St. Louis Trip, August 2008

Accomodations

We purchased rooms on Hotwire and received 2 nights at the Drury Inn (Broadway and 6th) for $54 a night. This was a bargain price for a downtown hotel that included free parking. Overall, I must give the Drury a positive rating. On a scale of 1 to 5, I would probably go with a 3.0. It was certainly above average. The perks include: free wireless internet, Microwave (which we didn't use), mini fridge, free breakfast, free snacks 5:30-7:00, and free popcorn/soda from 3-10pm. The parking was free, however our parking experience resulted in Garland adding his first significant "scratch/dent" to the Grand Caravan. In essence, our access cards were magically 'erased' twice during our 2 night stay. The first time it occurred was outside the parking garage. The garage was secured by an automatic door. The card didn't work and given the line of cars behind me and the inavailability of any Drury Personnel within 100 yards, I attempted unsuccessfully to vacate the location, but not prior to scraping the side of the van on a concrete median. In the end, we ended up "sneaking" in the garage as someone else was exiting, then had to call the front desk from outside the deck to get into the hotel, and a second time later than night, we had to call the front desk again after I had intended on returning to my car to get my wallet only to find that upon entry we were once again locked out. A couple other disappointments with the hotel was that while it was "downtown" as Hotwire reported, it was on the northern edge of the downtown area an actually was very close to some not so nice parts of town.


Sights and Sounds

We visited several key St. Louis attractions during our stay. We started at St. Louis Mills shopping mall. Julie and I used to frequent "the mills" on day trips when we lived in Jacksonville. It was an enjoyable trip, but we primarily browsed and spent very little money. I must say that it seemed like an increased number of storefronts were vacant. On Wednesday morning, we went to Forest Park. We started at St. Louis Zoo, followed by a jaunt off campus to Qdoba for lunch, and then returning in the afternoon to St. Louis Science Center and the Planetarium. I found the Planetarium to be most intriguing. Rather than sitting in chairs at other planetariums I have visited, we were offered the choice of mats to lie on. We opted for the mats, and while Apple and Julie reportedly slept through parts of the presentation, I really enjoyed the show. The only think I could have used was a small pillow.


Mixed Service

I would dare say that we certainly experienced a fair mix of highs and lows in terms of "service" from various destinations while in St. Louis. Unfortunately, bad service experiences tend to influence my opinion more than good ones. Good Service was certainly received at the Forest Park Visitor's Center, The Forest Park Zoo, and J.F. Filipinno's restaurant. On the other hand, the front desk staff at Drury were less than enthusiastic, nor were the breakfast/snack personnel. Also, rather unfriendly was the ticket taker at the Science Museum. If I could characterize the poor service is was less a service issue and more an "attitude" of "since I clearly don't want to do this job, I am going to let my crankiness or bad mood wear off on everyone. I think the ultimate in poor customer service occurred at Urban Wear in St. Louis Mills. The front desk clerk was on the phone the entire time we were in the store, including when Apple paid for her items. At one point the clerk moved the phone away from her, telling us that "I am on the phone with the manager" only to continue talking about everything under the weather 'except' work. I haven't a clue if she truly thought she was fooling us, but it was certainly a sign of the difficulties in finding decent service workers.


Chow Time!

Dining out was a high point of our trip. We ate at Filipinno's on the first evening in St. Louis, Tuesday night. We were at first reluctant to try this place, thinking this was just another high priced overrated eatery attached to the hotel. But after reading the numerous positive reviews on Yahoo we were convinced to give it a whirl. It was a great experience at a very affordable price. Given that we had been snacking earlier in the evening, Apple and Julie choose to share an entry, and we all passed on appetizers and salads. I went with the Cavetelli Con Brocolli. It was delicious. The cavatelli was served piping hot with a cream sauce with Garlic and small Broccoli spears. The broccoli was cooked right on and the cream sauce was to die for. Given that I don't normally eat "authentic mom and pop" eateries, I can compare this only to places like Olive Garden and all I can say is that if Filipinno's was in Bloomington, I would not be visiting Olive Garden - ever again.
For lunch on Wednesday we opted for Qdoba. Nothing special, but a favorite for us and certainly a relief from burgers and buffets. Supper consisted of an abbreviated second round from Filipinno's. We decided to get a carry out pizza. It was advertised in the menu as St. Louis style, and the thin crust was representative of St. Louis' style pizza, but clearly it was missing the trademark Provel Cheese. I was slightly disappointed as I love Provel, but it was still good and a cheap alternative to paying for three full meals. We supplemented the carry out pizza with the complinentary chips and soda from the Drury Inn.


Card Shark

We believe that in addition to Apple's numerous achievements while in Thailand, she must have also led a secret life as a professional card player or something. We played numerous games of rummy and Golf (a less popular but simple card game) and she whipped us nearly each and every time. This actually was one of the more enjoyable parts of our trip. After spending the day on the town, we returned each night to the Drury, took over a space in the breakfast area, and played cards for several hours. In between we watched the numerous 'hotel residents' passing through.