St Louis
Day One: enjoy the city
- Arrived early Saturday Morning on Labor Day weekend, it's nice to have direct flights from Columbus on Southwest. And we gain an hour, so in rental car by 9:30am.
- 10:00-11:00AM. Maukis Bakery and Country Store (1730 S 8th St) in the Soulard Neighborhood. Fortunately, the wait wasn't too long, probably b/c we were between breakfast and lunch. Bring your appetite, I got the giant and delicious Farmer's Choice, 3 eggs, all the meats, and Biscuits and Gravy.
- 11:00-12:00PM. Soulard Farmers Market (730 Carroll St). One of the best, you can feel the history dating back to 1838.
- 12:30-2:00PM. Delmar Loop Neighborhood. Shopping, walk of fame, Planet Walking Tour. The number of famous people from St Louis was surprising, Chuck Berry, Maya Angulou, Tina Turner, Tennessee Williams to name a few. Avalon Exchange (6392 Delmar) is a good consignment shop.
- 2:00-2:30PM. Bluberry Hill (6504 Delmar). Stopped in for a beer and Pretzel Bites at this eccentric restaurant with multiple themed "trophy cases" with Pop Culture memorial including pez dispeners, South Park, SImpsons, Flintstones, Beatles, WWE, etc. Very fun to walk around and reminisce. Per usual, drink local, had an Urban Chestnut Schnicklefritz, a Bavarian wheat with lots of flavor, tasting banana, light and refreshing.
- 3:00-5:30PM. Trikke STL Guided Tours. Great fun, electric "Trikkes" - think standing three wheel scooters, check out picture and description below. I cannot recommend this tour enough. Bill, the owner and guide, is a St Louis expert and loves to share his passion for the city. St Louis has so much history, architecture, stories. Highlights included the Arch, Mural Mile (we were fortunate to be there for the annual "Paint Louis" graffiti festival), Running Man, Lewis and Clark, CityGarden Sculpture Park, and Dred Scott.
- TIP: Before going to St Louis, I did not know the rich African American history of St Louis, well beyond entertainers and Bob Gibson. Dred Scott's fight for freedom and the hundreds of names that sued for freedom pre-civil war. There is a museum, next time.
- 5:30-6:30PM. Check into Airbnb in the Grove, a hip neighborhood with a few breweries and cool bars.
- 6:30-7:30PM. Urban Chestnut Bierhall (4465 Manchester) for a couple beers. Huge place, very popular, strong IPA lineup for a German based brewery. Good place for lighter beers (ABV below 6%), german lagers, pilsners, and a really good Bavarian wheat which we had earlier at Blueberry hill.
- 7:30PM+. Heavy Riff Brewing Company (6413 Clayton Ave) tucked into another fun small neighborhood. Large beer selection and several good IPAs with ABV below 6%. Good food, barbeque, brisket, fun place. Watched the Buckeyes v Notre Dame.
Day two: Arch, Baseball, big italy (not little)
- 8:30-9:15AM. Protagonist Cafe (1700 S 9th) in Soulard. Fun place with a wall of books. Several pastries to choose from.
- TIP: St Louis has several cool neighborhoods you can stay in: Soulard, The Grove, Delmar Loop, etc. Think we will stay in Soulard next time, breakfast spots, bars, farmers market.
- 9:30-11:30AM. Gateway Arch. Tip: buy tickets on line prior to going, need to reserve your time slot. You can combo with a historical movie and riverboat cruise. Pleasant surprise, the museum at the arch is fantastic, you could easily spend a couple hours. The top of the arch is not the greatest experience due to narrow windows but certainly worth doing once (like top of Empire State Building).
- 11:45-1:00PM. Ballpark Village. Pre-game in St Louis, like Boston and Chicago, is more fun than the game. Music, obnoxious fanatics in a fun way, food and drink.
- 1:05-3:00PM. Cubs v Cardinals. We were fortunate to be there for a rivalry game. Ate El Birdo's Cantina famous nachos. The food options are ubiquitous.
- 3:30-4;30PM. back to the Grove, walked over to Rockwell Brewery (1320 S Vaneventer) for a flight, another fun popular spot where people gather, and bring their dogs.
- 5:00-6:30PM. The Hill. Another great neighborhood in St Louis. I would call this Little Italy, but it is really big with a plethora of real deal italian restaurants. There are shops and we were fortunate to be there for labor day bicycle races. We watched the children's races,,, the under 8 and under 13.
- 6:30-8:00PM. Gian-Tony's Italian Restaurant (5356 Daggett). Highly recommend this old school place, but honestly, there are likely a dozen great italian restaurants on the Hill. Toasted Ravioli is a good appetizer, not unique to St Louis but it does seem like a local favorite.
- 8:30PM +. back to the Grove and walked over to Handlebar (4127 Manchester) a bicycle themed bar with a great local beer selection. DJ with younger crowd (20s and 30s), we were a bit out of place but who cares, it was fun.
Day Three: BUd tour and head for home
- 8:30-9:30AM. Southwest Diner (6803 Southwest Ave). Fun, colorful, place with southwestern mexican influenced food as the name suggests, great patio and breakfast burrito.
- 9:45-11:00AM. Forest Park. There are free museums and a zoo. It is larger than Central Park. You could rent bikes and spend at least a 1/2 day in Forest Park. The 1904 Olympics were held here.
- 11:30-3:30PM. Budweiser Brewery ( 1200 Lynch St ). BeerMaster Tour is 2 hours. Budweiser has a large campus, interesting history, and stables for the clydesdales. They have a fun Biergarten with good food, pretzel sticks and brats. There are some different beer choices, I like the Elysian Space Dust.
- Back to airport, heading home.
More tips for ST Louis visit
- More Suggestions, maybe take several 3dayvacations: So much to do , so little time. I underestimated St Louis, my research was incomplete. Other things I would want to do: Griot Museum is black wax museum, we didn't go to the top rated bbq, we could have biked all day in Forest Park, could have spent more time in Soulard, and City Museum has an Urban Playground. We need another 3dayvacation.
- Trikke Tour. We did the downtown tour. Next time, we will do the Forest Park Tour.
Details & Descriptions
Maukis Bakery and Country Store
Maukis Bakery and Country Store is an excellent breakfast or lunch spot in the Soulard Neighborhood.
Delmar Loop
Delmar Loop was a great deal of fun. Walk of fame, I didn't know so many famous people were from St. Louis. Planet Walk Tour and fun restaurants and shops. This is on the top of the list of places to stay.
Blueberry Hill
Blueberry Hill is a required stop on the Delmar Loop. It's a 20th century pop culture museum to some extent.
trikke STL guided tours
Trikke STL Guided Tours downtown history tour was one of the best tours we ever experienced. St Louis has so much more history than baseball and beer. It's a great city for architecture, entertainers, and played a significant role in abolishing slavery. Don't miss this one. Bill the host is extremely passionate and knowledgeable, he went 30 minutes overtime with us. He enjoys the tours as much as the tourists. So many stories, three ladies in Union Station is a great one, see picture above.
Protagonist
Protagonist
Protagonist is a colorful coffee shop with "pre-loved" books in the heart of the historic Soulard neighborhood.
Handlebar
Protagonist
Freedom suits memorial
The Freedom Suits Memorial in front of the old court house has all the names of those who sued for their freedom, mostly prior to the civil war.
citygarden sculpture park
Sculpture above is from a famous artist named Keith Haring who unfortunately died young from AIDS. Among his many achievements is designing the album cover for "A Very Special Christmas" in the mid-80s.
Mural mile
Ballpark village
More from the Trikke tour, we were fortunate to be there for the "Paint Louis" graffiti festival.
Ballpark village
Ballpark village
Ballpark village