Saturday was a busy, fun day and the weather was perfect. We all got up about 8 am, had a leisurely breakfast and headed out a little before 11 am. Our first stop was to the Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis for the noon tour - free. As part of the tour, you go to the stables where some of the Clydesdales are housed. In my next life, I want to be an A-B Clydesdale - they are very pampered and their stables are very elegant. 
The entire brewery was very elegant and exceptionally clean - amazing for the number of people who go through there every day. We didn't get to see the packaging process as the line was down for cleaning. The St. Louis brewery buildings are all brick and they are very impressive. It's in the middle of downtown right near the Mississippi River.
My brother and I are reflected in the sign - he's the tall one. At the end of the tour, there is a tasting room where you get two free drinks. You're supposed to leave the glasses, but we didn't - I'm sure many others before and after us did the same. There is an Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fairfield, CA that I've never been to, but now I'll make it a point to go to compare the tours.
From there we went to the Italian section of town called "The Hill" - very residential, lots of old houses and old restaurants. We ate at a little sandwich shop called Amighetti's - very good. It was across the street in one direction from Milo's Bocce Garden and in another direction across from St. Ambrose Catholic Church - all brick. There was a wedding going on at the church so we only peeked inside for a minute - it was beautiful and I wished we would have been able to spend more time there.
After lunch, we went to the Gateway Arch. I had seen the arch while crossing the Mississippi River on a road trip in 1975 but never stopped. The park grounds are very lush and well maintained. We didn't take the tram to the top as it was getting late in the day and it would have taken at least 1.5 hours (or longer) - it will keep for another visit. There is a fantastic museum chronicling the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which we did enjoy. You could spend a whole day there just reading all the wall plaques and learning more about that time in history.
We headed home about 4:30 to relax a bit and get ready to go out to dinner. We ate at the rooftop restaurant at the Millenium Hotel in downtown St. Louis. It rotates and takes 90 minutes to make a full rotation, that's about as much as time as dinner takes - I think they plan it that way. Again, we had a wonderful meal. After dinner we headed to the Lumiere Casino - also downtown. Sherry had a bit of good luck. Olga managed to play for about 2 hours on $3 and I was up/down, but in the end donated. I told Sherry I left it there for her next visit.
On Sunday, we again had a leisurely breakfast and headed to St. Charles in the late morning. We strolled along the historic street and visited a few of the shops housed in the historic buildings. The feel of St. Charles reminds me a bit of New Hope, PA but not quite as artsy. St. Charles is along the Missouri River and there is a beautiful park and trails along the river. Our day was very relaxing and we ate lunch at the Trailhead Microbrewery - very delicious.. I tried to find postcards from the area, but there were none to be had - this was puzzling since we were in a tourist area. We made our way home about 4:30 and along the way stopped at several places to look for postcards - none. Later in the evening, Sherry talked with her daughter Jill and mentioned our hunt for postcards. About an hour or so later, Jill and Christian stopped by with postcards in hand that they found at a gas station.
My brother Tony and his wife Sherry were fantastic hosts and I look forward to a time when they visit me in California and I can host them. Meeting Sherry's daughter and son-in-law was also a treat. Her younger daughter Tiffany lives in Chicago with her husband Joel and daughter Lila so I didn't get to meet them on this trip.
Check out my St. Louis photos. Tomorrow we get back on the road, headed to Nashville. Stay tuned....
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