Beer, Baseball and Bowling!

The three Bs make up the final chapter in the St Louis adventures. A game at Busch and the Gateway Arch may be what defines St Louis but there are certainly a few other little things to keep you entertained.

First to 2 of the three Bs, baseball and bowling. Not two things you would think go hand in hand, yet here in St Louis they sit side by side like a couple by a fireplace in the heart of winter. Let me introduce the ST Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame, also housing (and free as part of your ticket, the National Bowling Hall of Fame. Who knew the two were so closely linked!

The Cardinals HOF was, of course, my main main reason for visiting. Housing Cardinals historic memorabilia from past to present. Artifacts from the likes of Stan "The Man" Musial, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson and one of the modern day gems, the car given to Mark McGwire for hitting his record breaking 70th Home Run in 1998. One of the things about getting into baseball is learning how highly the history of the game and its players are thought of. The great players from the past enshrined not only here but in Cooperstown, New York in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Somewhere I didn't get to visit on this trip but hope one day to make it to. Its something we just don't get in England.


A chance to view a replica World Series trophy, to take in game worn shirts and balls used in historic moments throughout the franchises history made a captivating day for me. It may not be every persons idea of an interesting day out but for me it was a perfect accompaniment to a few games at Busch.


Once done with the Cardinals HOF it leads you straight onto the Bowling HOF, something I know very little about but was able to take in and learn a little of the history of the game and whilst I may not have known who the hell any of those enshrined it made for an interesting half hour or so before hitting the lanes themselves to throw a complimentary few frames. I'd gone with Claire in the days she was around and we'd decided to stick about and have a couple of games, made all the better for the ludicrously cheap prices they charged! Undoubtedly a fun day out!



So it all finishes here on the subject of St Louis' other treasure. The beer. Here lies the home of Anheuser Busch, brewers of Americas favourite, Budweiser. The home of Bud lies just a 10 minute walk from the hostel and there was no way I could come her and not visit. So on my last full day in the home of the Red Birds I took the free tour of the brewery. The grounds are quite simply huge. Almost a mini City within the City.


The tour takes you around the various processes and plants, with a Chance to see the famous Clydesdale horses and, of course, to sample the wares at the end of the tour. I certainly wasn't aware of the huge variety of beers the place makes. Its Budweiser that is king of course but its certainly not all they make! I got to sample a fabulous Bock whilst there and am disappointed not to have seen it anywhere since!




It may not have the glamour of the Guinness tour in Dublin but you do actually get to see far more of the plant than its Irish counterpart. Given its free nature its more than worth the effort.

I also had the chance to sample another local beer "Boulevard". A tasty Wheat beer from the Kansas City region. Budweiser may be the king of beers but I was already understanding what the real joy of beer drinking was in the US! There is so much more to it than is portrayed back at home. We think of American beer, we think of Bud or Miller and such likes, what we fail t understand is just how big a part the micro breweries play in the beer market here in the US. I for one am delighted to be finding out! More beer and Whiskey or two may well be on the way as Tennessee approaches!

The Locals

One of the greatest parts of travelling is meeting people. One of the single biggest fears of many who are thinking of going off on travel adventures alone is what will happen if they don't meet anyone. Anyone whose done a bit of travelling or stayed in hostels will tell you that you're biggest worry will not be meeting people but how you manage to get some alone time. Simply put, you WILL meet people. All sorts of them. Generally over the course of a any trip, particularly one as long as this, you'll wind up meeting the good, the bad and the ugly.

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!

Living My Dream!

Coming to St Louis had always been about the baseball. This was why I was here, to see my Cardinals play, at home! In the many years that this trip had been in the pipeline, the dream had always been the same. To come here, to Busch Stadium, and take in a game. I first got into baseball around 2000 and had missed out on the McGwire/Sosa home run season in 1998. I hadn't even been aware that this had happened till quite a while into my baseball watching.

The Cardinals had got to me by accident. The first two games I ever saw both involved them. I knew nothing about baseball at all but it had really caught my interest and wanted to find out more. To do that I needed a team, I chose the Cards purely on that basis. The months that followed saw me start learning the rules and what all the abbreviations meant. I listened to games via the Internet from a local station and caught the two games a week shown very late on Channel 5. This was my initiation.

Listening to those games, and later watching them on MLB TV, I always got a sense of what it meant to be Cardinals fan. To be regarded as some of the best fans in baseball, to be a baseball City! I had images in my mind about the stadium and its surrounds, about having a beer in a bar with other Cards fans before a game, listening to them chat about the players and team the same way I do about my football club back home. I wanted to be there, be part of it, experience it all for myself.

I was doing that now, finally. I had purchased tickets to three games prior to leaving home. I'm not a big fan of having such firm dates where I have to be somewhere but there was no way I was coming here and missing out! The first of the three games was against the Cardinals biggest rivals. The Chicago Cubs were in town and not only was I getting to see a Cardinals game. This was a famed Cubs v Cards match.

The game would also give my first chance to see St Louis' most famous current star, Albert Pujols. In a way Pujols' story has been so much fun to watch. Him coming up to the majors around the same time I got into being a Cardinals fan. So as one legend (in Mark McGwire) was finishing his career in St Louis, another star was there to begin his. Pujols is essentially the man who has shaped the sport for me. My worst fear before I left home was that he would be injured when I was in town, or taken out of the team for a rest at the games I was at but nope, he was in the team, ready to belt some more home runs to add to his record breaking tally (he was on course to break the single season home run record at this point).


I arrived early to the game. I wanted time to soak it all up, to take in the stadium, the atmosphere, to look around and to capture it all! I got to see more of the stadium than I had actually planned by walking in through the entrance at the opposite end to where my ticket was. I was able to stop off near the field itself to take a look and some photos of the two teams practising before heading on to find my seat. I travelled up escalator after escalator each time feeling the field get further and further away, wondering just how high up me "good seats" were. When I finally reached the right section I found myself about two thirds of the way up along the first base line. I felt slightly disappointed in these being $40 tickets. For the same price at Wrigley I was in the Field box behind home plate.


I may have been a tad disappointed with how much these seats were but it certainly gave a good overview of the field and the stadium as a whole. I wanted to take in these moments and could feel the atmosphere build as the ground filled to become a sea of red. This was what I had wanted!! I sense of achievement passed through me. This was after all one of those things that had been just a dream a few years back and was now a reality!



My joy was short lived however when whilst fielding at first, after just 1 at bat, Albert Pujols was withdrawn from the game with an injury. I couldn't believe it. I'd travelled all this way, done all this planning and I'd seen him have one at bat. It wasn't a home run or even a hit. The man struck out! For a guy with more homers than strikeouts this was a rarity. That was it for Albert. He wouldn't be back in the other games I was here to see, but I'm probably the only person on the planet who can say he's seen Pujols strikeout every time he's seen him have an at bat! You have to look on the bright side of it all somehow!



My dreams of watching him belt a home run now shattered I would have to accept it and cheer on the rest of the Redbirds. It is, after all, a team game and there's more than one man on this team! Unfortunately they couldn't pull it together for themselves or me and lost the game.

The Cardinals would go on to lose all three of the games I went to see. I'm still yet to see them win a game live in my 4 attempts. I'm guessing if people knew that was my record, they'd be advising me to keep away from Cardinals game for the sake of the team!



That they lost all three was hugely disappointing. That I saw Albert Pujols have just one at bat was far from the perfect scenario. Despite those two key things I still had an incredible time and the memories from the three days at Busch Stadium will always stay with me. Maybe next time Mr Pujols will knock in a grand slam or 2 to make up for it. Well, you can always dream!

Grubs Up! St Louis Style!

One of the many joys or travelling is being able to sample food form all over the World. I couldn't wait to get my mouth around tasty Thai grub, and sample the steak in Argentina. The States too had a world of food available for me to munch through!

I always remember my first time in New York, I just wanted to take some time to walk around a supermarket. Not to buy anything, but just to see what was available. Take a look at some of the junk you hear so much about. Some of my friends think its a little strange (and I might almost agree with them) but I love just walking around food stores and markets abroad checking out some of the local delights.

Whats better than looking is eating though and I was getting my chance all over the place already. You only have to take one look at the photo of my brunch in Chicago to know what that was like, but pizza in New York and, well, more pizza in Chicago. Two legends in the pizza making business. Now here I was in St Louis, where more food awaited me!

Whilst the aforementioned places are world famous for their slices of pizzas, St Louis is not. However it does have its unique brand. Unlike its Chicago counterpart St Louis pizza is thin and I mean super thin! Packed to the brim with toppings (I'm still yet to understand the New York one topping pizzas that seem to have been adopted by Pizza delivery companies throughout the country) and incredible tasty! Its certainly my preference out of the three cities pizzas.

I'd managed to meet up with a friend of mine who lives out here and talking to her before I left she mentioned two things I MUST try while I'm in town. Toasted Ravioli and Ted Drewes. The night we met up I got to sample both!

Toasted Ravs as the locals seem to call them is a St Louis speciality. Basically Ravioli breaded and deep fried and often (as ours was) served with a maranara style sauce. Its considered an appetiser so when we went into the restaurant and ordered two lots of Toasted ravs we were looked upon with scorn. No that was it, that's all we wanted. It appeared we were taking up valuable table room and with our minimal order. Still, it wasn't going to stop me sampling these delights. They looked like a heart attack waiting to happen and tasted like one but certainly weren't horrible. I'm not sure I'd order them again but sampling these things is a part of the trip for me and one i thoroughly enjoy!

If Toasted Ravioli is a local tradition then Ted Drewes is a local institution. Its Ice Cream, but not just any ice cream. Possibly the best ice cream anywhere in the world!!! A custard based concoction that is sold strictly just in St Louis. You can find a few pots of the stuff in the local grocery stores but the real deal is to be had from one of, what I believe are just 2 Ted Drewes counters. The one we visited was well out Downtown (as I believe the other is) and really only accessible by car (thankfully Emily had hers and was able to drive us around). Its a bizarre location for such a place. Something virtually every St Lousian knows about is so far detached from a town centre. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! If it wasn't ice cream I'd have filled my bag full of the stuff!

Travelling is about so many things to me and its a thrill to be able to sample local goodies wherever I am. Its something that just makes this trip even more of a thrill than it already is. So if anyone ever asks you what there is to do in St Louis apart from watch baseball and see the arch, you can tell them to eat the food! Its well worth it!

Rain!

The weather is a funny little bugger. It seems strange that something so unrelated to you, something so detached from what you are doing can have such a huge impact on how you feel about a place and what you end up doing.

Its summer, really it is. Summer in the Midwest. It should be 90 degrees or more already, yet in St Louis, it rains and just when you think its stopped raining.... It rains some more. Not quite what I had expected here!

I'd managed to get chatting to a lass from Bristol who was also staying at the hostel after I arrived back from the pub the first day and we had decided to head into town together in the morning. Our first port of call had been the library for a bit of free internetting. Unfortunately no one, not even the people on the desk as we spent 10 minutes register ring, told us that we needed to book our session. Somewhat annoyed we headed out of the library. As we were doing so someone called us back "If you wait till quarter past and someone doesn't show up you can get on the machine for 45 minutes". Apparently it happens all the time. We waited it out and sure enough we were on.

Claire and I then headed down towards Busch Stadium. I would get my first glimpses of the Cardinals new home, having moved into their new stadium (built half on the grounds of the old one) just this year. It was certainly impressive just to walk around the outside of it. A feeling of really having arrived sunk into me. I was here, I'd made it. Number 2 on the must see list was here right in front of me. I almost couldn't get enough of it. I couldn't wait to get inside and watch a game, although I knew I'd have to wait it out.




We had planned to go over to have a look at the Arch afterwards but the skies darkened and we knew immediately what was about to follow. The rains came, and we went and did our laundry. How I love the rain. Still, when you're away for any length of time, washing your clothes becomes a necessary part of your travel.

The following day our plans to head to the arch were scuppered once again by the rain, it came with avengence, this time, no laundry to do we decided to take up a recommendation and visit the City Museum.

Expecting to find all manner of St Lousian artifacts and info we were both somewhat stunned to find it basically a kids playground. Shell shocked but in need of the dry indoors we settled on having a coffee.

The rain went away, we headed on down to the Arch via Wallgreens where I picked up my much needed pair of flip flops and as we headed off from there, yep, the rains came again. Now rather pissed off with the weather, the Arch seeming to tell us it really didn't want our company, we grabbed a cab and went back to the hostel!

Arriving in Baseball City!

From the very first days of planning this trip, there had been two dots firmly on the map. Two places I must go to, must see. Two places that were almost what drove me on the North American part of this trip in the first place! One of those was New York. Since being there in 2003 I had longed to go back and knew whatever else happened that it was going to be the first place on this trip that I visited. The other, was St. Louis. Home of the St Louis Cardinals. Home of the Redbirds, the new Busch Stadium and home of Albert Pujols, Cardinals slugger and St Louis legend.

So as I left Chicago on the Megabus I knew that the next time I got off this it would land me at the home of my beloved baseball team. The feeling of anticipation was as intense as the day I left home. As the City approached I caught my first glimpse of the Gateway Arch, the landmark most synonymous with St Louis. The place where East meets West, you cant help but notice how imposing it is, how dominant of its surroundings it is. Its the symbol that I've arrived, that I've found my way to the City where baseball is king!



The first thing that struck me as I disembarked the bus at Union Station was just how much red could be seen. Now, I know St Louis is a baseball City, it loves its team and it bleeds red but the sheer numbers of people in red or some sort of Cardinals attire was astonishing!!

My attempts at finding the correct bus or any other form of transportation to my hostel failed and getting more frustrated by the minute I succumbed to paying for a cab to get me there.

The hostel here in St Louis deserves a story all to itself. As I pulled up in the cab it looked alright. I mean it was obviously a bit out of town but it looked ok. As I arrived though, everything started to change. No one was in when I got there and the owner was obviously put out by my mere presence there. I was a hassle he didnt want to deal with. After waiting over an hour and a half he finally showed up still mumbling things about me being there at the wrong time, he did eventually let me into my room.

The bed itself was ok, although the place was full of newspapers, more on that later. The bathroom though was dire! A swing gate to let you in and showers where the walls were black and the floor somehow even less pleasant. There was no way I was having a shower without a pair of flip flops on and even then you just didn't want to touch anything.

Unbelievably this place used to be an HI Hostel however it lost its affiliation due to lapses in standards. According o Rebecca, a sort of co -runnner of the place (she was the opposite of the owner - Kind, polite and chatty), the place had actually improved a hell of a lot in the last 6 months or so. When she came to help out the place was a mess, smelly, overrun by cockroaches and needed a complete overhaul. It needed her to do it, the owner just wouldn't do anything about it! I'm just glad she's been around a bit before I got there otherwise God Knows what I would have though of it!!!

Another part of my St Louis initiation was to get "the talk". St Louis is, according to a recent poll, the 4th most dangerous City in the US. That really shouldn't be taken lightly. So, I get my map from our friendly fun filled owner who proceeds to grab a pen, and circle half the places on the map..then put big crosses though it. "don't go here" he said. Wow, I feel so much better now I thought. Unfortunately one of those big circles with a big cross in it was between the hostel and Downtown. Apparently its wise to take the bus, especially at night! Bus it would be then.

An evening in the pub would help settle me! It did!! I found a cool Irish Pub near the hosetl and settled in a for a few drinks and to catch up with some writing. It was as Irish as they get, ell cheesy foreign Irish anyway. A constant stream of pretty dreadful Irish music was eventually replaced by a live band playing, yep, you guessed it, Irish music. Unfortunately there was no one there. The Cardinals were at home, and those that were in there seemed more interested in watching the baseball than the music (rightly so of course). So I was one of about 8 people no listening to this music with more than one eye on the TV screen. Still, it was an excuse to have a couple of Buds, St Louis' other claim to fame!