Day 8, St Louis, September 24, 2022
  St Louis, September 24, 2022 St. Louis  is the second-largest city in  Missouri .  It sits near the  confluence  of the  Mississippi  and  Missouri Rivers .  In 2020, the  city proper  had a population of 301,578,  while the  bi-state metropolitan area , which extends into Illinois, had an estimated population of over 2.8 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, the second-largest in Illinois, and the  20th-largest in the United States .     Before  European settlement , the area was a regional center of  Native American   Mississippian culture .  St. Louis was founded on February 14, 1764, by  French fur traders   Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent ,   Pierre Laclède  and  Auguste Chouteau , who named it for  Louis IX of France .  In 1764, following France's defeat in the  Seven Years' War , the area was ceded to  Spain .  In...