Brilliant and busy time in Belleville

Sorry for the delay in posting.....our schedule has been absolutely manic with every minute from 6am to 10pm covered!!!  Very tiring but excellent fun!

So, we left off when the team were getting ready for Chris Eckert's house.  Let's just say, we drank him out of a seemingly endless supply of white wine! Their hospitality was fantastic with great food and great company.  We particularly enjoyed Larry's crazy tour of the farm on his gator, which was extremely scary and fun in equal measures.

On Wednesday we had an early start, as we were headed to the Fox 2 TV studio with Mel and Rick.  There we met Wild Bill Young and enjoyed a tour of the studios, as well as briefly appearing on the show with a gentleman who played the piano and his wife who played the washboard!!!! Very interesting.  We also had the opportunity to take photos sat at the news desk which was fun!

After the TV Studio, we took a tour around the areas damaged by the storms in St Louis last week before heading to the zoo.  At the zoo, we managed to see lots of the animals as well as try the infamous Dipping Dots ice cream which was amazing!!! Let's hope it makes it to the UK soon!

The evening was spent at Busch stadium watching the Cardinals and included a trip onto the field during the pre-game warm up.  The team also immersed themselves in the local culture and ate hot dogs!! Although the Cardinals lost we had the best night.  A great end to a great day.  Thanks to Mel and Rick for their kind hospitality and for making the day so enjoyable.

Thursday was Rob's birthday!!! We started the day nice and early at Swansea breakfast Rotary Club where we enjoyed some cupcakes for Rob's birthday as well a rendition of the Land of Hope and Glory amongst other songs.  It made us feel very much at home, so thank you to the Swansea club for the effort they went to, especially club President Doug.

The team then split off to their separate vocational activities for the day, before reuniting at the Wine Tap to celebrate Rob's birthday in style.  Thanks go to Lisa for organising the event and to everyone who attended. It was also nice to enjoy some more cake!! (Rob had four lots of cake throughout the day!!!!!) We then spent the rest of the evening with our respective host families.

Today, we had another bright and early start with the St Clair East Rotary Club situated in the lovely Eckert's farm restaurant.  What an amazing breakfast!

We followed with a tour of Minds Eye radio station where we learnt all about the good work that they do.  We also visited the Scott Airforce Base, where we enjoyed a tour of the base and even managed to go up the Control Tower which had amazing views of the surrounding countryside.  For once, the sun was shining and we could see for miles!!!

We finished the day with a lovely meal at Maxwell's Italian restaurant and were joined by many Rotarians, including Bob Hardy whose motto is "you gotta eat somewhere"!!!!!

We can't believe that another week has flown by and that we only have one more week left!!!

Until next time.....