For folks who don't know, I'm vacationing in the great American mid-west this week. I lived here in Indiana for about 10 years and came back to visit with friends. I truly love it here and don't even mind at all that it's rained most of the time. The columbine are almost ready to bloom, the air is fresh and the soil moist and all is right with the world.
Last weekend a friend and I took a mini road-trip over to St. Louis to see the sites and taste the tastes. We're both fans of food and like exploring regional dishes and specialties. On our first day in StL we took a trolley tour around the city to help us get a sense of where things were and to learn about other things we might want to see. For just
$20 you can enjoy a 75 minute narrated tour of some of the high-points on the city. Charlie, our driver, was very knowledgeable and quite humorous. I'd highly recommend a bus or trolley tour of any city where you want to learn what's what.
We didn't go up in the arch. That didn't sound like fun and anyway, seeing the arch itself peeking at you from different areas of the city gave you a sense of where you were and was a nice hello. On day two we visited the
St Louis Art Museum (free!!) in Forest Park, a beautiful park area that was used for sporting during the 1904 World's Fair. The museum features world-class collections of art from a variety of areas and periods. My favourite was the Asian arts, and one Buddha statue in particular that really spoke to me. It was so lifelike and amazing. Luckily they had postcards of it in the gift shop! After a spin around the museum, we stopped over at the
zoo, also in Forest Park and also FREE! We had lunch and took a ride on the zoo train to get an overview of what they had to offer. Unfortunately, the rain moved in along with a bitter cold so we didn't stay too long.
Foodwise, St Louis is a good time. We sought out some dishes that we'd heard or read about as being St Louis specialties. First is
Provel cheese. Provel is a processed cheese made of a mixture of cheddar, swiss and provolone. It's delicious and melts incredibly well. It's like a tangier white a little firmer than Velveeta-like texture cheese. I hope that description isn't insulting to the cheese. We had garlic cheese toast at Zia's, an Italian restaurant in the Italian area of town ("The Hill") that was made with Provel (we think) and was awesome. (The rest of our experience at the restaurant was a little iffy but I don't want to make a public judgment after only one visit.) St. Louis is also known for a thing called a
gooey butter cake which is something like a buttery blonde brownie with a firmer crust than top, dusted with powdered sugar. We tried to get a cake from a place that was recommended called Gooey Louie but when we got there Saturday afternoon, they'd sold out! So, we located a market and were able to find all the goodies we were looking for... the Provel, the cake, and a particular brand of salami called Volpi.
On Sunday, on our way back to Indiana, we stopped off at
Cahokia Mounds, the site of an enormous city that thrived in southern Illinois way back in the 1250's and beyond. It was larger than London at that time and home to a sophisticated native American culture. The interpretive center is very comprehensive and wonderful, and there's a 15 minute film that introduces you to the culture and ideas behind the mounds that were left. No one knows why the city was abandoned even before the settlers arrived.
All along the way I picked up goodies and postcards. Some of you can expect a postcard in the mail in the next few weeks! I'm in Indiana for just a few more days, relaxing and enjoying myself. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my tattoo artist that I haven't seen in over 3 years!
I'll report back in when I get back home. Ciao!