We start out this morning for a side trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Belleview, IL. http://www.snows.org/. It is a 200 acre area that has many outdoor shrines. It has a first class restaurant and a motel for visitors. On the back side of the shrine is a retirement community for all phases of life. We watched a movie about the work of this group. They house themselves in the areas of the world considered hopeless, yes there are areas in the US that fit their requirements, pictured Chicago and New Orleans. We toured the compound and decided to eat there as we did not know where in St. Louis we could eat. It was good we did this because we didn’t see anything where we parked.
Shrine Restaurant, Shirleen a nice looking hot chocolate, I hot tea, yes, we are back up north. Shirleen had her Bacon Cheeseburger with fresh potato chips, I the chef prepared Pasta bar with the soup bar. Because someone wanted to order fast I ordered my way. The soup bar is one of the best in Illinois and has eight selections; I tried the onion, white chili, pork and beef noodle, quit at four. Missed the lima bean and forgot the rest. I then went to the pasta bar, now to select the ingredients, peas, tomatoes and mushrooms; then the meat but I chose shrimp from the sausage and some other items. Now the pasta, they had thin spaghetti, clamshell and cheese tortellini, I chose the last. He cooked this in the white sauce not marinara. I am glad I only tried really small portions of the soup and I left much of the tortellini behind. We finished off this episode by stopping by the main church and lit a votive candle for the parents and family dead.
We set the GPS for a map selected spot near the Cupples House in the campus of St. Louis University. After circling the campus a couple times I spotted a policemen parked along the street. He said yes I am a policemen but not familiar with the campus. He seemed to remember that Spring street used to go through the center of it and thought if we parked close to Spring we would find it. Well I tried a couple of entries to inner campus and struck out for sighting it. We parked and entered. There off the center was a grand old mansion, the Cupples house. The house dated to 1890 and around 40 rooms. http://cupples.slu.edu/ and here is a good overview http://www.slu.edu/the_arts/cupples/architecture.html We entered and found a young gal by a desk who gave us a pamphlet to study the house. A guard was also present but no docent or guide, turned out to be self guided, my guide was Shirleen, she read the pamphlet as we went along. It was three stories, a great collection of Steuben glassware. Entry light by Tiffany, stain glass windows on all floors, ornate old world desks and dressers; along with Louie the XIII style furniture. Being of Celtic descent he had different emblems of cloth, wood and a hanging curtain with family weaved cloths designs. One item struck both of us let me describe it; they were what we suspect were fancy cut glass saucers that were used to cover the tea cup as it steeped. Reminds me of Sandy F. when she has tea she places the saucer over the cup. It amazed us that the original rug was laying on the floor and we were able to walk over it as if it were any old rug, but it was one of those Persian tightly weaved rug. Well it was a little after 3 and we were to meet at 6 in Quincy. As we took off we got back on highway 64, and little to our surprise it was under construction and we were ramped off with out further direction. We looked at the map and GPS decided to take 44 to 70 to 61 and up north. It worked out but it put us 20 minutes behind. We had to stop for gas so a little more down time, but made it 15 minutes early.
We meet our friends at the front door of the restaurant. It turned out to be a sports bar of a friend of theirs. We met them at Krieger’s Sports Bar in Quincy. Shirleen had her cabernet, I 2 - 23 oz Amberbock and Pam and Randy Sierra Mists, Shirleen ordered a pepperoni thin crust pizza, Pam a Krieger cheese deluxe Hamburger with a salad, Randy Pulled Pork casserole with seasoned fries, I a full slab of BBQ ribs, salad and seasoned fries. All large portions, we will try and bring back our leftovers, as the temperature is cold and we are headed up North. We were invited to their home, we followed Pam’s sporty convertible. A tour of the house ending in the basement at Randy’s wood workshop, he had a number of nice completed works that showed his craftsmanship. The gals reviewed pictures of the family and Randy and I the people we knew in common. After a couple hours we parted. Jerry
Shrine Restaurant, Shirleen a nice looking hot chocolate, I hot tea, yes, we are back up north. Shirleen had her Bacon Cheeseburger with fresh potato chips, I the chef prepared Pasta bar with the soup bar. Because someone wanted to order fast I ordered my way. The soup bar is one of the best in Illinois and has eight selections; I tried the onion, white chili, pork and beef noodle, quit at four. Missed the lima bean and forgot the rest. I then went to the pasta bar, now to select the ingredients, peas, tomatoes and mushrooms; then the meat but I chose shrimp from the sausage and some other items. Now the pasta, they had thin spaghetti, clamshell and cheese tortellini, I chose the last. He cooked this in the white sauce not marinara. I am glad I only tried really small portions of the soup and I left much of the tortellini behind. We finished off this episode by stopping by the main church and lit a votive candle for the parents and family dead.
We set the GPS for a map selected spot near the Cupples House in the campus of St. Louis University. After circling the campus a couple times I spotted a policemen parked along the street. He said yes I am a policemen but not familiar with the campus. He seemed to remember that Spring street used to go through the center of it and thought if we parked close to Spring we would find it. Well I tried a couple of entries to inner campus and struck out for sighting it. We parked and entered. There off the center was a grand old mansion, the Cupples house. The house dated to 1890 and around 40 rooms. http://cupples.slu.edu/ and here is a good overview http://www.slu.edu/the_arts/cupples/architecture.html We entered and found a young gal by a desk who gave us a pamphlet to study the house. A guard was also present but no docent or guide, turned out to be self guided, my guide was Shirleen, she read the pamphlet as we went along. It was three stories, a great collection of Steuben glassware. Entry light by Tiffany, stain glass windows on all floors, ornate old world desks and dressers; along with Louie the XIII style furniture. Being of Celtic descent he had different emblems of cloth, wood and a hanging curtain with family weaved cloths designs. One item struck both of us let me describe it; they were what we suspect were fancy cut glass saucers that were used to cover the tea cup as it steeped. Reminds me of Sandy F. when she has tea she places the saucer over the cup. It amazed us that the original rug was laying on the floor and we were able to walk over it as if it were any old rug, but it was one of those Persian tightly weaved rug. Well it was a little after 3 and we were to meet at 6 in Quincy. As we took off we got back on highway 64, and little to our surprise it was under construction and we were ramped off with out further direction. We looked at the map and GPS decided to take 44 to 70 to 61 and up north. It worked out but it put us 20 minutes behind. We had to stop for gas so a little more down time, but made it 15 minutes early.
We meet our friends at the front door of the restaurant. It turned out to be a sports bar of a friend of theirs. We met them at Krieger’s Sports Bar in Quincy. Shirleen had her cabernet, I 2 - 23 oz Amberbock and Pam and Randy Sierra Mists, Shirleen ordered a pepperoni thin crust pizza, Pam a Krieger cheese deluxe Hamburger with a salad, Randy Pulled Pork casserole with seasoned fries, I a full slab of BBQ ribs, salad and seasoned fries. All large portions, we will try and bring back our leftovers, as the temperature is cold and we are headed up North. We were invited to their home, we followed Pam’s sporty convertible. A tour of the house ending in the basement at Randy’s wood workshop, he had a number of nice completed works that showed his craftsmanship. The gals reviewed pictures of the family and Randy and I the people we knew in common. After a couple hours we parted. Jerry
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