Hey Guys!
This post continues our time in St. Louis.
Read Day 1 here & Day 2 here – Read Day 4 here
On day three in St. Louis, we had tickets to visit the St Louis Zoo.
You will need to make a free reservation online before visiting the zoo due to their Covid protocol.
Tickets to the zoo are free but there are fees for some of the attractions like the carousel, sea lion show, 4D theater, train ride and more.
Click here to make your reservation & click here for zoo hours
The zoo was established in 1910 and is believed to be the first in the world that a community supported by passing a mill tax. The zoo encompasses 90 acres and is home to 500 different species of animals.
We arrived to the zoo around 9:30 am and it was already pretty crowded.
We visited the zoo in Oct so there were Halloween decorations all over the park.
When you first enter the zoo, there’s a map that you can take a picture of that will help guide you through the different areas of the zoo if you don’t want to carry around a paper map.
The park is divided into six zones: River’s Edge, The Wild, Discovery Corner, Historic Hill, Red Rocks and Lakeside Crossing.
The map shows what animals you will see in each of those zones.
Stopping for a quick pic in front of the Zoo sign.
We started with the River’s Edge zone which included the following animals: black rhino, Asian elephant, Hippos, Red River hog, Cheetah, hyena, mongoose, Painted dog, Andeen bear and the Malayan Sun Bear.
After getting through the River’s Edge zone, we headed to the nearby River Camp Cafe for some delicious pineapple whip.
After our pineapple whip, we headed into the Herpetarium.
The herpetarium was constructed in 1927 and is home to many of the zoo’s reptiles and amphibians.
Here are a few pics of the reptiles & amphibians we saw:
After leaving the herpetarium, we entered the Wild Zone area of the park and saw the penguin exhibit that featured different species of penguins and puffins.
Next we saw the enormous polar bear.
As we moved on we passed the carousel, flamingos & the jungle of the apes.
The silver back gorillas were huge!
Next we entered the Living World building.
This building is your one stop shop for information regarding the zoo…you can stop by the Welcome desk to pick up membership benefits or purchase an Adventure Pass. There is also a cafe located in the building called Cafe Kudu.
Click here for all your dining options inside the zoo
Next we entered the Insectarium.
This building is one of a handful of exhibits in North America dedicated solely to bugs. It hosts more than 20 major exhibit areas, with more than 100 species of live insects.
A few pics of the insects we saw:
Also located in the Insectarium is the Mary Ann Lee Butterfly Wing... a geodesic dome filled with tropical plants, rock outcroppings, a waterfall and pool where you can walk among beautiful butterflies, moths and katydids.
This was one of our favorite exhibits and we took a ton of pics of the beautiful butterflies!
After leaving this exhibit, we found ourselves back in the Wild Zone once again and spotted the grizzly bears.
We also saw the polar bear again.
Next we entered the 1904 World’s Fair flight cage. The cage was built for the 1904 fair and was supposed to have been moved to Washington after the fair but the citizens of St. Louis petitioned for it to become a permanent part of St. Louis. The city purchased it for $3500.00.
The flight cage is like entering a cypress swamp…it features plants and birds that thrive in cypress swamps along the Mississippi River.
Next we continued our walk through the Historic Hill zone area
Historic Hill is a lovely stroll through one of the oldest parts of the Saint Louis Zoo.
Some of the animals we saw in this area:
Next we entered the Bird house & garden...
The garden was designed as a tranquil escape for bird lovers. A winding pathway through the Bird Garden leads to six large aviaries, a spacious walk-through aviary and a shaded pavilion overlooking an exhibit of cranes.
Some of the birds we saw:
After spending approx. 7 hours at the zoo, we decided to leave and go have dinner.
We decided to head back to The Hill area again and see if the restaurant we had wanted to eat at the night before was opened.
The Hill is famous for its Italian markets and restaurants and baseball’s Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up here.
It maintains a traditional collection of authentic Italian bakeries, grocery stores, restaurants and mom-and-pop trattorias.
Everything is colorful here – even the fire hydrants are painted red, white and green.
The restaurant we wanted to try out, Anthonino’s, was opened so we decided to eat there.
Anthonino’s is one of the most popular family-owned eateries on The Hill. It opened in 2003, and serves a unique mix of Italian and Greek specialties.
We had to try the popular toasted ravioli…it was delicious!
We then settled on a pizza for our main course and it too, was very good!
After dinner, we decided it was time for dessert…so, we headed back to Ted Drewes frozen custard.
On the way, we passed the HUGE Amoco sign…
A giant gas sign of some sort has been on this roof since 1932. The sign was updated in late 2019, but it looks pretty much as it has since the 1970s. The current sign is 40 feet high and 60 feet wide.
We also passed the Hi-Pointe theater…the theater has been around since 1922.
Arriving to Ted Drewes.. 
I ordered the “All shook up”…it was vanilla custard with bananas and Reese’s peanut butter cups. Soooo yummy!
I forgot what the hubby ordered but he said it was very good!
After our dessert, we headed back to the hotel and called it a day.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Day 4!