By Patricia Miller
Day 1: Morning
Start your exploration of Kansas City with a hearty meal. If it's Sunday, it must be time for brunch, and your options are plentiful in Kansas City. Depending on what's closest, here are some eateries that prepare some of the best in the city: Blue Bird Bistro, Bristol Seafood + Steak + Social and Lidia's Kansas City.Breakfast also can be had at Chaz on the Plaza, the Raphael Hotel's swanky in-house restaurant.
Day 1: Afternoon
Kill two birds with one stone at The Museums at 18th & Vine , home to the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum , a true score if you love both sports and music. The American Jazz Museum pays tribute to the originators of jazz with memorabilia, listening stations, film clips and neon lights that once glowed outside nightclubs. Check out The Blue Room, a part of the museum that is transformed into a live jazz club when night falls. The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum presents the history of the leagues from the 1800s through 1960.Shopaholics will find it difficult to tear themselves away from Country Club Plaza, Kansas City's ultimate shopping venue. Spanish and Moorish buildings with terra-cotta roofs, colorful tile murals, fountains, statues and lush greenery everywhere you look distinguish this shopping mecca. Grab lunch at Gram & Dun (600 Ward Pkwy.), where you'll find an adventurous seasonal menu and one of the best patios in town.
See how many fountains you can count during your trip; according to the latest total, KC had about 200. One of the most beautiful is the J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain near Country Club Plaza; adorned with horses, dolphins and cherubs, it's 80 feet in diameter. Find more fountains in Country Club Plaza, including fountains of Bacchus and Neptune, and the humorous Boy and Frog fountain.
Day 1: Evening
Kansas City is famous for a few things, not the least of which is barbecue. When dinnertime rolls around, chow down at such tried-and-true local restaurants as Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue - Freight House and Smokehouse Bar-B-Que .Jazz: is another of Kansas City's claims to fame. In the 18th & Vine Jazz District, hear live music at The Blue Room, KC Blues & Jazz Juke House and The Gem, a renovated theater that hosts a jazz concert series. On weekends, hit the Mutual Musicians Foundation, where the jamming starts at midnight and keeps going until dawn.
Day 2: Morning
Sports fans can check out a Kansas City Royals baseball game April through October at Kaufmann Stadium and visit the Royals Hall of Fame , also at Kaufmann Stadium, any time of the year. Step out of the sidelines at The College Basketball Experience near the T-Mobile Center, where you can work on your lay-ups and 3-pointers while you walk or run in the shoes of your favorite college hoop-shooter.
Day 2: Afternoon
Don't miss The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Highlights include the indoor Noguchi Sculpture Court; Bauhaus, Cubist, Expressionist and Surrealist works; a comprehensive collection of bronzes by English sculptor Henry Moore; ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman art; and Claude Monet's “Water Lilies.”The smaller Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art on 20th and 21st-century art by well-known artists like Georgia O'Keeffe, Andy Warhol and William Wegman, as well as lesser-known but equally intriguing names like Lesley Dill, Fairfield Porter and Frank Stella. After you've had your fill of oils and abstracts, have lunch at the museum's in-house restaurant, Café Sebastienne. The menu is small but varied, with items like spinach salad and fish tacos.
Take a ride to the top of the 217-foot-tall Liberty Memorial Tower at the National World War I Museum and Memorial for breathtaking views of downtown Kansas City. Inside the museum you'll find soldier's uniforms from past wars, photographs, letters, weapons, battle plans and other artifacts.
Day 2: Evening
Head to downtown's Power & Light District and have dinner at a fashionable café like Bristol Seafood + Steak + Social, where the seafood is never frozen, or Drunken Fish, for sushi aficionados.You could take in a film at one of several theaters, or hit the stylish Mosaic Ultra Lounge or retro-beachy Shark Bar for drinks and dancing. Party on at Angels Rock Bar to classic rock tunes by bands and DJs; or sing along to dueling piano players at Howl at the Moon. Or try your luck knocking down some pins and playing shuffleboard at No Other Pub by Sporting KC.
Day 3: Morning
Swope Park offers golf, nature trails for hiking or biking, disc golf and an Olympic-sized swimming pool. Depending on the season, you can enjoy boating, fishing or ice skating on the park's lagoon. Also in the park is the Kansas City Zoo , where you can see animals from Africa, Asia and Australia; experience a camel ride; wander through an indoor rain forest; and ride the merry-go-round.
Day 3: Afternoon
The Hallmark Visitors Center displays greeting cards and holiday ornaments from the early 1900s to the present. Among the fun things to do are learning how cards are made and making your own bow to take home.Union Station is noted for its Beaux-Arts architecture. Check out the marble floors, huge glass chandeliers and restored plaster ceilings with intricate designs. The building also contains shops and restaurants as well as Science City , a family-oriented attraction that offers such activities as digging for fossils, concocting weird foods in the Test Kitchen and riding a bicycle 30 feet above the floor.
Day 3: Evening
The Starlight Theatre is also in Swope Park, so if you've spent the day at the park or the Kansas City Zoo, make advance arrangements to get tickets for a show; the schedule includes touring musicals as well as pop and rock performers.If seeing a show isn't included in your plans head for Brookside Park, a neighborhood about 4 miles west of Swope Park, and do some window shopping at the Brookside Park Shopping District (centered along 63rd Street between Main Street and Wornall Road). There are also plenty of restaurants here. A good choice if you're in the mood for Italian is Carmen's Café. If you prefer the butter and rich cream sauces of Northern Italian cuisine, head to Osteria Il Centro. Their house-made pasta and sauces are popular. Pair your dinner with a selection from their extensive wine list.