Out of all the cities we have stopped off in, St. Louis reminded us the most of Boston. With three major sports teams and a location right on the water, it’s no wonder that these two cities have been at it for the past 10 years. Good thing the record speaks for itself (2002 Superbowl or the 2004/2013 World Series anyone?!?)
We first ventured out downtown to the Gateway Arch. You don’t realize how huge this monument is until you see it in person. The trip to the top of the monument happens to be the coolest part: squeeze into a small trolley the size of a smart car with five other people and ride the pod all the way to the top where you can take in an impressive view of the city.
After capturing the city from atop the Arch, we thought it was appropriate to venture around on foot. We heard Ballpark Village is a whole lot of fun and a Budweiser restaurant is located in the heart. Even though we were going to the Cardinal’s game that night we thought it would be better to check out the Village before it gets too packed for the game. An order of wings, a couple of Budweisers, and we were ready to tackle the rest of the city.
In case you haven’t seen a theme here yet, Budweiser is everywhere in St. Louis. Everywhere? Everywhere!!
Located just outside the Budweiser house at the Ballpark Village, Budweiser parks a trolley car that will take you to their brewery located just 10 minutes away. With a cost of free, it’s impossible to turn that down! Off we were to tour our nation’s largest brewery.
The brewery was unlike any other brewery we have ever visited. Sure it had its mashers and fermenting tanks, but in addition, it also housed Clydesdales and of course gave out free samples. The brewery itself was built in the early 1900s and consists of brick work and architecture unique to that time period. It’s a statement that has stood the test of time.
After heading back to the hotel to recharge our batteries (and put on our Red Sox gear), we hailed a cab and ventured down to the Busch Stadium. Immediately after getting out of the cab we were met by taunting fans jealous of our recent World Series win – can’t blame them! We also noticed that public drinking is allowed around the stadium during game time, hooray beer!
The game itself was pretty eventful. We met a couple of new friends (shout out to Sarah and Lauren!) who walked us around the park and introduced us to frozen margaritas by the pound. After that, we don’t remember… just kidding! The game ended up going to extra innings and the fans were geared up for a win. A few timely hits and the Cardinals where jumping up and down on home plate in celebration.
Once the game was over we headed over to Lemiere Casino to push our luck. Unfortunately, lady luck was not on our side this night and we ventured back over to Ballpark Village for more late night fun. We ended up at a bar called PBR which had a mechanical bull out on display. It took a little convincing, but Jason was bold enough to get up for a ride. Check out the video!
After falling off the bull pretty hard, we decided to call it a night. St. Louis is a fun city and a great southern compliment to Boston. But in the end, it just doesn’t match up to our city of champions. And with that, it was on to the next city.. Nashville!
