Clowns and Cardinals

Just to be clear, I am not calling the St.Louis Cardinals clowns- despite the fact that they have had a loosing streak lately!  No, we saw clowns at the Zoppe' Circus.  Had we not checked out the "Go" magazine of the  St.Louis Post Dispatch, we would have missed this old-world Italian circus.  According to the signage on their flag they have been around since 1842.

The circus last week-end was part of Florissant's 2016 Valley of Flowers Festival.  Granted, it was not Cirques du Soleil, but we still liked the entertainment, which had an European flavor.

Before we were admitted into the large tent we were entertained by a juggler, and accordion music.

The circus featured Nino the clown, a sweet endearing soul played by Zoppe' a 6th generation performer and patriarch of the family-run circus.  Other acts included aerialists, acrobats, horses and performing dogs.

On Saturday morning John just happened to put on his Cardinal shirt, which prompted us to find out whether there was a game playing that afternoon.  There was a game, and the Cardinals had lost a double header the day before to the Pirates- surely they would win today.   We headed out the door for downtown St.Louis, and were fortunate to purchase good seats for the game without breaking the bank.  What a view we had of the famous Arch and old courthouse!  It was a sunny day with a cool wind blowing. The game started out a bit slow,with the game tied initially.  Entering the ninth inning, the Cardinals had broken the tie and the score was 4 to 3.  Storm clouds were then moving in, and if the game got called because of rain the Cardinals would have won.  But no, the Pirates scored again and it was tied at 4.  The sky was turning black now and a strong wind was blowing.  A lot of people had left the game, but John and I stuck it out to the wonderful end when Matt Carpenter hit a home run.  One player was already on base and the final score was 6 to 4.  The Cardinals lost another game to the Pirates the next day, but they will come back as they always do.  At least we saw them at their best, I would never call them clowns!