Sunday, July 15

Dinner with a view - Mississippi River - Duck Club Y.C.

Cooling off - Duck Club Y.C.

Jimmy Lee & Co. at 1860's Saloon

Soulard neighborhood - St. Louis

Main stage - BB's jazz, blues, soups

Lunch at BB's

Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

Saint Charles, MI.

What is it about mini vans & Charlie?  The Port Charles Marina has a courtesy vehicle that they kindly agreed to lend us for the day - this time it was a "later model" unit - a real beauty (maroon, 80k miles but an AC that works)!
By 10:00 am we were in Historic Saint Charles, MI. - their motto "Come and Relive the Early American Spirit". 
South Main Street with gas lights and brick paved streets is the largest designated Historic District in Missouri, featuring 88 restored buildings dating from 1790 - 1800's.  It served as Missouri's first state capital and notables who have called it home include Daniel Boone & Captions Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.  Today it features many specialty boutiques and eating establishments.
With our slightly outdated GPS, we were off to find Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis.  Although confused in a couple of spots, it got us there - just in time for a brief tour before the Noon Mass.
Called by Pope Paul VI "the outstanding cathedral of the America's", it houses the world's largest collection of mosiac art.  There are 83,000 square feet of mosaic art designed by twenty artists and installed over a period of seventy-five years.  The mosaics were created with over 41,500,000 pieces of tile in more than 8,000 shades of color.  It is magnificent.
We shifted gears and headed for BB's jazz, blues, soups - although we were too early for the Sunday afternoon live music we enjoyed a great BBQ platter and banter with the bartender & cook - we have made it a practice at these establishments to eat at the bar where the locals are more apt to strike up a conversation with us.
Our final stop was to head over to the historic French neighborhood of Soulard, one of the oldest in St. Louis.  The streets are lined with red brick townhomes, many of which house live music clubs and unique restaurants.  We stopped at the 1860's Saloon to take in a set by Jimmy Lee & Co.  In the near 100 degree heat of the afternoon, there was not a better place to cool off than in this dimly lit tavern listening to some St. Louis blues.
A swim at the Duck Club Y.C. was in order after our day of touring - we have thoroughly enjoyed our brief stay at this friendly marina.