FHG Reunion - St Louis, July 2010 (Part III)

Saturday, we met up with the group after breakfast, to head to Soulard Market. It is an open-air farmer’s market near downtown St Louis. Some of the older kids from the orphanage say it reminded them of Haiti’s markets, and I can understand why they think so. There were all sorts of vendors – selling everything from meat to fruits/veggies to craft items, to toys, etc… The oddest thing I saw was “whole rabbit”. I’ve eaten rabbit meat before (tastes a lot like chicken, just a little more gamey), but it was odd to see it in the market. Anyway, we wandered around, bought some fruit, then some flavored shaved ice drinks on our way out.

We then headed to City Museum, where we had a picnic lunch before heading inside to explore.

City Museum is quite the adventure. I’m not even sure how to describe the place, but it’s kind of a whimsical maze of tunnels and caves and stairways and slides. I was a little confused and lost in there – wish I’d found a map or had a tour guide. The kids had fun, but Josephine was scared to participate in several things. Elijah was a little scared but would follow Kaylen through some of the things. Maybe when they’re bigger and not so frightened of new places and things, that’ll be more fun. Some of those tunnels and things were too small for adults to go through, but the kids were too scared to do themselves. I did get some fun pictures of the kids playing though. I think we missed several sections of the place (e.g. the roof), but we were very hot and tired, so that played into some too.

We drove around downtown a bit after City Museum, and caught a beautiful glimpse of the Gateway Arch. We thought about getting out to see it a little better, but we were too hot and tired so we decided against it.



We also drove past the new Busch Stadium on the way back to the hotel.

I think between Soulard Market and City Museum, we also were about a block or two from the dome where the Rams play football, but we weren’t 100% sure, because we were a little far to see the signage. Neat drive thru downtown though.

Back at the hotel late afternoon, we rested for a bit, then went out for supper with the group. The kids were a little wild and unmannerly (unusual for them in a restaurant), but they were so tired. We might have been better off to nap, eat a quick dinner on our own, then play at the pool a bit, but the dinner was so good. We hadn't been to O'Charley's for a while since the one near us closed.