St. Louis Part II: Hotel and Parks

We stayed at the Drury Plaza Hotel at the Arch. It was fantastic. The lobby had a huge water fall with sculptures of Lewis and Clark, along with Sacagawea. They were accompanied on their expedition by a dog, apparently, and Connor and Lex pet that bronze dog every time we walked past it. Oh, and they barked at it, too. Charming.

We got a two room suite, so that the boys could sleep in their own room. Connor claimed the queen-sized pull out couch, and we put Lex's Pack 'n Play next to it. Here they are lounging on Connor's bed and watching a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse early one morning while we were waiting for the zoo to open.


I really liked being in the central time zone. We got up at our usual time, and we were already an hour early! It was a nice feeling.

The other fabulous thing about the Drury is all the food. There is a coffee and soda station in the lobby, and that is open all the time. So I drank lots of coffee and Pepsi, and I could get the boys cups upon cups of lemonade. In the morning, there is a free hot breakfast. There were eggs and sausage and biscuits and gravy and fruit and donuts and cereal and yogurt. In the evening, there is another free meal. The first night there were hot dogs, chicken nuggets, nachos, salad, baked potatoes and veggies. The second night there were hot dogs, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, salad, veggies and broccoli cheddar soup. While that may not be gourmet enough for everyone, that's pretty much what the boys always want for dinner anyways, so we just ate dinner at the hotel for free every night. Plus, each night we got up to three free alcoholic beverages, so the dining area was always full of people. It was a nice atmosphere.

I haven't even mentioned how close this hotel is to all the downtown St. Louis attractions. But it is really close. It's right across the street from the arch. Literally. And it's within a short walk of a bunch of other parks, too.

Our favorite park was Citygarden.


According to the official Citygarden pamphlet:

"Citygarden is an exhilarating urban oasis that brings together lush landscape, meandering walkways and world renowned sculpture accentuated by the delights of water, stone, architecture and design. You won't find walls or fences, admission charges or do not touch signs, because at Citygarden you are always free. Free to explore. Free to play. Free to feel inspired."

We found that the park was the size of two downtown city blocks, and it was full of fun sculptures for the boys to climb on and in, and water features that Lex enjoyed playing in and Connor enjoyed running away from while shrieking. Because he really doesn't like water. But it was hot.


In the end, they were both soaked, happy and a little bit tired.

We played here for quite a while. The neck of this head was open, so the boys could climb inside and look out of the eyes. Of course, this gave them a perfect view of the arch. And the whole thing was set on an angle, with water running down the ground in front of it, and Lex ended up rolling around on the ground and splashing with another little boy that he met. Lex is really good at making friends instantly with anyone who is about his size.

Tai-Chi Single Whip by Ju Ming

Between Citygarden and the Arch is Kiener Plaza. The Jefferson National Expansion Park is more or less connected to Citygarden by Kiener Plaza. I love that there are so many parks in downtown St. Louis. And everywhere you look there are fountains and sculptures. Really.

At Kiener Plaza

If you look at the above photo, you can see us in front of a fountain in Kiener Plaza, with the Old Courthouse and Arch in the background. They are both part of the Jefferson National Expansion park. The hotel on the left is the Hyatt, and the short building on the right was our hotel. The tall building on the right housed some government offices, a television station and a radio station, as far as I could tell.