We are sitting in Terminal 1 of MSP International Airport. It's sunny, around 42 deg. F. this morning, and, for a change, we had a slow start with a delicious breakfast buffet in the AC Hotel before we departed for the airport. Returned our rental car at Alamo (great car, no probs at all!) having driven 2,500 mi (4.000 km) in three weeks - at home we drive about 6.000 km a year.
On Sunday we got up really early, in the dark, to drive the 240 mi. (390 km) from Fargo east, to Minneapolis, with a stop at the Albertville Premium Outlet Mall. We arrived at our AC Hotel Minneapolis West End at 1:30 pm and checked in our spacious modern room. Nicely equipped with lots of outlets, a comfy sofa, good bedding and lighting and a specious bathroom. It was the same hotel chain we stayed on our second day in MSP - really recommendable!
Out again soon afterwards for the pro soccer game (Minneapolis United FC : Los Angeles Redbirds) in the TCF Bank Stadium. Since it was the last game of the season in this huge football arena on the University of Minnesota campus, it had a record attendance of over 50,000 fans. There was a fan party going on, with free giveaways (knitted caps) and free food, and atmosphere was great. We had seats in the press box, which had the big advantage to be covered and warm (though, it was not too cold and the sun was out). Disadvantage was that the atmosphere was somewhat "dimmed". The game itself,,, well, though not comparable to our first league, they try hard,,, and they lost the game. Busy traffic on the way out of the parking garage (or "ramp" as they call it in Minnesota) and on the highways to the hotel. Traffic is a bit crazy in MSP, up to 10 lanes, and it can take quite a bit of time to get around, as we also noticed on Monday, when we did more sightseeing. Fortunately, we had eaten in the press box, therefore we just called it a day and didn't leave the hotel anymore.
Monday: More exploration of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Since we had seen quite a bit of Downtown Minneapolis at the beginning of our trip, we concentrated on other neighborhoods like Lowry Hill, Uptown and Midtown. We bought wild rice (special for Minnesota) at Kowalski's (pic below), a great local grocery store:
We checked out the fantastic newly arranged Minneapolis Sculpture Garden (pics below) at the Walker Art Center (the museum was, unfortunately, closed on Monday) and visited the Midtown Global Market (pic), an exotic market hall in a historic Sears Headquarter Building, which pays tribute to the huge percentage of foreign people in town: Asian, African, Central American. We had lunch there with our gracious host Kristen before we headed out to St. Paul in the afternoon.
The Minneapolis–Saint Paul metro area counts about 4 mio. people and two things make it unusual: First, the two cities are "twins" which couldn't be more different, and, 2nd, it's a hub of culture and sports. All American pro leagues operate teams in MSP: Baseball (Minnesota Twins), American Football (Vikings), Basketball (Timberwolves), Women's Basketball (Lynx), Hockey (Wild), Women's Hockey (Whitecaps), Soccer (United FC). And, they have gorgeous stadiums. Newest addition will be the Allianz Field in St. Paul (which we saw on Monday) for the soccer team (pic below), which will open next spring. Much smaller than the old one (20,000), but better fitting for soccer, and, partly covered. For culture: besides the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Weisman Art Museum there is the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Guthrie Theater, the Dakota Jazzclub and "First Avenue" (where Prince used to perform) among many other theaters, ensembles and venues. Also, the skyline of Minneapolis is spectacular, lots of modern skyscrapers and vibrant city-life here.
In the afternoon we got a tour in St. Paul - "another world" - more on that later,,,
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