The Missouri Botantical Garden

(This is Karen posting). I made the decision that I need to have more fun in my life. I was working with one of my patients at her house and noticed a picture she had framed on her wall. It was of historical locations in the St. Louis area. Then, a fantastic idea came to me. I thought it would be fun to go and see some of these historical locations that I've heard of, but have never seen, or revisit places I haven't been to since I was a kid.

So, I stole an idea from my cousin that lives in Manhattan. She and a friend decided to take tours of some of the things that NYC has to offer. They went out on Saturdays, took pictures of their adventures and blogged about their experiences. I was able to go with them on one of their outings and had a really fun time.

I talked my friends Mary and Christina into partaking in this adventure with me. We became fast friends when I moved back to Missouri from Nevada and I couldn't think of two more fun girls with whom I would rather share my Saturdays in St. Louis.

My cousin and her friend also decided to don matching purple hats to wear during their tours. I likewise felt it was necessary to accessorize our attire with something fun. Mary and Christina found matching flowers for us to wear, therefore, we got a lot of "So, what's with the flowers?". And thus the birth of our blog name. There's the background of our adventures.

We are planning on going out once a month. Our visits will not be isolated to just the St. Louis area. Guest adventurers are welcome!
The Missouri Botanical Garden (a.k.a. Shaw's Garden)
Our first outing brought us to The Missouri Botanical Garden. It was founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw who was a botanist and philanthropist. It is one of the oldest botanical institutions in the United States. There are a total of 79 acres of horticultural display. The day we went, there happened to be an orchid display. The display showcased over 800 orchids! Trust me, we counted!! (OK, not really).
Here are just a few pictures that were taken. The good pictures were taken by Christina on her nice camera. The mediocre ones were taken by yours truly on my Fujifilm camera.
First of all, when parking in the city, it is quite helpful to have a pal along that can parallel park. I am not the best at parallel parking, so I turned the keys over to a professional. Stellar job, Mary.

Introductions, left to right. Mary, Christina, and Karen.

Me, SO excited to have some fun!!This blown glass piece of artwork can be found at the entrance.
The all important flower color decision.
The orchids.
Let's all take some time to smell the orchids.
So pretty.The professional photographer with her super-nice camera. Aren't her pictures beautiful?
Greek goddesses. Look out Venus de Milo!This picture creeps me out just a little bit.And, so does this one.And, yet another disturbing picture.I am a key chain collector and I was STOKED to add another one to my collection.
The Hill
Our journey also took us to an area of St. Louis known as "The Hill". It's a mostly Italian-American neighborhood located south of Forest Park (which will be included in a later adventure). It gets its name from its proximity to the highest point of the city. The Hill is home to locally renowned Italian-American restaurants, bakeries, bocce gardens and grocery stores. Just to name a few.
The view from The Hill. Notice the St. Louis Arch (which will be included in a later adventure).Cute little houses. Little being the operative word.
The fire hydrants of The Hill.
An Italian-American market.
We also headed to St. Ambrose Church.
Here is a statue of some of the early Italian immigrants. I named them, Guido, Lucia and baby Mario. I have no idea what their real names are.
Walking past an Italian restaurant. There were some yummy smells wafting out of the door so we stopped to take a sniff.
Bocce, anyone?
Outside one of the Italian-American bakeries.
We stopped in this bakery for some yummy treats.
Some of their wares-cannolis.
Notice the decorations resemble the Italian flag (of which we saw more than one).
Oh, sorry. These wares aren't for sale. Well, price is negotiable.
We also stopped for a late lunch at Favazza's.
Mr. Favazza, himself! (I made that up, just like I named the figures in the statue.)
Decisions, decisions.
Toasted ravioli. Oh, my. It's quite a treat and also a St. Louis original! Way to go, St. Louis.
Scrum-diddily-umtious!
Our choices for lunch.
Dessert.
How is it, Mary?
Just being silly at the end of our journey.
So, I learned a few things from posting this. One, there were far too many pictures of me taken. Two, if we're going to eat like this, we had better do more walking during our adventures. Three, it was really fun! Four, I'm really glad that my friends decided to join me on these adventures.
Upcoming Attractions:
The St. Louis Gateway Arch