St Louis

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Trying to find my way from the Greyhound bus terminal to my hostel I was befriended by a guy returning from tour in Afghanistan, who proudly informed my that St Louis is now the #1 crime capital in the US (beating New Orleans at #2). Hmmm ..

Finally found thehostel which was more like a run-down, rickety boarding house. No-one there to book me in (how surprising), so not a good sign of the reliability of this place. Someone finally turned up and showed me my bed. The girls' dorm was completely empty except for me which felt a bit creepy in this old place.

A young guy who said he did maintenance work there offered to show me around the nearby pubs/live music venues in the Soulard district where the hostel was located. Around this area nearly every corner has a pub with live music. Listened to some Blues at a couple of places and tried the St Louis specialty, toasted ravioli (coated with breadcrumbs and deep fried). Another pic for my artery-clogging records. While walking past one of the pubs we had some impromptu street entertainment. A guy had gone off his nut and was climbing around on the roof of the pub. The cops rocked up and chased him around until finally dropping him on the ground and cuffing him.

The hostel guy turned out to be a creep who ended up inviting me up to his private residence at the hostel to smoke something which was probably not cigarettes. Such a tempting offer, but decided to return to my creepy, empty dorm room.

The 630 ft high Gateway Arch is a St Louis icon which has a 4 minute claustrophobic ride to the top for spectacular views of the city and river. (You are put in a little egg-like container with 3 other people with no windows and no air and the first thing you think is, 'What if I get stuck in here?'😉 Unfortunately the boat cruises up the Big Muddy were closed due to flooding. I later found out that there has been a lot of flooding in the area which is also connected to the tornadoes they've been having.

Used the metro to find a neighborhood called 'The Loop', on a hunt for a particular shop which sold rockabilly gear. This strip was packed with restaurants, cafes and shops - except the one I wanted which was gutted with a big 'For Lease' sign on it - figures. Next mission was to find the 2nd rockabilly shop located on a very long road called the Grand Boulevard in another neighbourhood. Found the shop and now my backpack is even harder to close up! Continued down Grand Boulevard in the sweltering heat on my next mission to find the iconic 'Ted Drewes Frozen Custard' shop. LP says don't dare leave St Louis without trying it so I felt obligated to investigate. Was easy to locate it due to the row of fat bottoms lined up outside the van. Got the 'mini' size tub of frozen custard ice-cream which was actually pretty big. Long way for an ice-cream but had to be done.

Ventured out in the Soulard District again (this time minus creepy hostel guy). First stop was an Irish pub, then some Country somewhere else, then on to an open mike night at another pub. This was full of really friendly people and very entertaining watching them perform. The owner there had dreads down to her knees which she'd been growing for 25 years. She must have a very strong neck to hold up all that hair.

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