Playing Tourists in Our City

Since Dan had the day off from work, we escaped the daily grind on Friday. We took the kids to the grandparents in the morning, and spent the day together. Dan said the goal of the day was to do whatever I wanted, which felt so luxurious to me!

We started our adventure with lunch at one of my favorite places: Buffalo Wild Wings. I love me some wings! We sat in a booth, and Dan did one of the simplest things - but it had lots of impact. He sat on my side of the booth, so we were side-by-side. Sounds a little silly, but it was so nice to sit together and snuggle. And sooooo nice to have an entire, uninterrupted conversation. That hasn't happened since Jamaica!

After lunch, we went to the Cathedral Basilica. I have never been inside this church, and it was gorgeous. The mosaics are stunning. We wandered and I was overjoyed to just play with Penny (our camera) and stretch myself on the manual settings. I think Dan was ready to leave before I was, so he just sat down in a pew and let me sate my photographer's eye. I got some good photos, and some that were downright awful. Here are some of the better ones:

We were at the basilica for an hour and a half, then headed towards Forest Park so I could take some more photos. We stood at the top of Art Hill and took photos in front of the grand basin:

And a photo of Saint Louis:

Then went inside the (free) art museum. I have to admit that art museums aren't really my thing. There are too many off-the-wall kinds of displays, like one that was called "Octagon" and was made from Rit dye and canvas. (Seriously? This is art?!)

But then there are others that stun me with their beauty, like Danae by Artemesia Gentileschi. She painted this at age NINETEEN. Wow.

We decided to head to University City for drinks.

We sat outside Blueberry Hill and watched all the crazy people walk by. This might be THE best place in St. Louis to people watch. Seriously. God makes all kinds! After a few drinks, we went inside to use the photo booth. I love those things! And Dan humored me, again, by playing along.

Around this time, we got hungry and headed to Clayton for dinner at Remy's Kitchen and Wine Bar. I used to eat here all the time when I worked full time, but have only been back once for a Moms' Night Out event. Dan had never eaten at Remy's, so I was glad to show him a new place. He sat in the same side of the booth with me again. (How sweet.) After Remy's, we had dessert at Roxane. I had the chocolate fondue and Dan had a gooey butter cake brownie. It was divine!

On the way home, we decided to stop and rent a movie. We stayed up late to watch Revolutionary Road with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It was very dramatic and generated lots of conversation between us, but it had great acting.

The icing on the cake was getting to sleep in Saturday morning, then Dan ran out to buy breakfast and bring it home to me. What a nice mini vacation. I thoroughly enjoyed being a tourist in our town, and hope we get to do it again soon! (Hint, hint, Sugar!)