After breakfast we drove up to St.Louis to pick Denise up and drive further up to Illinois. We crossed the border to that other state as we drove accross the bridge (see image below). Over there we ate at a nice fish restaurant called Fin Inn where you can watch the fishes swimming by while you eat them. Later we went back by taking a ride on a ferry accross the Mississippi.
After that trip we went shopping in a big mall in St. Louis and spent the night at Denise’s and Trent’s home.
Today we started our day with a tour through America’s biggest breweries - Anheuser-Bush. Not very surprisingly started by two German master brewers nowadays they produce over 65 different beers. We enjoied the interesting tour through the huge brewery facility and were able to taste some of there bewages.
In the evening we went to the botanical garden of St. Louis where Dale Chihuly - a famouse glas blower - had an exhibition. They had his artwork all over the place in the garden and everyone was nicely lit up.
Without knowing who this Daniel Boone guy actually we went with Renate and Denise to his house. There we learned that he was one of the first settlers who was invited to come to Missouri.
Our next stop was in St. Charles where we took a walk to the picturesque old part of the city. A long time ago St. Charles was the first capitol of the Missouri state.
Roughly one hour away from the farm are the Meramec Caverns. Known for also beeing Jessi James’ hideout they have the 3rd largest stalagmite in the world and a beautifull set of caves with lots of dripstones and underground lakes. It was really beautifull and interesting as you may guess from the pictures.
Andrea’s aunt took us on a ride around the St. Louis area. On our way through Washington(MO), New Haven and Hermann (not to mention that this once was a German settlement) we could enjoy the picturesque landscape along the Missouri river. Since this area has a lot of wineries we couldn’t resist to visit one of them and taste some local wines.
On the tracks of Americas very first President we enjoied our visit at Mount Vernon where Georg Washington had his Farm’s. It is kind of park where actors bring the history to life. They tell stories and facts from that time and we could get an impression of how life was at that time. And by the way, you know the cherry tree story? It’s nothing but a tale.
The mansion.
The garden and slave house.
Some actors.
The barn.
Thanks to Marybeth, one of my aunts neighbours, who is the chief of the firedeparment in Prince William County we could visit the 14th firestation and see how they work and take a look at thier equipment. Beth and her workmates showed us their fire and rescue trucks. They also measured Andrea’s blood pressure and made a cardiogram. It was very interesting to see how their work differes from German fire brigade.
After taking a ride to DC we started our exploration of the city. We left the bus near the National Mall and made our way up to the Washington Monument.
Not far away is the White House, but it wasn’t allowed to get closer to it than this.
After having lunch at nothing else than McDonalds (I should mention that this was the first time at McDonalds in the USA at all) we visited the National Museum of the American Indian which has a pretty good collection of American Indian stuff.
Later that day we met Bobby and his wife who took us on a exciting tour through the city at night. We started in Chinatown where we made this funny pictures in front of a Hooters Pub.
After having lunch at a Mongolian BBQ we left Chinatown to visit all the great Monuments throughout the city.
Thanks a lot for the amazing tour.
On our first day where we actually went into DC we visited the Smithsonian Zoo where we could see animals you can harldy find in german zoo’s.
Like this one, the Little Panda.
To prove that we were there Andrea risked her life and stuck her head into the mouth of a gigantic T-Rex.
The main attraction of the Smithsonian Zoo were those Panda’s.
Some more pictures from the Zoo.
After that John and Monika dropped us at the Potomac Mills which is a huge mall where we quit walking after 3 hours in just one direction. They have one shop on the other so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find some presents there.
