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St LouisFur trader Pierre Laclede settled St Louis as a French trading post in 1764 at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. This location proved to be an ideal meeting point and it subsequently became a major port for boats on the Mississippi, and the main departure point for explorers on the western-bound wagon trails. As the 'Gateway to the West', St Louis became a manufacturing center for everything a pioneer would need on his journey, such as saddles and guns, and it was here that Lewis and Clark stocked up with provisions for their famous expedition.
Today St Louis is
the biggest city in Missouri and one of the largest inland ports in the country. It is a modern, commercial, industrial and cultural center. Although a cosmopolitan river metropolis, reminders of its frontier history are in evidence throughout the city, most visibly in the shining steel Gateway Arch that is the famous landmark of St Louis, dedicated to the pioneers of the western frontier.
It is a city with numerous personalities: a mix of authentic America with a vaguely European air. Music from the nation's past floats from the famous jazz and blues clubs over the waters of the Mississippi, paddle steamers dock along the riverfront where warehouses that once housed industrial cargoes now contain antique shops and restaurants as part of the revitalized Laclede's Landing Historic District.
Its distinctive neighborhoods retain the lingering influence of the many ethnic groups that settled the city, comprising the real heart of St Louis. The Hill is known for its old-world charm and excellent restaurants imbued with a Latin flavor lent by its Italian community. The Central West End is a trendy quarter filled with chic boutiques and antique shops, sidewalk cafes, art galleries and some of St Louis' finest residential properties. The French neighborhood of Soulard has a colorful Saturday produce market.
Free attractions are a St Louis tradition, and today's visitor will find more attractions here at no cost than almost anywhere else on earth. There are scores of interesting things to do, and these include some of the best attractions in the city as well as numerous activities geared towards children, making it an excellent family destination.
Getting Around: The pride of St Louis is the city's clean, efficient light rail system, called the MetroLink, which is regarded as one of the best mass transit systems in the United States. Using the MetroLink visitors can see most of St Louis' attractions without a car. The system's zone covers the airport and East St Louis, stretching for 34 miles (55km) through downtown, trains stopping at 27 stations in Missouri and Illinois where the line ends at suburban Belleville. Fares are exceedingly cheap and rides are free between Laclede's Landing and Union Station weekdays from 10am to 3pm. Shuttle services carry visitors from some MetroLink stations to nearby attractions. St Louis is also served by the MetroBus network, which covers not only the city but also most of the county, buses run to schedule from 4am to 2am. There are taxi ranks near most major hotels and attractions in the city, or cabs can be ordered from various companies. Those who opt for self-driving will find the city easy to navigate, the downtown streets laid out on a grid pattern and the city being served by a good network of highways. There is abundant parking in high-rise garages.
Kansas CityStraddling the Missouri River and the state line dividing Kansas and Missouri, Kansas City is famous for its stockyards, jazz, barbecues and juicy steak. It is vibrant and diverse, a distinctly American city with a European flavor. It has Parisian tree-lined boulevards, parks, Spanish-style architecture, and hundreds of fountains reminiscent of Rome that are incorporated into the design of nearly every commercial building, giving it its nickname 'The City of Fountains'. Almost all points of interest to visitors are on the Missouri side of the city, while a sprawl of dreary suburbs occupies the section in the state of Kansas.
Established as a fur trading post in 1821, Kansas City served as a convenient point of departure for pioneer wagon trains heading west over the Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails. Railroads and the construction of the Hannibal Bridge across the Missouri River established the city as a bustling business community and one of the world's leading cattle centers. Today the city is the nation's barbecue capital with more than 60 restaurants offering grilled specialties. After World War I Kansas City became the focus of jazz, where musicians like Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington played in the nightclubs of the 18th and Vine District.
For family entertainment the adjacent theme parks of the Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun, with hundreds of rides, live entertainment and water attractions are popular, while the Moorish-style architecture and dazzling fountains of the Country Club Plaza is home to America's first shopping center and has a host of retail stores, fine dining and nightlife. Riverboat casinos are a popular diversion, and the restored downtown waterfront district hosts the colorful River Market with merchants offering a wide variety of produce and gifts.
The city's frontier history can be explored in Liberty where the Jesse James Bank Museum is the site of the country's first daylight bank robbery, or in St Joseph, the birthplace of the historic Pony Express that tells the story of its riders who were recruited to 'face death daily'. More modern history can be traced in Independence, associated with the 33rd US president, Harry Truman.
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