Welcome, welcome! Welcome to a new year at Washington University. With this being a new city for some and a mildly unfamiliar city for upperclassmen, I figured I would let you know about some things to do around my city. Some you might have heard of, some you may have not.

Here are my favorites:

St. Louis Art Museum

It is a classic. It houses a large collection accessible for free. On Fridays, you can get into the special exhibits for free as well, making it an interesting date night (although mildly dorky). It is only a short walk from campus, through the beautiful Forest Park.

The City Museum

This is my personal favorite. Imagine the largest playground you can imagine and you’ve got the City Museum. The twist of the playground, however, is it is made entirely of found industrial material, i.e. a large twisty slide made of shoe conveyor belts, and so on. This is climber’s delight. You probably will need either a car or a cab to get here.

The Creepy Crawl

This diminutive venue just recently changed locations. It offers concerts of all kinds, including a band competition for “sucky bands” called the Jackie Green’s Bitchin’ One-Eyed Jack Band Competition.

The Zoo

This is also a classic and worth mentioning. The Penguin and Puffin Coast is worth the trip alone. (It is a penguin enthusiast’s dream.) Recently, the zoo has had a new addition. Over the summer, Ellie the elephant and Raja, the first elephant to be born in the zoo, welcomed a 341-pound bundle of joy. The little girl has yet to be named, but she can be seen starting on Aug. 25 in the River’s Edge Exhibit. And, the best part of all, it is FREE!

The Budweiser Brewery Tour

For those of you who don’t know, St. Louis is home to the Budweiser Brewery. Although admittedly, the tour is a lot more fun if you can enjoy the free samples at the end of the tour, it is still pretty cool to see the giant beech wood aging containers.

The Chinese Noodle Caf‚

This is my favorite restaurant in St. Louis. Conveniently, it falls on the loop right across from the Pageant. The women who work there are fabulous and make you feel at home. The food is amazing, especially the chicken lo mein. It’s just a great experience. If you like Chinese food, you should like the Chinese Noodle Caf‚.

The Royal Dumpe Dinner Theatre

You must experience this one with a group. The Royal Dumpe provides entertainment straight out of the 16th century with food to match. While the food is fair, the best part of this meal is the singing, the dancing and the random imprisonment. It is located on Laclede’s Landing and can be researched at www.royaldumpe.com.

Chelsea is a junior in the School of Art. She can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]

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