Don’t miss the one-of-a-kind experience of taking an unusual elevator ride to the top of the arch where the view can’t be beaten. The visit includes the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the Museum of Westward Expansion and exhibits at the Historic Old Courthouse. There are plenty shopping opportunities including Levee Mercantile, a vintage store circa the 1870s that offers commercial products that were once available on the St. Louis riverfront in the 19th century,

Villa Vailima mansion was built in 1890 by the famous Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and was his home for the last five years of his life. Even though he only lived in Samoa for a few years, he did write quite a number of novels during that time. The Samoan people loved him and he was given the name Tusitala, which means 'storyteller.' A half-hour tour explores Villa Vailima and, inside the museum. You'll discover a myriad of artefacts, while outside carefully manicured lawns give an air of elegance. Stevenson and his wife Fanny Osborne are buried next door in the Mt Valea Scenic Reserve.

This building is composed of a church, convent and university, all completed at different times. On the exterior, there are two striking renaissance doorways, featuring the founder's family coat of arms and the shield of the Dominican Order. The Baroque entrance to the University shows an allegorical figure representing wisdom. Human figures adorn the Baroque tower. Inside are two magnificent cloisters, the Renaissance one in the convent and the University own Baroque example. The church is a renaissance building with later Baroque additions. An interesting feature in the Renaissance doorway leading to the sacristy and refectory, dating from the late 16th Century with a fascinating base covered in Vatican tiling from the 18th Century.