My wife and I recently made a vacation trip to St Louis. I have been through there many times while delivering freight back and forth across the country but my wife had never been. She suggested going there instead of Atlanta. Turns out it was a good choice because at the time we left on vacation, Atlanta was under water and I am not a great swimmer.
We had reserved a rental car to use while we were there but it turns out it was so small that she quickly named it a "Piece of a car." I just called it "The Beast." It fit well in those small parking garage slots that hotels have. I don't know if I could trade my dignity and my lower back for "good gas mileage." It was fine for short hops around town but that hour and a half ride into the countryside to a winery convinced me that I needed to have reserved a suburban.
We did the usual tourist stuff around town like climbing into that little claustrophobic cell that takes you to the top of the Arch. The Arch is an amazing feat of engineering. It was built in about two years in the early sixties. We still have a hole in the ground in NYC where the towers fell eight years ago.
Our best dining experience was in an area of town called "The Hill." We made reservations at a four star Italian place called "Giovanni's" Of course I hadn't brought a jacket but they accommodated us anyway. Dinner was going well until I spilled my wife's tea onto the table and into her purse. Who the hell puts a tall ice tea glass on a saucer anyway? I later learned that Oprah has eaten at the restaurant. I bet she didn't have the veal like I did. It was delicious.
We visited a couple of casinos of course while in town. Actually we did well enough at the poker tables that we recouped what we spent on dinner at Giovanni's and then some. I feel better about not having a jacket for dinner. It may take a while to feel better about the tea in the purse.
