Pithy commentary now aside, our trip to St Louis was great. Last Friday we went to the City Museum which is undoubtedly the greatest kid's museum in the world. Tunnels, slides, ramps, trains, nests, ropes, sculptures. . . the place is amazing. And if all that ain't enough, City Museum is also the home of the World Aquarium, which is the home of We, the now famous $150,000 TWO HEADED ALBINO RAT SNAKE! (I think one of We's heads was sleeping when we saw him.) Terry Gilliam couldn't have designed a better museum. If you are ever in St Louis, whether you have children or not, GO TO THE CITY MUSEUM.
Also while we were inside the museum, outside it snowed! Harrison & Helen have been asking me "whenzit gonna snow? whenzit gonna snow?" all winter. Now. Finally. Snow. And unlike the light flurry we experienced here today, this snow stuck. Which to Harrison meant snow balls for both eating and throwing.
After leaving the museum. Katherine drove us to Fitz's for lunch. I navigated. Our route took us along the northern and western edges of Forest Park. Seeing all those mansions brushed with snow struck a Brahmin chord with me. Though there's nothing particularly Oriental about these homes, something about their wide, stone facades and their green tile roofs, something about each building's quiet countenance made me think of them as square-jawed Buddhas sitting patiently through this wintry storm. The snow's touch both further dignified and pacified these solemn neighborhoods. And for a brief moment the world hushed. Even Harrison and Helen seemed to be holding their breath in the backseat as we drove through this architecturally impressive part of town.
After lunch I ducked quickly into a record store across the street from Fitz's for some brief browsing. Whenever I'm in a new town I try to hit a record store, even though I still don't have a turntable working at home. One of these days. Until then, I'm content to flip through the bins and search for impossible to find treasures - like Black Vinyl Shoes or anything put out by Ze Records or Twisted Village.
After lunch it was off to the St Louis Science Center. The kids took turns running on a large, wheel/threadmill in the lobby before heading to the dinosaur exhibit. Once in the exhibit, Harrison warned me not to look the giant animatronic T-Rex in the eye or it might get me. After this exhibit, Helen and I cut out. She was getting tired and kept asking to go back to the hotel (thank goodness. . . I hate to admit it but Science Museums are starting to get on my nerves). So Harrison & Katherine soldiered on for another hour and then met back up with us for dinner. We found a child-friendly Italian restaurant around the corner from where we were staying and it was spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.
Travelling with small children has lots of ups and downs. I wouldn't trade seeing their excitement and joy for anything. But travelling with picky eaters like ours is a challenge. During dinner, I couldn't help staring longingly out of the window of the pasta shack where we were eating. Why? Because directly across the street was an amazing looking sushi restaurant. It was called the Sub Zero Vodka Bar. And obviously sushi is not their only speciality. O Futomaki! O Martini! So close yet so far away. Even though it was just a street width away, the Sub Zero Vodka bar might as well have been in Siberia, because there was no way this group was getting anywhere near it. We did find a Ben & Jerry's after dinner, which helped ease my distress somewhat. After ice cream it was back to the hotel for bedtime and there ended our first full day in St Louis.