Vday & Anniversary Getaway // Saint Louis // February 2014

Before you read: KS folks have you entered the fabulous B. Michelle Bake Shop Giveaway yet??!?! It's almost over, so get your entries in! 

This post is super long... but jam packed with AMAZING pictures, Saint Louis recommendations and a little art history for those interested. Scroll through and find what you're interested in!

We booked our favorite B&B and planned a fun day of activities to quench our travel thirst as well as relax a bit and spend some time without responsibilities to celebrate not just Valentine's Day... but our Anniversary too! Kudos to you if you noticed a lack of posting  back around New Year's...

We got married on New Year's Eve 2011 and didn't really have a good time to celebrate this year, so we made it a package trip and it was very fun! 

We got to relax and spend lots of one on one time together as well as see some of the sites and eat some yummy food :)

We got to Saint Louis fairly late Friday night & checked into our B&B, Elves Manor. You can see our details of our other trip there, here. I can't believe it's been 3 years! As usual Karen, the Inn Keeper spoiled us with lovely snacks, breakfast and drinks! We felt so special to have a mini sparkling beverage in the fridge! Thank you Karen! :) Here's an old picture of the exterior. We didn't remember to take one this time! So cute right?

The next morning we got up and I made KC a special French Toast breakfast! The story behind the french toast is simply that I don't usually care for it, but this recipe is the best thing I've ever eaten... So I try to make it one or two times a year for special occasions. Kyle went out to get Starbucks (addicted) while I baked the french toast. This time I added Nutella to the middle... because he loves it... and it seemed like it would go well with the raspberry that I usually do. He was a fan. We enjoyed our breakfast together before heading out the The Fox Theatre for a tour!

We also visited the Fox Theatre on our last visit to Elves Manor again you can view that post, here. The Fox is this amazing theatre built in the 1920's. It was the brainchild of William Fox (like 20th century Fox...) and it remains one of the largest theatres with it's original organ in it's original working order. It's so amazing. 

Anyhow, it was the place where we saw Celtic Woman for the first time and it was the perfect location for it! The theatre was so beautiful that we had to go back for a tour! 

So we paid our $7 apiece and joined a group for a tour of the interior; including the theatre, stage, back stage and downstairs as well as the fancy schmancy 'Fox Club'. 

The gorgeous exterior. 

We walked all through the basement and backstage up onto the stage. The whole way the walls are covered in murals and signatures of broadway actors, musicians, and other famous acts that have preformed at the Fox. It is one of the only if not the only place where this happens! It was so fun to see. The earliest ones are from the early '90's when the Fox opened again and there is an incredible range of art and style. It was so fun to search the walls for names and shows we were familiar with!

One of the most detailed and craziest... One of the three dream girls. 

Then we found Celtic Woman. Though they don't have a mural I was able to read things that six of the past and present ladies wrote! It was very cool.

The outside is impressive and the signatures are so fun to see... But my favorite piece was touring the interior, learning the stories of the building and marveling at the sheer awesomeness of the design & ornateness inside.

This chandelier is 12 ft in diameter! Mind boggling!

After the tour of the Fox we went over to the Saint Louis Art Museum, a brand new location for us! :) Outside after a long slippery side walk trekk we made it to this breathtaking statue of Saint Louis himself. It is so massive and impressive! I swear I have two pictures from every angle! 

It's just amazingly gorgeous.. and the park down the hill is so spacious! I would love to go back in the spring or summer and see all of the green trees and flowers!

Such a gorgeous museum... inside & out. Though I don't understand their fascination with Max Beckmann... it's not my thing. And there is a lot of it! But if you're a fan this is the place to go! You'll soon find out that I was originally an Art History major. :)

Another Monet water lily! (KC has one too!) The violet ones are always my favorite though, so it was so breathtaking to see this one in person!

I had never heard of Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida before this trip, but I am mesmerized by his use of movement in this piece 'Under the Awning, Zarauz'. It makes me want to visit the European coasts... who wouldn't right? This painting reminds me of Downton Abbey (on a beach). I purchased a greeting card print in the gift shop before we left! 

I got to see my first Degas sculpture at this museum! This piece is a phenomenal sculpture called 'Little Dancer of Fourteen Years'.  I absolutely love it, the mixed media makes it look so life-like. I didn't even know that he did sculpture! There was a figurine in the gift shop that I considered buying but it was chipped. I really wanted a glitter globe with a replica in it, but it was $50. Sadly, a little too much for this particular occasion. 

I am such a big fan of classical sculpture. Even the pieces that are missing limbs and features. There is something so beautiful about the life like shapes and the draping and movement of their garments. It's such a wonderful opportunity to see things that are so old, yet so intact (considering). I loved all of these sculptures but this was one of my favorite because of the movement of Artemis's garment.

Then we visited the new east building, which is filled with modern & contemporary pieces, again much like the addition to the Nelson in KC. I loved some of it, but all-in-all these pieces are never my favorite. I do enjoy the size of the pieces and more abstract ones however, like this set pictured above.

I thought this statue was neat, and couldn't pass up the chance to take this picture. KC is such a good sport!

My first Lichtenstein! Again, who knew he did anything but paint! I really really love this sculpture! The black and white is so eye-catching!

We decided to grab lunch at the cafe (not the swanky looking restaurant) but it ended up being really wonderful, and quite special! I got this amazing spinach salad with grilled southwestern chicken on it. It also had tomatoes, black beans, red onions, cilantro sour cream and a sort of southwest honey mustard dressing with kick to it! So delicious! Kyle got the special which was lamb with a tzatziki sauce, marinated Mediterranean veggies and cucumber tomato salad... which I ate quite a bit of :) and a roll. We shared a Fitz's black cherry soda, which is a Saint Louis specialty. It was pretty good, but I let Kyle drink most of it, because it's not really my favorite type of soda. :) It was an awesome and affordable lunch!

We got dinner that night with KC's friend who moved out there recently, his girlfriend and roommate. We went to a place he suggested called Russel's on Macklind. It is a really homey farm-to-table cafe with AMAZING desserts! The lighting was so lovely and low that none of my pictures turned out very well. But if you are going to Saint Louis eat there! It's so so fantastic! For dinner I had roasted chicken in garlic mashed potatoes with roasted brussell sprouts, which was perfect. For dessert (to-go) I got this unbelievable (& huge!) slice of dark chocolate cake, it had homemade whipped cream in between the three layers and a fresh strawberry frosting topped with a chocolate layer. UM yeah it was .... incredible! 

Once again, we were having such a great time we forgot to take pictures of ourselves... so here you have a 'we're leaving Saint Louis and grabbing coffee on the road' picture. Nice huh? We got these amazing croissants at Kayak Coffee along with a smoothie and juice.. so really we didn't get coffee that time. My croissant was stuffed with cheeses, spinach and roasted tomatoes. Kyle's was chocolate of course. So tasty! 

If you made it to the bottom, congratulations! :) 

We had such a nice time. I love how a weekend trip can really refresh you and quench some of that travel thirst! 

Have you ever been to Saint Louis?

What were your favorites?

What is your favorite art museum??

Recommendations always always welcome! 

Thank You for Reading & Happy Travels! 

Alexandra

Stay tuned for details on our next trip! I'm psyched!