St.Louis-Stuttgart Volksmarch

The Volksmarch Club originally started up in Germany. Loosely translated into English, the German word volksmarch means a people's walk. John and I, together with my two sisters Linda and Julia, have taken quite a few of these six mile walks in and around the St.Louis area over the years. We certainly have come to appreciate the cultural differences which can be found in the many different neighborhoods of the metropolitan area while taking these walks. My favorite walk probably will always be the Hill area. When we take that walk we always end up at one of the fantastic Italian restaurants of that area. Saturday our walk started in Brentwood. This walk was primarily residential, and included one large park plus a couple smaller ones. The large park is Tilles, which was quite busy when we walked through it. Many sport's teams were playing in its ball fields and there was a walk for Huntington's Disease. Below is a picture of that park's play area for children. I once worked for Children's Hospital so that entrance sign caught my eye.

Fortunately for us the weather was pleasant Saturday, except for being a bit breezy and cool. Many people were out in their yards doing much needed gardening. For St.Louis it has been a very wet spring and there has been few opportunities to get any gardening done. However, many of the yards are still quite beautiful with blooming lilac and azalea bushes. I even saw a rose just starting to bloom.

 

It was pleasant walking the residential area of Brentwood with its many tree-lined streets and well manicured lawns. The picture below also should give you feel for what we enjoyed on that walk.

 Our walk also took us past Mt.Calvary Lutheran Church. Its grounds are quite beautiful with their flaming red maple trees. It seems like in a couple of weeks barren trees have now suddenly filled out with their fresh brightly colored leaves. All the rain has certainly given nature a bright new look!

By the end of our walk we were famished and quite tired. Suddenly the Kolache Factory on Brentwood Boulevard  looked like a good place to eat. It has a variety of meat, egg, and vegetable- filled rolls which, when heated, are quite delicious. It was the perfect place to end our walk.