Minneapolis Sight-Seeing

After the movie on Thursday, Jeff and I stayed with Paul, who lives in Uptown Minneapolis. This was really convenient, because we could work from there for the morning, before heading into the city at lunch time.

My cousin, Drew, and his girlfriend, Asami (who was visiting from Japan) were in the city for the day. Drew wanted to show Asami around the Twin Cities. However, he lives in Eau Claire, WI, so he's not especially familiar with the cities, so he asked me to think of a sight-seeing plan.

We met up for lunch at Brit's Pub - I really like it because it's unique and has a really cool view of Minneapolis. Jeff and I had the 'Cricket Club' sandwich, which was really good! I think Drew and Asami liked the place as well.

From there, Drew, Asami, and I walked through Loring Park and over the bridge to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, while Jeff brought the car around.

Drew had shown Asami pictures of the Cherry and the Spoon online - it's a some-what iconic image of Minneapolis. So it was fun to walk around and see it in person.

After the sculpture garden, which was located right by the old Guthrie Theater, we headed to the new Guthrie Theater. The new Guthrie is a cool, really modern-looking building right on the Mississippi River. The windows are all different colors, so we got this crazy yellow-tinged image of the Stone Arch Bridge over the Mississippi. (That's the same bridge where I stood to take pictures on the photo safari earlier in the week.)

Next we drove past the Metrodome. It was pretty crazy to see the 'Twins' sign pulled off - the outline of the letters are still visible.

We went back to Nicollet Avenue in downtown Minneapolis and went through the IDS tower to get into the skyway system. Minneapolis is almost entirely connected by skyways - so you don't need to walk outside in the winter - there are about eight miles of skyways. We visited the Foshay Tower - one of the oldest skyscrapers in Minneapolis - and went up to the top to enjoy the view.

After a bit more walking in the skyways, and a quick look at Target Field (the new home of the Twins), we decided to leave Minneapolis and make a quick trip to St. Paul. Our first stop was at the capitol building. It was under construction, but still very cool.

From there, we went to the Cathedral, and did a quick look around inside, before ending the tour and heading home!