Shortly after arriving in St. Louis, I discovered that my phone had mysteriously stopped working. My day to sight see or blog or rest or get a massage just fizzled! I spent the morning begging Verizon to help me out, and, to make a long story short, they did. The Verizon store in Southtown bent over backwards to get me a replacement. I lost all my data, and I won't be able to get that back until I get home, but at least I have a phone, calendar, etc.! In the process, I met a wonderful cab driver who moved here from Iraq several years ago, and we had a great conversation about everything from the war to the price of real estate in St. Louis. After spending fifty bucks on cab fares and sundries to get this all resolved, I went for a walk to the Gateway Arch, hoping to "de-stress". (The arch, by the way, is actually much more interesting in person than in postcards.) I wandered down the steps and saw the carriage drivers waiting for tourists like me. Larry, the man you see in the picture with Elvis, the Percheron, apologized when he told me the price. $45.00 for 30 minutes for just one person was, indeed, a lot to spend on a carriage ride. Eighteen minutes for $25.00 hardly seemed worth the bother. But suddenly it occurred to me that since I didn't have time for that massage I'd planned on, I'd still be money ahead if I took the carriage ride. Right? So I decided to splurge and enjoy my own, personal, private carriage ride. And what a treat! Turns out, Larry is from Fort Pierre, South Dakota! He was very happy to talk to a fellow Dakotan, and I was fascinated by his story of going from jockey to carriage driver! I believe we talked more about our lives than about the buildings in St. Louis (but I did get to see the oldest building standing in St. Louis), and I think that 30 minutes was very inexpensive therapy. I felt great when I was done, I even got a hug from Larry, and I was ready to ride another day! Thanks Larry, you made everything better!
Friday, June 1, 2007
St. Louis, a Not-So-Restful Day, May 28, 2007
Shortly after arriving in St. Louis, I discovered that my phone had mysteriously stopped working. My day to sight see or blog or rest or get a massage just fizzled! I spent the morning begging Verizon to help me out, and, to make a long story short, they did. The Verizon store in Southtown bent over backwards to get me a replacement. I lost all my data, and I won't be able to get that back until I get home, but at least I have a phone, calendar, etc.! In the process, I met a wonderful cab driver who moved here from Iraq several years ago, and we had a great conversation about everything from the war to the price of real estate in St. Louis. After spending fifty bucks on cab fares and sundries to get this all resolved, I went for a walk to the Gateway Arch, hoping to "de-stress". (The arch, by the way, is actually much more interesting in person than in postcards.) I wandered down the steps and saw the carriage drivers waiting for tourists like me. Larry, the man you see in the picture with Elvis, the Percheron, apologized when he told me the price. $45.00 for 30 minutes for just one person was, indeed, a lot to spend on a carriage ride. Eighteen minutes for $25.00 hardly seemed worth the bother. But suddenly it occurred to me that since I didn't have time for that massage I'd planned on, I'd still be money ahead if I took the carriage ride. Right? So I decided to splurge and enjoy my own, personal, private carriage ride. And what a treat! Turns out, Larry is from Fort Pierre, South Dakota! He was very happy to talk to a fellow Dakotan, and I was fascinated by his story of going from jockey to carriage driver! I believe we talked more about our lives than about the buildings in St. Louis (but I did get to see the oldest building standing in St. Louis), and I think that 30 minutes was very inexpensive therapy. I felt great when I was done, I even got a hug from Larry, and I was ready to ride another day! Thanks Larry, you made everything better!
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