St Louis Pt II
Another of our outings in St Louis was to Grant’s Farm (https://www.grantsfarm.com/) . This property was once owned by General (and later President) Ulysses S Grant. It is mostly set up for kids but it is equally enjoyable for adults. Like most of America at present there were Halloween decorations about the place but the farm is home to a myriad of animals. Deer, Elk and Bison were accompanied by Camels, llamas and Kangaroos. There was a range of birds and the occasional tree stump carved into a statue. Our only concern was the elephant which from our past experience looked to be in distress with boredom going by the way it was rocking back and forth.
Once we’d seen the animals we strolled up to the old stable complex which is now connected in some way to the brewers of Budweiser beer, Anhueser-Busch (Mr Busch’s family owns the place). This was fortuitous because it meant we were able to claim the 2 free beers that were included in our entry price along with a feed. After lunch we looked at the stables set-up and managed to get a short sqizz at a couple of nice horses and the collection of carriages there. The real treat for us was outside the farm on the far side of the carpark. The ‘Budweiser’ Clydesdale farm is there and open to look at. There are also a heap of the beautiful horses which make up the famous carriage team of Budweiser fame.
On the Sunday we drove downtown (into the CBD) to look at Grand Union Station. We fell in love with Union Station in L.A. and similarly St Louis’ station has also been redeveloped and looks a treat. We found out later that we should have investigated the far side of the station where more was on show and open to the public. We also decided to use Sunday as the day to go to the Budweiser brewery for a highly recommended tour of this factory (https://www.budweisertours.com/locations/st-louis-missouri.html) . This again is a good tour and we learnt quite a bit not just about beer but of the history of St Louis. Naturally they wouldn’t have this tour without having some of their horses and carriages on display. At the end of this tour we were also rewarded with free beer (who is silly enough to say ‘NO’ to free beer?). I bought two 6 packs of Amberbock Lager, my favourite drop over here.
I’ll finish this post with the best. We had earlier noticed a grand church during our outings so we decided to have a closer look. The Cathedral Basilica of St Louis (http://cathedralstl.org/) is NOT just another church! Many folk say, and I agree, that this gorgeous church is magnificent and challenges any Basilica anywhere in the world. They have also opened up a museum under the Basilica that describes the construction methods used to build this fantastic structure. The mosaics are stunning and on entry you just find yourself frozen in disbelief. It is jawdroppingly stunning. I won’t try to describe this beauty to you. Just enjoy the pictures. I will say that I still find it difficult to swallow that a church and faith of such wealth still asks for donations for the poor. The Catholic Church in Rome openly boasts that it has more uncatalogued wealth in art and treasures in its’ cellars than the GDP of most countries.
If you want more these are from the Basilica’s own website (https://youtu.be/p8ts4ejoTYA) and this is a video that I took inside the Basilica https://youtu.be/Cv-MzPtSRCg.
That’s it for now. As I type this I am in the departure lounge of Dallas Fort Worth Airport awaiting our (delayed) flight back to Australia. I hope to have my final two blogs for this portion of our US adventure (Kansas City and Wichita) up and posted in the next week. But that won’t be all of it. We are returning to Wichita before New Year’s Eve to do our next 6 month stint in the USA. I also hope to compile a summary of our first 6 months complete with costs in case anyone reading this blog is inspired to try to replicate our adventures.
So keep watching for more. Until then “cheers”.
Garry & Shane.