Few hasty pics from St. Louis

So, the first session was pretest of the Fall exam (part II); exactly same practicum the applicants will have, same 4hrs sharp, only we  were not allowed to study and prep for it. I finished all on time, and am not sure of, maybe, 5-10% of the scope. All in all, very satisfying. But intense.

So then we changed and went out to have dinner. The city amazed me. I know, I said it before about Miami, and Chicago, and of course Dallas, but I have to repeat it again – we have beautiful cities here in America, ppl! Totally underappreciated!

Maybe it’s because everyone in NY told me “oh, Dallas -what do they have there – cows?” “oh, Miami? seedy nightclub joints, bland condo towers and garish boardwalk crowd” “oh, Chicago? its best days are over, and besides it’s terribly chilly” So in a sense, it did me good – the reality exceeded my lowered expectations threefold. Same happened this time. Just yesterday somebody told me “oh, St. Louis? Spread out Big Nothing. Nothing to see after you climbed that Arch”.

Oh, man! We walked only handful of blocks, of course. But you can immediately sense – this city is very different from NY. Reminds me of Dallas’ center, actually: same vast space, pristine streets (wide!) paved sidewalks (king-size!) benches everywhere (big!), dirt-cheap parking ($60 a MONTH!), amazing courthouses and municipal buildings (my favorite: Deco monumentality and 1920′ classicism), plenty of space between those skyscrapers to see each and every one, alley (like in Chicago!) gorgeous City Center Sculpture Park (that’s the one I read about in  Metropolis; I’ll talk about it later); and amazingly – no people! It’s almost empty; lots of first class restaurants – no patrons; lots of lofts to lease – no tenants, lots of available retail – nobody’s willing to rent…

Then we came to the tapas place (“Mosaic” – highly, highly recommend) When one think “tapas” in NY, it means – tiniest portions and huge bill. Well, not in St. Louis, apparently. The food was made by a master. Actually, by an ensemble of masters. They all worked in accord – the waiters, the guys who changed our ice water (no asking needed), the pastry chef , the barmen, &&&. It was the most delicious food I ate for the last…I don’t know how long. Probably since my New Year trip to Eastman in Quebec.  Raspberry mojito/ spring vegetables salad (came with eye dropper filled with dressing!), seared scallops with compressed and cubed honeydew, radishes and cucumber seeds/beef tenderloin with blue cheese and caramel sauce, glass of absolutely perfect Spanish vine and – an apotheoses: pot of chocolate mousse with Kahlua, espresso, white chocolate and minted whipped cream on a side!All of this – NY size times 3. And cost 3 times less (mojito, f.i.- $4!)

Man! I love this city.