So if you're mad at me right now, it's okay, you have every right to be. My last blog post made it seem like Avoiding Atrophy was about to just blow up with new posts, and as you might have noticed, that didn't super happen. The thing is I've been out of town, and it's kept me pretty busy/distracted. Sorry for that. But anyway, this past week I was in a most wondrous place! So wondrous, in fact, that Judy Garland once went there in a movie and sang some songs about it. If you're thinking I went to Oz, you're close, but I'm fairly certain this place isn't run by a fraudulent wizard (spoiler alert), though I'm not totally up to speed on their local government. Via I went to St. Louis! And for whatever reason, I fell all kinds of in love with it. It was one of the first trips I've taken in a while, and I think I mostly loved it for the mere fact that it was just somewhere new. For as much as I love New York City, leaving it to go anywhere is like taking a breath of fresh air atop the Swiss Alps. Anyway, here are the reasons I loved my visit to St. Louis (many of these are in respect to my current living situation, but keep in mind my deep, deep love for NYC). 1. Everything smells good. So good. Like Muffins. 2. No traffic. 3. Pretty much everything we did was free! Holy cow. We saw a super legit production of Les Miserables -- free. We sampled a bunch of flavored liqueurs -- free. We went to a zoo where you could literally reach out and touch a penguin -- believe it or not, FREE! I didn't pet him, but as you can tell I totally could have, and he totally would have been cool with it. 4. Every sandwich on any menu was under $10, and it was delicious. 5. Commuting anywhere took ten minutes. 6. My beautiful friend, Emily, lives there and we were practically joined at the scalp the whole time. By the way, this girl has a wonderful blog called Of Seeds and Thorns. You will definitely want to read it after you finish this list. 7. They brew a lot of beer there. 8. You can always find a seat on the MetroLink. 9. City Museum! This is potentially the best museum I have ever been to. It is virtually impossible to explain, but basically it's like if Jim Henson, Baz Luhrmann, Tim Burton, Picasso, and an eight-year-old boy all teamed up to make a McDonald's play place. 10. They have a version of Little Italy called The Hill where no one screams at you to come in their restaurant. 11. My parents were there too! 12. Cheap antiques! I am kicking myself for not buying this glass. I'll show you more of my finds in a future post, but combined with some donations from Emily, I basically brought home enough stuff to totally redecorate our apartment. 13. It's so damn quiet there (this one ended up freaking me out at times). 14. Ted Drewes (it's a custard place, which we all know is just ice cream, but still...delicious). Our hosts loving on some Teddy D's. 15. Basically, you just feel like doing this all the time: My mother, ladies and gentlemen. Once again, when you live in New York City, going anywhere else feels like inhaling the clean air of the Swiss Alps. But truly, I don't want to live in the Swiss Alps because of bears probably and yodeling and that really boring flag they have (yeah, I said it). And I don't want to live in St. Louis right now either, but it was an absolutely wonderful place to visit, and I would go back in a heartbeat. Just curious -- Are you from St. Louis? Yes, you. Reader. Do you live there? Have you lived there? Have you been there? What do you love about it? What do I need to see on my next visit? Anyway, I'm back in Brooklyn. Yesterday I went to Prospect Park and ate guacamole while watching a group of guys play drums and practice Capoeira. Absence really makes the heart grow fonder. I love this town.