MISSOURI - KANSAS CITY

This morning we drove from our hotel to have a look at the River Market north of Downtown in Kansas City.

Did I mention we were in Kansas City?

No? Well we are. The one in Missouri not Kansas. Although we did drive through there on our way here just so I could say I had been to Kansas (and Kansas City, Kansas is kind of a scary place - you know, lock the car doors kind of scary - at least the part we drove through seemed to be). They are actually quite close together. Don't know why they did that - it seems kind of odd to me. But hey, we are in America where anything can and does happen.

Anyway the River Market was a bit of a let down. Mostly because a lot of the traders don't open on Monday.

Actually as far as travelling goes, Monday is not a great day (especially in the off season) as a lot of things don't open. Sunday too.

There were a few areas in the Lonely Planet guide that were suggested to drive through such as the Art district and the historic Jazz district. Which we did, as well as some sculpture gardens and some Seville inspired architecture.

We did actually get out of the car at two places. The first was Union Station which is a lovely grand old (well I'm pretty sure it's old but maybe they just made it look that way) building. As well as being able to catch a train from there they have shops, places to eat, exhibits (closed obviously, being a Monday) and even a big model train set up.

The parking there is done on an honesty system. There is a panel in the wall with bunch of slots relating to the parking spaces. They tell you how much parking is per hour and you put the money in the slot relating to your space.

Or not, if you're one of THOSE type of people.

Which we are not.

Of course.

The other place we went to (just over the road from Union Station - which is kind of why we went there. We looked over the road and thought "What's that? It looks like the touristy kind of thing we should look at." So we did) was the Liberty Memorial.

Before we started on the drive to St. Louis (our next stop) we dropped by Subway. Where Nic accidentally threw her drink over one of the staff (she dropped something, tried to grab it and the drink went all over the poor girl - who was very good about it actually) and then couldn't eat her lunch because she was crying from laughing so hard.

We then decided to go to Walmart to grab a few necessities. By the end of the night this turned into the stupidest, funniest saga of the trip so far. Here it is in point form.

Went to Walmart. Bought stuff. Drove to new hotel in St. Louis (which incidentally was v nice with a v nice gym). Nic wanted some crackers that we had bought. Couldn't find them. Realised we had left one bag of shopping in Walmart back in Kansas City (4 hours drive away). Called them and they told us to go to Walmart in St. Louis, tell manager there to call them and they will replace the stuff. Also told us that Walmart is open 24 hours. Ask if we can go tomorrow (in pj's and can't be bothered going out to find Walmart). Told we need to do it tonight as she is not on tomorrow until 7pm and we will have left St. Louis by then. Get out of pj's and go to St. Louis Walmart (a massive 4.5 minutes away). Get inside and are told they are closed (amazing we actually got it). Explain our problem. Get looked at like am from another planet. Get handballed to someone else. Explain our problem. Get looked at again like from another planet. Get handballed to manager (who is really who we needed in first place). Explain problem. Get looked at like from another planet but he takes pity on us (think Aussie accent is big bonus - so far only American who doesn't think we are English, although thinks we are Kiwi's). Tells us to just go get the stuff. Run through shop to find the four things we need - yes only four. Feel like we are in one of those competitions where you have 60 seconds to grab as much stuff as you can. Get back in car. Drive to hotel. Get back into pj's. Thanks goodness it's over. Nic can now have a cracker.

Moral of the story? Be glad we left stuff at Walmart because when we went to the car we realise I had left the interior light on and that would have meant a flat battery in the morning and a whole other drama a lot worse than leaving the shopping at Walmart.