Okay, we are gathered here today for my first blog post about traveling. Let me tell y’all everything about my first time in Saint Louis, Missouri!

My boyfriend Edoardo will actually be moving to Saint Louis for work soon, which is why we decided to go in the first place. During these four days, Edo worked in the morning and early afternoon while I roamed around to explore; after that, we spent the rest of the day looking at apartments, going out for dinner and drinks, and doing some touristy sightseeing.

Day One

We left Chicago at about 5am, found absolutely no traffic and made it to St Louis at 9am (with a stop for breakfast!) That was good news for Edo, who will go back and forth between St. Louis and Chicago about once every two weeks or so.

Now some general info about our stay. Since it was mid July, it was really sunny and hot for the entire duration of our trip. And when I say hot, I mean extremely torrid and sultry, with temperatures between 30°-37°C (86°-98°F my dear American friends, I gotchu.)

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in the Central West End. It was well kept, with clean rooms and, most importantly, pet friendly.

We always have to look for pet friendly hotels, because – unless we’re going overseas – our Great Pyrenees mix Spud travels with us. Therefore, we usually end up in motels or Red Roofs, being those our only option. Needless to say, Spud was very excited about a fancier hotel room and a queen sized bed for himself.

Once Edo left to his work meetings, I had my first chance to explore the area: I chose to walk to the renowned Forest Park, only a few blocks from the hotel. However, I really underestimated the size of the park (the second largest in the nation after Central Park in NYC!) and the temperature outside: in fact, I was only able to see a small bit of it before deciding to walk back towards the hotel area.

I stopped for a bit in the lobby of a really fancy hotel, the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. It is apparently a renowned hotel in St. Louis, with a beautiful outdoor pool and all sorts of comfort (there’s even a movie theater inside!)

After that, I walked around the neighborhood: the Central West End looks nice and elegant, with beautiful townhouses and luxurious apartment complexes.

When Edo came back from work, we visited a couple of apartments, then drove through downtown St. Louis.

I personally got the impression that most of downtown is rather unsafe, but then again, can you really tell whether an area is safe or unsafe just by driving through it? In my opinion, in St. Louis there are barely “safe” and “unsafe” neighborhood, but rather “safer” and “less safe” blocks throughout the city. Nevertheless, the downtown area seemed rather sketchy to me.

**These are my impressions of a city I don’t know, if you specifically know of areas to avoid or areas that I am defining as “unsafe” but aren’t, please let me know! I love learning from the locals.

We drove back to the Central West End and had dinner at Mission Taco Joint. When I asked people for St. Louis recommendation, this spot seemed among the most popular.

I got the Mango Hop-Anero Shrimp taco, the BBQ Duck taco, and two Chicken Al Pastor tacos. It was simply delicious; my expectations were definitely met. Right in front of Mission Taco Joint, we found a Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, so we had to have dessert there. We are die-hard Jeni’s fans.

 

Day Two

On the second morning in Saint Louis, I went to explore the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis. The church itself is huge and beautiful, with incredible Romanesque style architecture, but the best part is the Byzantine style interior: 83,000 square feet of walls covered in mosaics created by 20 different artists. It is a breathtaking view.

I inadvertently stayed for mass, then walked around the neighborhood looking for stores and boutiques.

I have to say, two things surprised me about the “St. Louis shopping scene”: first of all, I did not find that many boutiques that you could just check out while walking around. Many stores are either in malls or shopping areas, which is weird to me since I am used to seeing boutiques and stores everywhere in Chicago or especially in Milan. Second thing: I have never been given a plastic bag by any store or restaurant during my stay, which makes me super happy: let’s save the environment!

I recommend two stores in the Central West End: Cassie’s Scents is mainly a fragrance store, but it also sells beauty products, cards, notebooks, cute stationary and Lilly Pulitzer products. Left Bank Books is a bookstore that sells new and used books for pretty cheap. They’re pretty chill and they let their cat roam around the store.

I bought a book there, then had lunch at Taste of Lebanon, a Lebanese restaurant and bakery in the area. Their Hashweh sandwich was great.

We spent the afternoon calling landlords and visiting apartments, then we joined some of Edo’s coworkers for dinner at Dressel’s Public House, a Welsh pub/tavern in the Central West End where I had some amazing pretzel bread and the most incredible crawfish mac and cheese I’ve ever eaten.

We had a beer at Llyvelyn’s Pub, then ventured into Forest Park to take the dog for a walk. The park is insanely big, and once you’re inside you immediately forget that you’re actually still in the middle of a city. There are tennis courts, golf courts, museums, an awesome zoo (I wrote about it here!), majestic fountains, rivers, some literal hikes, concerts, movies and even a bus that takes you around the park itself… it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

 

Day Three

The highlight of our last full day in St. Louis was definitely the City Museum. I had seen it on a Facebook video a few years ago, and it had been on my bucket list ever since. Therefore, on Wednesday morning, we had some complementary breakfast, walked the dog and then ventured into that indescribable experience that is the City Museum.

I guess the easiest way to depict it is by saying that it is an enormous playground for both kids and adults. However, it is more than that: it is made by pieces of things of any kind, it goes underground, up ten floors and even outside of the building. You can walk on airplane wings, climb up towers, crawl down in underground cave, run around between unique objects and even slide down a ten story slide! For more information, just visit their website, but here are some pics.

 

Here I am stuck in a cage.

Another highlight of our day was our candlelight dinner at French restaurant Brasserie by Niche. We celebrated Edo’s promotion with cocktails and raspberry beer, baguette and beurre salé, French Onion soup, Steak Frites with Bernaise sauce and braised beef. The atmosphere was romantic but the light was very dim, so unfortunately I don’t have pictures of the #foodporn we consumed. You’ll have to trust me on that one!

 

Day Four

On the fourth day, we got into the car, got some Tim Horton’s to go and left to get back to the Chi! So that is all I have for you this time. However, since Edoardo is moving to Saint Louis, I am planning on coming back a lot. So, if you have recommendations for me, message me or drop them down below!