Minneapolis
We are so lucky to be able to spend time with my brother and sister-in-law Trev and Les in Minneapolis. Minneapolis is an important city in the USA and is home to five Fortune 500 companies. It is also the city of lakes!
The genus of the city is the Mississippi and grain. The Mississippi provided the water flow to turn water wheels that provided the means to mill the grain as well as the means to transport the grain and flour. General Mills and Pillsbury were both founded here. I was surprised that there were fewer breweries though as normal grain = beer and/or whiskey (in my mind anyway).
On our first evening, we went to dinner at Cardamom the Aegean/Mediterranean inspired restaurant at The Walker Art Center. The following day Trev took us for a drive down to the Mississippi and around the lakes. It's a beautiful city. The lakes are numerous (there are more than 22 lakes in Minneapolis). And then there are the bridges.
We also stopped at the Minnehaha Falls. These are incredible and easy to access. There's also a cool restaurant in the park called Sea Salt.
In the mornings we'd take the two dogs (Parker the Springer Spaniel and Molly the Blue Heeler cross) for a +10km walk through the forest and around Cedar Lake.
Molly & Parker
Minneapolis really punts its museums and art galleries. We visited The Walker Art Center to see the Keith Haring: Art is for Everyone exhibit.
And wow. So interesting. Impressive. Well put together. Keith Haring died from AIDS at the young age of 31. Just imagine his volume of work if he'd lived to, say, 60-ish.
After the Haring exhibition we boarded a tourist boat on the Mississippi. This was pretty interesting. The initial journey is upstream through the the lower St. Anthony Falls Lock system. The Upper St Anthony Falls lock is now closed to keep invasive carp from penetrating further up the Mississippi system.
Then, of course, we headed for The Mall of America. Oh my word! Cirque du Soleil is in the car park!
[The Mall of America] opened in 1992, and is the largest mall in the United States, the largest in the Western Hemisphere, and the twelfth largest shopping mall in the world.
It's pretty hard to believe that there are 11 shopping malls even bigger than this one. It is huge!
A couple of days into our visit, we decided to pop over to Chicago for the weekend. When we returned, we went off to Matt's Bar, the home of the original Jucy Lucy burger.
Matt's is a dive bar serving basic, nothing craft here!, beer. And it was packed. As it always is. The Jucy Lucy was delicious! The two burger patty 'pocket' is filled with hot melted cheese which oozes out on biting through the burger. Together with the company, best fries, ambiance and beer, a fabulous evening. But eat a Jucy Lucy at your own (health) risk!
We then set off to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, which is home to the largest collection of stunning hostas I have ever seen. And in all shades of green, solid and varigated. This was really great and reminded us of the Kirstenbosch Gardens in Cape Town. The big difference? Being attacked by Minnesota's national bird: the mosquito!
Lunch was on Lake Minnetonka where we had the most awful food since arriving in the US at Maynards. Not recommended. Unless you just want a great beer and a lovely view of a lovely lake.
The next day Karen and I set off to the beautiful Frank Gehry designed Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota. We couldn't find parking (it was "reserved" and we couldn't work out how to make a 'parking reservation').
So we decided to head to the Mill City Museum. And ... yes, "Closed on Tuesdays". So we just headed home, stopped at the amazing Kowalski's supermarket (we do like touring grocery stores) and had chicken noodle soup for lunch at The Lowry.
Summer in Minneapolis is all about the lakes. "The endless summer" is really apposite to this place. Blue lakes, walking paths, lake forests, lake beaches, tanning, hanging out with friends, taking on temp summer jobs to earn some cash, buying beer with fake ID cards.
Final lunch at Lake Harriet
Oh to be teenager in Minneapolis in the summer!