In case you are reading this and have never been to St Louis, let me share one of my favorite things about the city: many things are (or at least were) free. I once stood behind a family of four paying for their afternoon at the Museum of Natural History in New York and their bill was $84!! There are an awful lot of families in New York who could virtually never afford to take their kids to the museum at that price.
But when we lived in St Louis (and I believe at least some of this is still true), the Art Museum, the History Museum, the children's Science Museum, and the Zoo were all free. When the most-amazing Van Gogh exhibit came to the art museum, you had to pay to see that. Unless you went on the free day each week, which I did. Twice. The Missouri Botanic Garden wasn't free, but for St Louis residents, it was only three bucks.
When I first lived in St Louis, the zoo, the art museum, and the history museum were all within (long) walking distance of my apartment. On nice days, when I had to get away from my books for a short time, I'd sometimes walk over to one of these fine institutions and wander around for 15-20 minutes and walk home. It was awesome. If I'd had to pay to get in, I'd never have done that, but it gave me a great destination for a break without feeling like I had to get my money's worth and stay the whole afternoon.
We did pay when we went to the zoo on this visit because there are extras that aren't free: the zoo train, the carousel, the petting zoo, etc. For ten dollars each, we got a pass into all those extras for the day.
In other words: Go St Louis!!
(I could also get a ticket to a Cardinals game for under 10 bucks. I'm guessing that's not possible in the new stadium.)
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