Skiing at Hidden Valley
Saturday 28th Jan 2006 was an interesting day for me. Phil and myself went to Hidden Valley Ski Resort on the outskirts of St Louis City. Our work runs a social club which gets you discounts from various activities throughout the year. This meant that I could get a ski lesson and a day on the slopes for only $37. I speant the first hour going down the slope on everything but my ski’s but by the end of the day I had got the hang of it. So the lesson had definitely done its job. In the evening we went to an American Trivia Quiz Night with some people from work. By the title alone we should have realized we were not going to do to well but for $30 you got free food and drink so we had to take part. In the end I think we placed eleventh out of seventeen teams so we were not the worst.
US Figure Skating Trials
The US Olympic Figure skating trials were held at the Savviss Centre in St Louis. Mark and myself were in attendance for the final day which included the men’s singles and woman’s singles finals. I don’t think the US will be winning many gold medals at the upcoming winter Olympics as the majority of competitors ended up on there backside at some point in there routine. Overall it was an interesting experience and it was a bit more entertaining than I thought it would be.
New Apartment
Returned back from the UK and moved into my new apartment on the 6th January 2006. The apartment is located five blocks from my work so I can walk to work. We also have a pub and a grocery store located across the road from us. We have spent the last month getting all the essentials for the apartment including a 52” HDTV, home theatre system, DVD player, dart board and full size pool table. We are renting furniture rather than buying as we do not want to be stuck with it when we return to the UK. So feel free to pop round for a game of pool.
Christmas Time Mistletoe and Wine
No I didn’t go to a Cliff Richard concert I returned to the UK for the period 25th December 2005 to 4th January 2006. Managed to catch up with some of you but unfortunately didn’t manage to see everyone I would have liked to, it is just a busy time of year. I will be back in the UK in September so hopefully I will be able to catch up with you all then.
Rams Vs Eagles
We felt that we should give American Football another chance. That is not exactly true we got the tickets for free from our work. This time the Rams took on the Philadelphia Eagles. Surprise Surprise the Rams lost 17-16 in a dull game. This ended any hope the Rams had of qualifying for the playoffs. The locals said this has been a particular poor season for the Rams who actually won the Super bowl in 2000. For me it confirmed that watching live American Football was equivalent to watching paint dry.
St Louis Billikens
The Billikens are St Louis University’s (SLU) basketball team. There is no NBA Basketball team based in St Louis at present the closest team would be the Chicago Bulls located about 450miles from St Louis. Going to watch the Basketball over here is quite entertaining for one there are not as many breaks in play as American football and secondly you get to see the SLU cheerleaders in action. The photos are from SLUs game against Kennesaw state on 17th Dec 2005. The Billikens won 74-60.
St Louis Steamers
The Americans call it soccer but to me it will always be football. St Louis has its own 7 a side indoor football team called the St Louis Steamers. They play in the American indoor soccer league with all home games at the Savviss Centre. I went to my first game on Friday 16th Dec 2005 where the St Louis Steamers took on the Baltimore Blast. Defenses were on top and the Steamers won 7-2. It reminded me a bit of some of those Sunday night games in the Galleon.
Works Xmas Party
This years works Xmas party was held in the Noonday Club in a building called One Metropolitan Square. The club is on the 40th floor and you can get a good view of the arch and Mississippi river from the windows. The party was a bit different from our typical works Xmas parties which generally consist of drink, a meal and more drink. Here we had a buffet meal and some drinks which were all free if you had beer tokens. Since we were still relatively new to the states we managed to collect a fair number of beer tokens. I think it is fair to say that the British boys had a good time that night.
U2 Vetrigo Tour
U2 came to town on Wednesday 14th Dec 2005. They were playing at the Savviss Centre. The gig was a complete sell out and the Savviss was rocking that night. Tickets were on the steep side starting at $50 dollars and changing hands for close to $500 dollars on the night of the event. Bono and The Edge played all the songs from the Vertigo album and some of the old classics. Kanye West was the support act on the night. He is not really my cup of tea and I didn’t really enjoy his set to much. The photos were taken from our seats which was near the back of the venue.
Rams V Redskins
I took in my first American football experience on Sunday 4th Dec 2005. The St Louis Rams were playing the Washington Redskins at the Edward Jones Dome (EJD). The EJD is a 70,000 all seater indoor stadium and it is where the Rams play all there home games. Watching a live game was different from what I expected. There is a lot of breaks in play and long spells where nothing is going on which can be quite frustrating. I actually prefer watching the games on TV. For those who are interested the game finished 24 – 9 to the Redskins.
Nights Out
You won’t be surprised to here that we have also had few nights out at various bars and restaurants around St Louis. Food wise I have sampled American, Mexican, Italian, Indian and Vietnamese food. In terms of bars St Louis has a lot of Irish and Sports bars. My personal favorite is a bar called ‘Jack Patricks’ which is located across the road from our new apartment. My favorite tipple at the moment is Bud Select. It tastes similar to Bud but only has 90 calories per bottle. We also found a bar called the Scottish Arms where we managed to get a decent pint of Tennants Lager. The photos were taken at various nights out and at various levels of soberness.
Australian Pink Floyd Concert
Friday 25th Nov 2005 and another night at the Savviss Centre. This time it was to watch the Australian Pink Floyd Concert. I am not a great Pink Floyd fan but the work offered us the use of the corporate box so we thought we would give it a try. They played all the old classics from ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ and ‘The Wall’ The light show and video show was very impressive. I tried to capture some photos from the event but it was quite dark and the photos are not of the best quality.
Budweiser Tour
If there is one thing that St Louis is famous for it is for being the home of Budweiser. Bud has been brewed in St Louis since its creator Eberhard Anheuser purchased the Bavarian Brewery in 1860. The tour lasted for about an hour and it covered all subjexts including the history of Budweiser and the brewing and distribution process. We took the tour for these reasons alone it was nothing to do with the free beer tasting at the end of the tour. Unlike the UK where you generally get one kind of Budweiser over here you can get many different types of Bud including Bud Light and Bud Select which is my personal favorite. One of the photos shows us all tucking into our nice cold Bud.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a public holiday celebrated by Americans on the fourth Thursday of November. Thanksgiving is a harvest festival and has been a recognized holiday in the United States since 1621. It is a bit of Christmas without the presents. This year we celebrated it at a guy from works (Mark Beumer) parents’ house. We had turkey and all the trimmings, watched some American football and shot some pool. Unfortunately I forgot to take my digital camera so I have no photos from our day at the Beumers’
Roll Up Roll Up
Roll up roll up the circus is in town. Well it was in St Louis on 17th Nov 2005. Phil, Mark and myself managed to get a freebie for this event. Our work has a corporate box at the Savviss Centre and they gave us use of the box for this event. It is not as glamorous as it sounds as we had to pay for any food and drink we wanted. The show lasted for abot three hours and featured all the regular circus stuff like clowns, performing animals and trapeze artists etc. The photos were taken from my new digital camera which I purchased a few weeks earlier.
WWE Wrestling
WWE Smackdown arrived in ST Louis on the 5th Nov 2005. WWE superstars such as Batista, Ray Misterio and The Undertaker were all in action. The event was held at the Savviss Centre which is a 20,000 indoor seater stadium located in downtown St Louis. The WWE Superstars put on a great show and so did some of the spectators. One guy sitting next to me was getting a bit to excited I think he thought the action was for real.
Let's Go Blues
The National Hockey League (NHL) has returned to action this year bringing an end too the year long players strike which saw no hockey played over the entire 2004 – 2005 season. Unfortunately my local team the St Louis Blues appears to be the East Stirling of the NHL. Since I have been here they have went on losing streaks of ten in a row and most recently nine in a row while managing to win the odd game in between times. I have posted some pictures from a game I attended on 3rd November 2005 and you have probably guessed by now that they lost. On this occasion it was 2-0 which is not bad for the Blues.
The Arch
The most famous attraction in St Louis is the Gateway Arch which can be located on the banks of the Mississippi River. The arch has been in St Louis since 1965, cost $13 million to build and symbolizes St Louis’ role as the Gateway to the west. It is also the cities tallest structure standing 192 meters tall and 192 meters wide. You can take a tram ride to the top of the arch and on a clear day it is reported that you can see up to thirty miles in each direction.
Despite staying only a five minute walk from the arch I have yet to do the touristy thing and take the journey to the top.
Opening Remarks
Welcome to my blog.
Three months ago my job brought me to the USA along with two other blokes (Phil ‘Baldy’ Munro & Mark ‘English Geezer’ Wisbey). Until recently I was living in a 27th floor apartment in downtown St Louis. Mansion House as it was known was ideal accommodation as we found our feet in a new city; it also had some stunning views as you can see from the photos I have posted.
