Minneapolis is a big 'middle state' city. It boasts major corporations, smaller businesses, and a TON of pro teams. I hear this and immediately think NYC on a smaller scale. Nope. Not even close.
To start, you can walk from one side of the city to the other in less than an hour. Buses run all over the place and there are cars here & there, but not too many. No gridlock in this place. There is NO pedestrian traffic. All of the major buildings are connected by a second-floor 'skyway', a walkway attaching one building to the next. So, in the 27-degree weather (+windchill), women are walking around in tanks and open-toed shoes. Why? They bundle up to get into their cars & then drive to the underground parking garage and take the stairs or elevator up to the building. Then, they can connect themselves to a shopping area, a whole bunch of restaurants, and many other offices filled with men. Yes, men. Lots of them. All over the place. A single girl's heaven.
I went to the Mall of America on Tuesday. It's located 1/2 south of Minneapolis in Bloomington. My mom & I hopped a flight there, called the hotel's shuttle, and where whisked to the hotel. We were located across from the mall itself, less han a 1/4 mile walk or 5 minutes by free shuttle service. I had a view of Bloomingdales from my hotel room window. We went to the mall for the remainder of Tuesday. We had dinner at this great restaurant called Kokomo's. It's all Key west-like and tropical and yummy.
Wednesday brought the cold weather that we were not dressed for & hopped the shuttle to the mall at 10:00 am so hat we could then catch their tram system to the city. The Lightrail runs every 10 minutes from the mall, stopping at 14 different stops along the way--including the airport---, to the Target Center in the heart of the city. We jumped off at the Neiman Marcus stop & ran inside to avoid the frigid temps. We wandered through the buildings and found the Hard Rock Cafe and decided to eat lunch there. After dining, I went to the ladies' room to freshen up. While in there, a man walked in, used the facilities, and must have realized he was in the wrong room because he didn't come out while I was in there. I even opened the door to check the signage, thinking I got confused. Nope. It was he who was lost.
We paid the bill and asked for directions to the Mississippi River & braved the cold over a mile in one direction to see this roaring sight. We counted the people who were walking outside on the way there & back & found only 10 people out like we were. Everyone else was inside using their skyway connections. We walked along the river, wathicng ice chunks float by & then walked the mile back to the buildings.
On the lightrail tide back to the mall, we noticed that there's a stop for the U of M campus and a bus will take you directly to it. There was also a stop for the Metrodome, which was directly across the street from the train system. So cool. We figured we'd head back on it the next day to catch the tour of the stadium.
We finished the day at the mall, having completed only one full floor the day before & still having two more to go.
Thursday we did the same run in to the city and hopped off at the Metrodome, home to the Twins & the Vikings. $3 got you an hour tour of the stadium and so many interesting facts. Try $6.50 gets you general admission tickets. Good seats you ask? $38 for a game. Shea & Yankee 'good tickets' run $75 on up. Yeah, I know.
We, again, hopped the lightrail right to the mall, had an awesome lunch, finished shopping and then hit the airport. This city is so cute & small & managable and is filled with men. I think I have found my new destination.
