Hilton Hotel room! We naturally, pushed it to the very last second and left a little AFTER check out time. None of us wanted to get up and only ONE of us (guess who?) was responsible enough to pack. Here’s a hint, it wasn’t ANY of the 15 year olds! Oh and FORGET about the 28 year old.
Julia wanted to have a REAL tea party, just like in “Alice in Wonderland”! lol We reserved a table at the London Tea Room on Washington Ave. downtown. It was strange to be on Washington Ave. because only a few years ago, when I was still working, this place was a slum! Known for the prostitution and drugs. BOY have they cleaned up! Now, there’s a booming loft district and SO pretty. Birthday Girl wants to live there one day. I sincerely hope she makes enough money to live comfortably in a loft apartment 🙂
(They decided on the “Cream Tea”, which I guess in London consists of a scone and a pot of tea? That’s what a Cream Tea means at St. Louis’s London Tea Room, anyway)
(Julia said she felt so sophisticated and grown up just like the REAL English people! lol She’d never had a scone before. We ordered blueberry scones with “Devonshire Cream” which was TO DIE FOR! Devonshire cream is like butter, only better. I seriously need to figure out how to make this stuff! Anyway, the scones were light and fluffy… NOT like the scones we’re used to. I’d give this place 2 thumbs up for the tea and their scones 🙂
(Julia feeling all grown up and elegant drinking her Chai Latte. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that they didn’t drink Chai Latte’s in London. She liked the idea of the foamy milk.)
(So Katie tells me AFTER ordering that the taste of tea makes her sick. Here she is looking DEEP into her tea cup. I’m not sure what she thinks is going to jump out and hurt her. For my friends in the UK… in our defense, we’re REAL bonafide rednecks AND we’re coffee drinkers. We really had no business in a London Tea Room. lol)
(In keeping with tradition, Hannah wouldn’t be Hannah if not causing trouble somehow! lol All through our little tea party, the girls spoke in their very best British accents. Yeah, it was annoying so I kept my head down so as to not make eye contact with any of the other patrons. When I looked up, this is what I saw staring back at me (Hannah with a fake “stache”).
(I’m LOVING this pic of the girls walking down Washington Ave.! They look like models to me 🙂
(and so when it came time for the girls to take MY picture, I didn’t notice Julia walking like Derek Zoolander)
(This is Windows On Washington, where the presidents always come to hold their campaign fundraisers while in St. Louis. I used to deliver specialty foods here when I was working. How’s THAT for a fun fact?)
(The Loft Apartments where Julia swears she’ll live one day)
From Washington Ave., we drove around, stopping to take pictures of the awesome old city architecture.
(I literally parked in the middle of the street to get this one! lol This is a view of the city from Market Street. It’s a good thing it was Sunday and everyone who WAS out in the city happened to be at the Cardinals game! Go CARDS!)
(I’m not sure what this building is but it’s old and it’s beautiful!)
(Just more lovely buildings 🙂
We ended up at Kiener Plaza where all St. Louisans gather before a Cardinal’s game. Here’s where it got weird. I began taking pictures of the girls and a lady walks up to me and asks if I want to be in the picture. She offered to take my picture and being me, and being naive and being from the “country”, I said, “Sure!”. Well, I discovered this woman was homeless. Now, I love all people and the girls and I work hard to help stamp out hunger and homelessness. We hold fundraisers and work with area churches to help these people. BUT… I wouldn’t want one of them to hold my fancy new expensive camera! She could have run with it. Thank GOD she didn’t. The girls and I took this opportunity to talk with her and learn about what’s going on in St. Louis with the homeless. This opened the door for other homeless people to come up to us and tell their story. It broke my heart, really. However, it was good for the girls to learn what it was like to be homeless, straight from the horses mouth, so to speak. I’ll tell you their stories in another blog.
(Here’s the pic that the homeless woman took. Notice the Gateway Arch behind the old Old Courthouse? I love this scenery.)
(And here’s the homeless woman who DIDN’T run off with my camera. God Bless her! Do you know that NONE of them asked for money? They only wanted to tell their story to someone who would listen. She asked me to tell her story to whoever would listen… so I certainly will do that!)
(Homeless men sleeping in Kiener Plaza. They weren’t bothering anyone. They just needed a place to sleep and the shelters were completely full. This breaks my heart but it was an opportunity to show the girls how very blessed we really are.)
Next stop: City Garden! Guess what? It’s another FREE experience! I’m so proud of the way they’re beautifying our city! There was a time that I was ashamed to say I was from St. Louis. NOW is not that time 🙂
(Hannah the Ham inside the eyeball of the creepy head sculpture)
(Julia BEFORE she fell)
(volunteers take care of this garden)
(The girls and Pinocchio)
And this will conclude our tour of the beautiful metropolis of St. Louis Mo 🙂 We truly had a blast. Lot’s of bonding, fighting, posing and eating… Ah but it’s good to be home!
And That's All She Wrote! 