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| Downtown view from across the Mississippi |
First off, some general impressions: As a metro area, it’s bigger that most (18th
in the country, according to statistics) but at the turn of the 19th century
it was as high as 4th on that list.
It clearly had something to do with the Westward expansion and the
Louisiana Purchase (more on that in a bit)… Traces of history are clearly
present and well preserved throughout, especially in the downtown area, where
most of the old buildings have been turned into office space, upscale
restaurants and swanky lofts.
Gentrification they call it…
Like in any city of that size, there’s plenty to do, so we had to choose wisely on a dreary Wednesday afternoon where clouds and fog denied us a nice panoramic view from the top of the Gateway Arch… The one slight disappointment on an otherwise enlightening afternoon…
First stop, Pappy’s – a BBQ icon according to the locals;
St. Louis [dry] style, that is. They
consider it sacrilegious to put anything on in, so the sauce is only served on
the side. I thought I had a pretty
killer recipe for a “dry rub” myself, but theirs clearly lived up to all the
hype! It must be all that overnight
smoking over apple or cherry wood… or the state-of-the-art smoker… Oh, and the
guy who owns the place doesn’t believe in re-heating BBQ, so closing time means
they ran out of meat for the day (which happens around 7 or 8 pm). The verdict: it was a close second to what I
had years ago at Dreamland in Birmingham, AL.
So good – in fact – that my colleague (a Yankee from NY) bought one
sandwich “to go”. You could imagine the
reaction of the passengers on that flight to LGA when he opened the bag!
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| Pappy's "smoker on steroids" - smelled fantastic! |
From there, a few miles down the road we stopped by the St.
Louis Cathedral.
Built in the early 1900’s and named after King Louis IX, it
was designated a Basilica by Pope John Paul II in ’97; a glorious edifice, not
only for the architecture, but the mosaic installation, the largest in the
world, apparently. Someone with plenty
of time to spare allegedly counted the glass and ceramic pieces: 41.5 million!!
(the pamphlet mentioned 7,000 different colors, covering over 83,000 sq. feet, contributed
to by 20 different artists).
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| ...see the little shrine at the bottom? (under the 3rd portal) |
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| ...this is the close-up of that shrine (all mosaic, of course) |
I know... Picture-taking got a little out of hand in there... but the pics taken with my camera phone don’t do it justice, so I urge you to go to their website: http://www.cathedralstl.org/ for a closer view to reality...
Truly a highly spiritual work of art in every sense of the word...
The next stop – pretty much mandatory on any St. Louis itinerary:
the Budweiser tour. The place where it
all started, back in the mid-1800’s, where a local brewer [Eberhard Anheuser]
and his son-in-law [Adolphus Busch, who had a knack for marketing and logistics],
combined to lay the foundation for what today is known as the [self-proclaimed]
King of Beers. The irony of it is that
Adolphus spent years throughout Europe to learn and experiment with brewing
techniques, only to come back and create – what I, in my humble opinion,
consider to be – a watered-down version of the brewed drink, which in most of
the ‘old world’ would not even pass up as an ‘alcoholic’ beverage. But then, again, that’s not what it’s all
about; they don’t sell a quality product [personal opinion, again] but they do
an excellent job marketing the hell out of it, and that’s what Americans
buy. As much as you want to disagree
with me, you know it’s true! Simply put,
someone who learned a great deal about beer chose to disregard quality and produce
something that the American public in general would actually prefer …
As a quick sidebar to prove my point: the aforementioned
Yank made an interesting comment when we were in the Clydesdales barn: “… big
strong horses to represent the American
beer”. He got a little deflated when I
told him that the breed is actually Scottish! And that “American beer” is a
misnomer. Yes, there are more and more
microbreweries that produce quality beer, but they all use German, Belgian or
British techniques… Yet, giving credit where credit is due: that is where
‘America’ has an award-wining recipe: take the best from around the world,
bring it / them here, add a dash of the land
of opportunity “spin”, a solid scoop of consumerism, and voilà: you’ve got an American winner! That said,
in recent past that [land of opportunity] feel is turning more and more into
the illusion
of opportunity - sort of like Budweiser’s illusion of being the King of Beers…
But I digress…
Another big plus: the tour was free (as any self-respecting
company promoting their own product should do).
Back in Atlanta, another global consumer icon (yep, Coca-Cola) charges a
$12 to $16 admission for pretty-much the same thing. Shameful, if you ask me!
If the Budweiser tour is a must do, the Arch is mandatory. Unfortunately, the weather conditions didn’t
cooperate, so the “elevator/carousel” ride to the top of the structure – 630
feet above ground – did not allow for any panoramic views. What a pity!
Built in the mid 60’s, the Arch is part of the larger
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and it’s been erected not far from where
Lewis and Clark began their expedition, as a follow-up to the Louisiana
Purchase. History books have wasted a
lot of ink on that subject; my opinion is a bit different: “The Little Corporal” (Napoleon that is) was
cash-strapped and needed to finance his England invasion [never got there, as
you know]. He squeezed the Spanish into
ceding the Louisiana territory (some up front, some under the table) only to
turn around and sell it to the U.S. for 3 cents per acre (42 cents in 2011-equivalent
dollars)… Boy, was he desperate… What a bargain! Then, Jefferson sent out Lewis and Clark to
actually get a feel for what his money bought him… The rest is more or less in
those books I mentioned earlier. The
alternative (if you’d allow me): a bigger French-speaking territory, not just
Quebec, or a larger section of North America where Spanish is the primary
language (wait, that’s already true, at least in Texas, New Mexico and
California)… Funny thing, history, huh?!?
Back to the Arch, though.
Impressive structure.
Tallest man-made monument in the U.S.
And the carousel / elevator that transports up to 40 people at a time (8
capsules / 5 seats each) makes for an interesting [if slightly claustrophobic]
ascent. On a clear day, the observation
deck at the top provides 30-mile views.
We just weren’t lucky, with clouds and fog essentially shrinking that
distance to almost zero… Yet, the whole thing was pretty impressive,
nonetheless… I mentioned that already, didn’t I? Oh, well… maybe next time I’ll
get to see the panorama as well …
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| The observation deck at the top ... and below, the "claustro-capsule" carousel that takes you there |
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| Across the street from the hotel: the home of last year's "World" Champions (for that is a truly world-wide competition, indeed...is it?) |
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| A brighter view of the same landmark |
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Well, that’s it. A quick run through St. Louis at the speed of … ehmm… “Adrian”. Wish I had more time for other attractions… But if you want to experience its essence, follow this itinerary and you’ll be pleased. Make sure you set aside a whole day, though, in case you can’t keep up this pace…
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| This one is "borrowed" from the web, but I liked it! Thought it would make a nice ending... |
