Minneapolis - an extended visit

The rain has seemed to stop. If you've been watching the weather - there has been significant rain in the Midwest with some serious flooding in some areas. We are here in Minneapolis - an extra day due to the significant amount of rain that has fallen since yesterday, the risk of flooding on our planned route, and a little persuasion from the hotel bar keep, Nic.

Not the most painful decision. The inn is lovely (we were moved to a larger room when extending our stay - for the same rate), and the city friendly and interesting.

So day 1, we spent some time wandering the city admiring the architecture, doing a bit of shopping (no tax on clothing, shoes or food!) and then wandered over to the sculpture garden just west of the downtown core. There were great sculptures, including the famous Spoon Bridge with Cherry complete with copious Canadian geese enjoying the fountain...
and Henry Moore's Standing Figure: Knife Edge.

On our wander back to the hotel - partly to escape the rain, partly because it was happy hour - we stopped in an old downtown establishment called Ike's. Happy hour in Milwaukee is probably Joe's favourite thing - well other than the no tax deal on food, clothing and shoes! But this place was old time class. Anyone would love it!

Today we got up and found our way to a local favourite, Al's Breakfast. It's apparently the narrowest restaurant in Minneapolis and has only 14 seats along the counter...that is it. The place is so narrow, you only have room to walk behind the people on the stools and so, often, you are asked to move down a stool or so to accommodate others coming in for a bite. Thankfully with the rain today we didn't have to wait outside in a line. The coffee is weak...but the food is good! It apparently won the James Beard award a few years ago for "American Classics Restaurant" a few years ago.

Later, after driving around the city for far too long (because we forgot our maps and the address at the hotel and would rather flounder in the streets in the rain, than go back and get it...and acknowledge defeat!) we stopped at Spyhouse Coffee for a decent cup o java (first one in Minneapolis) and found the address for the Minneapolis Art Institute. It only took us another 40 minutes or so to find it because half of the streets here are numbered - streets going one direction and Avenues going the other...AND there are North, South, East and West variations! But was it worth what we found in the end.

The Art Institute was vast, varied and beautiful. Joe's favourite exhibit seemed to be "Beware her wiles: Woman as temptress in the Renaissance Tradition" as it provided him with various ammunition to lob as we wandered...but thankfully the amazing exhibits soon silenced him. Here are a couple of favourites among many awesome pieces including, Picasso, Warhol, Modigliani and other incredible artists.









So we will evaluate our travel route again and hopefully if the flooding is not too bad, we will be on our way to South Dakota tomorrow! ...or at least soon. If we are still in Minneapolis, we'll try to find some more amazing art to share...there seems to be no shortage here!