DAY 2: FRYday Sept.7

We started off this day with breakfast at the Shrine Hotel. Then, at 7:30 A.M. sharp, we loaded on the bus with our great bus driver, Jeff and our tour guide, Walt! We headed to St. Louis for an all day city tour! First off, we went to Mass @ Holy Family Catholic Church. This church is AMAZING! It is over 300 years old, built from timbers from the area. The timbers actually date back to when Columbus discovered America! It was raining and it made it even more cozy in that beautiful old church with the old old windows and smelling the timbers of the church---a woodsy smell that just made you feel like you really were back 300 years! Man, if those walls could talk! The mass was nice/the sermon good---after a photo session we popped up the umbrellas and headed back to the bus. We stopped by the St. Clair County Courthouse for some pix, too! After that we headed to the beautiful Shrine of St. Joseph. It was unbelieveable. Comparable to Cathedrals in Europe I have seen! I can't begin to explain how gorgeous it was! After a guided tour there, we went to the Riverboat Lunch Cruise. It stopped raining (I'm sure Kim was praying for it to stop!) and the sun even came out! We had a box lunch and had a nice cruise down the river. After that we went to the Anheuser-Busch brewery. WOW! It was an 8 block walking tour! It was incredible!!!! By the time we got back, it was time for supper and we were ready to go to the CASINO! UNREAL! (too bad I lost forty bucks! HAHA). I am going to post pix of the Holy Family Church and the courthouse and then post one whole page tomorrow of the incredible church of St. Joseph. I have so many pix and want to put them all on. Also lots from the Brewery as well.....Check out this 300 year old church and think about how it smells when you bring your freshly cut Christmas tree in as you're looking thro them!