Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Want to talk about your favorite places besides Kansas City? Post any development news or questions about other cities here.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by trailerkid »

warwickland wrote: Sounds like an interesting trip to some cities where bartenders will actually talk to you.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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DaveKCMO wrote: headed to minneapolis this weekend for cut copy @ first avenue. will be parking at a park-n-ride near the maul of amerika and riding LRT into the city. found a great deal for the aloft downtown on hotwire ($57), with dinner at saffron before the show. drinks after? anyone? sunday breakfast at hell's kitchen, a brief stop at IKEA, then the long drive back to KC.

to cut the drive up, we're driving to DSM tomorrow night and staying in another great hotwire find (hyatt place downtown, $72) and eating at proof.
first off, proof was very good. it has joined lucca (closed now?) on our very short list of stops in DSM. $30 for a three course meal in an austere, yet comfortable, space in the "western gateway" part of downtown. the hyatt place was located perfectly, although the combo wrestling/cheerleading tournaments made for a very chaotic morning in the lobby.

the plan to use LRT to go to downtown MPLS proved wise. there were several twins games throughout the weekend, so parking/traffic was fussy. the metrodome stop was only 4 blocks from the aloft and the round trip fare was $3.50.

their riverfront is fucking awesome. why don't i remember this? also: bike rentals!

the cut copy show was good, but waaaay too short (out by 10pm? really?). i saw OMD a few weeks prior and they put on a killer show that lasted well over 2 hours. first avenue is a dump, but the setup is great for a small venue (~1000?).

it threatened rain on and off, so we ended up at hell's kitchen for a mid-afternoon drink. very bad idea. apparently this place is ONLY good for brunch. otherwise, it's on par with chili's. a brief stop at a modern furniture store introduced us to a middle-aged 'mo who wisely steered us to the graves 601 hotel (no fatty twins fans wearing sweatpants!). cosmos is a stunning space and the food was amazing. we built a meal from the "tasting" sizes of several entrees.

breakfast was now up in the air, so i consulted zagat. we ended up at d'amico kitchen in the "chambers luxury art hotel" on hennepin. also an amazing space and a brunch on par with bluestem.

on the horrid non-stop drive back, we gave up at des moines and sat down for the crab rangoon pizza and a beer at fong's pizza. it's a dump, but the pizza was actually pretty good (kudos to tripadvisor?!). walked off the beer and continued the long drive home.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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I was in Minneapolis recently for a research coop with the university.  I really enjoyed the place although my time to explore was extremely limited.  I did see a lot of the area around the Mississippi River and the quaint bars and restaurants just north of the river where we mostly ate and drank.  The river was once very industrial but the city has been in the process of making it more recreational.  St Anthony Falls is quite dramatic and limits any recreational boating in the immediate downtown area.  My pictures are mostly limited to that area.  Incidentally, the falls are the reason Minneapolis is where it is.  The hydraulics provided the energy to run the mills.  When the falls started to erode back at an alarming rate (and leave Minneapolis without an energy source for its mills), they were altered to stop erosion and keep them from migrating upstream and out of the metro.  That's why they have the "corp of engineers" appearance today.  St Paul, on the other hand, was built on the downstream end of the rapids on the Mississippi where navigation could begin and the mill products exported....hence the Twin Cities.

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Looking across the falls to downtown Minneapolis

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northside of the river

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From the road bridge looking downstream towards St Anthony Falls


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Pedestrian and cycling bridge acorss the Mississippi.  Really a nice experience being on this bridge.

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Upstream towards the falls from the pedestrian bridge

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What appears to be a museum on the south bank of the river...no time to explore

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More views of the south bank

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mean
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Great pics, thanks man!
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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What are those ruins in the last photo?
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Roanoker
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Yes, thank you for posting the pictures. My husband grew up in and around Minneapolis, leaving to marry me and live in Kansas City. Anyway, he said it has changed a lot over the last thirty years. We'd joke that the summers there were utterly beautiful, but they lasted only two weeks. Ha! He thinks Kansas City is too cold.

Oh, and did you notice that the people there sounded very Norwegian or Swedish? My husband finally shed his "joost gt oof de boat" accent. And every other person is a natural blonde. I suppose that has changed over the years, too.
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Highlander
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Roanoker wrote: Oh, and did you notice that the people there sounded very Norwegian or Swedish? My husband finally shed his "joost gt oof de boat" accent. And every other person is a natural blonde. I suppose that has changed over the years, too.
It's more cosmopolitan now but you can still hear the Scandinavian lilt in some people's speech, particularly women who have lived there all their lives.  Kind of like in the movie "Fargo". 
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Highlander
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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FangKC wrote: What are those ruins in the last photo?
My guess is that they are the remains of some of the original mills that used the river for power.   There are some information on nearby plaques but I never got an opportunity to get over there to read them.  
Last edited by Highlander on Mon May 30, 2011 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Nice pix. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by smh »

My girlfriend is headed up to MPLS this weekend and I have charged her with bringing back as much Surly as she can carry. While I suspect it is widely available, does anyone have a recommendation on a good shop to get it from? I'm hoping wherever she ends up will have the seasonals. Thanks!

Also--any other beers I should be hoping she picks up from up that way?
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Random Minneapolis thoughts from this past weekend

- Downtown is obviously the hub of their metro.  very cool to see.
- Their downtown feels very "mature".  Not sure what that means but when I look at an area like Nicollet Mall, the infrastructure is very well done from bus stands to visitor maps.  Seems many times in KC we have a good idea but don't put enough money behind it to make it feel "mature".  One thing we could easily do is drop pedestrian level kiosoks throughout downtown that give a map of the area and key locations.  Could do 10 of these (10/Main, 12/Wyandotte, 13/Central, 13/Main, 14/Grand, 11/Oak, 5/Walnut, 20/Main, Union station, Crown Center) and dramatically help out tourists.  Maybe this is something the DCID could fund?
- Transit system although I never used it, seemed solid with bus only entire streets, good dynamic signs for next bus times.
- Walking Nicollet Mall it is pretty obvious they took a 4 lane street, subtracted two lanes to make extra wide sidewalks, and make the remaining two lanes mass transit only...very cool idea.  Do we have a street we could do that to in KC?  I can't think of one at least through the CBD.
- I stand by my opinion that KC has a lot of "fun" attractions to see vs. cities of similar size.  I'm talking museums outside of art which some are intimidated by...things like NLBM, WWI, Arabia, Toy & Mini, Union Station attractions.....I spent Saturday walking the mississippi river....which isn't my first choice.
- Speaking of the Mississippi river park, very cool for pedestrians and bikers.  We should take cues from that for our riverfront park.
- Target Field is a 100x improvement from their old stadium but I can see the residents being annoyed with it after the honeymoon is over.  It's very shoehorned and makes for annoyances as people come and go from the stadium.
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FangKC
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

Post by FangKC »

If we can ever get those parcels near Berkley Riverfront Park developed with dense housing and retail, we could have a semi-decent riverfront promenade that would pleasant to visit.

I've been to Riverfront Park, and it's not very appealing right now, but it could be. Sort of like the East River Promenade in Manhattan, NYC, which is very nice to stroll along.

However, Berkley Riverfront Park needs people living near it so that it's used and populated by bikers, runners, and strollers.
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GRID
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Hmm, I thought that KC's urban recreation options were just fine ;).  Most cities have very active urban bike and ped trail systems like what you saw along the river.  See, it would be nice to have that in kc.

You are so right about KC having a solid number of attractions though.  KC has a ton of things to do and I too have never understood why there has not been more done to make the city more user friendly to tourists and even metro area residents like map kiosks.

But even though KC has a lot of attractions, there are a lot of things the city doesn't do well at the pedestrian level.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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I think the options here are fine....but the riverfront being used by people and more accessible (which is tough given the railroad and geography) would be nice. Its there now, why don't bikers use it?

Really my biggest Takeaway was the pedestrian level maps for tourists....seems like an easy thing to implement in kc.
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warwickland
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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KCPowercat wrote: - Target Field is a 100x improvement from their old stadium but I can see the residents being annoyed with it after the honeymoon is over.  It's very shoehorned and makes for annoyances as people come and go from the stadium.
Can you elaborate on your experience at Target Field? It's driving me absolutely crazy that I havent had a chance to experience it yet - I often hold it up as an example of (more or less) what we could have done over here in St. Louis, instead of "BRICKZ IN YO FACE."

Thanks for the classical trip report!
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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I like the idea of kiosk wayfinding maps.  

I would also like to see the story of Kansas City better told. I wish the Downtown Council would fund an effort to also label our buildings with plaques that tell the history of the buildings. The downtown public library already has a pamphlet that give building histories in that neighborhood.

In addition to these, some buildings could also have plaques that show photos of significant and historic buildings that previously occupied the site.  Like the old Willis Wood Theater where the Mark Twain tower is now.

The Muehlebach is one of are most historic buildings, and it has a long and significant history that could be told.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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I went to st Louis and minneapolis for games this year and sat in similiar spots....low rows in upper left field.

Both are cool stadiums....I prefer Busch. Target was nice but nothing makes it stand out and while  I appreciate them making good use of the space, I think they needed a few more acres to do it right.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Oh they had bike share too....can't wait to get that.
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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Wow just found this master plan....we can just copy this....pic of the kiosks halfway down the page.

http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/pedestr ... cument.asp
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Re: Minneapolis and Saint Paul

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After reading that masterplan, the thing that strikes me is the relatively low number of workers in KCMO compared to other cities.  Our city really needs to work on increasing this. The poaching from Kansas certainly doesn't help our plight.
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