Meet me in St. Louis...

We decided to do a bus tour of St Louis.  The city is difficult and as we heard, DANGEROUS...

Our group in front of the Bus: Carla, Stephanus, Daniel, Hans and Elisme, ready for the FUN TOUR!

 


 St. Louis - A Brief History


"Pierre Laclede Liguest, recipient of a land grant from the King of France, and his 13-year-old scout, Auguste Chouteau, selected the site of St. Louis in 1764 as a fur trading post. Laclede and Chouteau chose the location because it was not subject to flooding and was near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Construction of a village, named for Louis IX of France, began the following year." 


The Eads Bridge 

The bridge is named for its designer and builder, James B. Eads.  People were skeptic and didn't trust that the bridge will hold.  Tests were done to proof its strength.  Yet no-one believed it.  On June 14, 1874, John Robinson led a "test elephant" on a stroll across the new Eads Bridge to prove it was safe. A big crowd cheered as the elephant made its way towards Illinois. It was believed that elephants had instincts that would keep them from setting foot on unsafe structures. Two weeks later, Eads sent 14 locomotives back and forth across the bridge at one time.





Forest Park

Forest Park is about 500 acres larger than New York City’s Central Park. It contains St. Louis’ major museums – the St. Louis Art Museum and the Missouri History Museum, as well as the St.Louis Science Centre, St. Louis Zoo and The Muny, which is the country’s biggest outdoor theatre.

There are bike and pedestrian trails, making the park a popular year-round playground. The Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis (late May/June) and LouFest (a two-day celebration of modern music and green living held in August) are popular events that are held here.

The gardens are in pristine condition - spotless!!  And there is no crime.



St. Louis University

St Louis boasts with many  Universities.  The University of St. Louis is in the same league as Harvard (according to our tour guide).  The old buildings are beautiful.  A popular street, called UP TOWN, is close to the university and offers lots of Restaurants and bars/pubs.  Most of them play BLUES  MUSIC throughout the entire day.

 






We were very impressed with St Louis...All the crime that we heard of was not evident at all!!