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Published: December 23rd 2010
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We woke up at 8.30am to try and catch the motel breakfast, which unsurprisingly was not very good.
We left the motel to visit St Louis for the day. Our first stop was to visit the famous "Gateway to the West" or "St Louis Archway."
On the way there, we passed through the city centre with all the christmas lights - it was like a nice comfortable city. The atmosphere was warming and welcoming.
We stopped off in a supermarket and bought some breakfast. I got myself a freshly baked bagel and freshly baked blueberry muffin. I was surprised at how much more friendly the staff were in comparison with most places in California. There was also a bottle of lemonade called "Leninade" - join the socialist movement - I thought it was kinda funny.
We drove further down the city and as we approached the 650ft monument, we marveled at how unique the arch looked. We decided to go to the top of the arch. We paid $10 to "take the tour." We waited for the elevator to the top. The size of the pod we were in was tiny. It fit five people - convenient since there
were exactly five of us. We sat in there for a few minutes feeling very claustrophobic and a little bit too close to each other while we approached the top of the monument.
The view was worth it, we towered above all the skyscrapers in the city. Ace commented that it looked like a toy model city. We left the arch feeling very satisfied, as it was the best thing we had done on the trip so far. We also visited the "Westward Expansion" museum, learned a little bit more about American history and then asked about what else we could visit in St Louis.
Our decision was finally settled on going to the Budweiser World headquarters and brewery.
The tour was $25, which we felt was too expensive. So we bought a beer each to drink on Christmas day, visited what we could - there was a mini museum, bought some more gifts and left.
We headed to Cahokia next to see some native American ruins and view the archway infront of all the skyscrapers in the city from a distance. The view wasn't as impressive as expected and it was freezing, so we left pretty
quickly.
Next was the drive to Chicago. I decided to sleep in the back of the car for most of the 6 hour drive.
The moon was full which looked cool in the night sky. We stopped for fuel in what is quite possibly the nicest gas/petrol station I have ever visited, which gave me great first impressions of what was to come in Chicago.
The roads were noticeably far more busy than the roads we had previously visited, and we were on the famous "Route 66."
We decided to stop in a pizza place in Chicago to begin with a good experience of the famous Chicago-style deep dish pizza.
The Chicago skyline was impressive. The sears tower was lit Red and Green for Christmas and we were all very excited to spend the next 5 days in Chicago. We drove through Chicago to the pizza place and dined there for the next couple of hours.
We ordered 2 large deep dish pizzas, which was far too much. 2 slices of the pizza was enough for everyone and we left with nearly a full pizza leftovers.
After a great day in St Louis and really nice Chicago-style
pizza, we left for the hotel and slept.
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