Last week I traveled to St. Louis for a training class. David (a coworker) and I went to learn some new software, and as he's from the area he showed me some of the sites.
The main site to see in St. Louis is the Gateway to the West, or simply the arch. I had seen it as a child and was absolutely terrified by the trip to the top. I've been afraid of heights for as long as I can remember, and for a while as a child I had a fear of elevators (the sudden acceleration and deceleration made me feel like I was falling). Anyway, the elevator to the top is this bubble tram system where the individual cars keep "righting" themselves as you travel the curve of the arch. In a word, terrifying! Anyway, to make a long story short I thought about facing my fear, and decided that I did a swell job of it... with both feet on the ground. But when facing the arch once again, I was amazed that when viewed from the capital building, the beautiful arch nicely frames an industrial complex. On one side of the river is the capital building, then a beautiful garden area which leads to the arch. On the other side of the river an old ugly industrial building and that's it. When I pointed this out, David replied something along the lines of, "It's Illinois, what can you do?"
While I was in town, I managed to dine at three different restaurants owned by Cardinal's players. It helped that two of the restaurants were within walking distance of my hotel which was also in walking distance to the training location. One thing that intrigued me was the menu at Ozzie's (as in the Wizard of Oz, Ozzie Smith) had a special "Lenten Entree" section, which I can't recall seeing before. I commented on this to the people hosting the training class, and they seemed surprised that I was surprised, since surely in a place like Boston I saw it all the time. Boston might be more cosmopolitan that St Louis, but having a lot of variety doesn't mean having all the varieties. Considering the number of churches in Boston that have been turned into condominiums, it really doesn't surprise me that I haven't seen a Lenten menu.
All in all, it was a good trip (except for the hotel which was sub-par). I learned a good deal, saw the sights, and got home safe and sound.
