Meeting fellow travellers is one thing, meeting locals is another and can be as educational or as fun as any City, beach or other tourist attraction on the map. It can make or break a place for you. I'd been lucky so far with the locals I'd met up till this point and here in St Louis my good luck would continue to run.
Its generally not something you can go looking for but rather something that happens by chance. I guess before I'd left home I had imagined how great it would be to get chatting with some fellow Cardinal nuts at or before a game and whilst I'd enjoyed the experience of my first time in Busch stadium I hadn't really spoken to too many fellow fans. Game 2 and that all changed.
Sat watching the game I was next to a young couple, maybe my age or a couple of years younger. They seemed like the sort of people you could get chatting to and a couple of pointless comments got us going. I had met Adam and Erin, St Louisians and Cardinals fans. For me it was just great to be able to talk baseball, Cardinals baseball, with people that actually gave a damn and were fascinated that I'd come all this way to watch them play. Later on in proceedings they had decided to go and join some friends sat along the 3rd base line - The other side of the stadium to where we were residing at that time and asked me if I'd like to join them. I wound up meeting a great bunch of people. Adam and Erin offered me a lift home after the game and on dropping me as promised said a big thankyou to me! "Thanks for showing us something we sisnt know about our own City!". Apparently they weren't aware that St Louis had a hostel.
The following morning I received what I still believe to be the loveliest, kindest email I've ever had, thanking me for last night. No guys, it really is YOU I should thank for being the best advertisement for St Louis and Americans in general that you could wish to have! From the bottom of my heart I thank you both so much for your kindness.
Soppy stuff aside now, the good people of St Louis didn't stop there. Sat in McGurks one afternoon/evening I got chatting to a local couple also sat at the bar. Its so true what they say about St Louis being a true baseball City. These guys were on top of it all with the lady working for one of the Minors Independent League teams. They were overly generous in buying me a few beers, again, something hugely appreciated and a gesture from the heart.
St Louis was also the place where I had the chance to meet up with Emily (another Booty). Her and her friend were the ones kind enough to drive me round and get me to Ted Drewes and trying the Toasted Ravioli. The two of us arranged to meet up a 2nd time before I left.
Now, you may remember the Gateway Arch saga. The rain preventing me from ever getting down to see the thing. Well I did in the end. Claire and I managed to get down there, the weather managed to stay fine and I finally got up close and personal with St Louis' most famous landmark. It was well worth the wait. Its certainly impressive to see it towering over the City but walking round it I finally had a sense of the scale of the thing and in some ways, its simplistic beauty.
What we hadn't down however was go up inside the arch to the observation deck. With that in mind, Emily, a life long St Lousian who had managed to go her life without going up in it either, and I made this our day out together.
Its quite a strange thing really. To look at the arch you wonder how on earth anything can go up inside it. One you get inside your cramped compartment you understand why its not particularly obvious. Each "pod" is designed to take 4 people. If it was just for 2 people you'd call it tight! We ended up almost sitting in each others laps on the short ride to the top.
The viewing platform itself is a strange experience. You're on top of the arch of course and either side of the corridor is bending back down towards earth giving you the sensation that nothing at all is straight! St Louis may not have the most stunning skyline but the views from the top are worth it with the aerials of Busch Stadium almost sending shivers down my spine!
It was nice to be able to share the experience with a local as well and to get her doing something in her own City she had never done. Once again, the hospitality shown towards me was unforgettable. My impression of the City was set by some of the most amazing people you'd ever wish to encounter.
Not everyone is the same of course and everywhere there will be good and bad. There's funny as well. Like the guy who wanted to ask me something like "Where have you been?" He managed "So where y'all been?" which seemed far too Texan, "Where you all have been?" (less Texan yet more confusing) and, what I believe was the closet he got "Where all have you been?" It may sound funny, and really it was, but its just a small glimpse into how different the English language can actually be from place to place. An honorary mention should also go to the guy who on seeing my English cricket shirt asked if I was from Wales - Oh well!
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