A native's informal guide to Minneapolis & St. Paul. Ninth of several.
Okay, so you've networked and you've eaten. Now you want to play tourist. Almost all the usual suggestions are good and I will just whip by them in passing: The Minnesota Science Museum, The Guthrie and the nearby Mill City Museum, The Walker Art Center and the adjoining Sculpture Gardens (be sure to walk over the bridge to Loring Park). The Minnesota Institute of Arts (within walking distance of the Convention Center). (The American Swedish Institute is closed for renovations.) Minnehaha Falls (now especially engorged). James J. Hill House and the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul.
But wait! There's more!
I will start off my tour of slightly obscure places around the Twin Cities with... MInnesota's #1 tourist attraction. The Mall of America.
Giant Pineapple, Mall of America.
I used to bring tourists to The Mall and show them the three-story tall giant inflatable Snoopy. The two-story tall Spongebob pineapple isn't nearly as impressive, but serves as an introduction to the amusement park in the middle of The Mall. Nickelodeon Universe comprises seven acres of rides, shops and restaurants.
Legoland, from the third floor near the movie theaters, Mall of America
Lego has expanded the number of locations for their Lego Stores, but I don't know how many of them are three-story constructions. More displays than you can probably realize can be made with the blocks. A place for kids to play. Oh, and you can buy Legos.
Legoland is near the Apple Store and the Microsoft Store, so while the kids play, you can geek out.
I haven't been to the newly reconstituted Sea Life, but the old Sea World was impressive.
All sorts of shopping and dining. The Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, among many others. You can see movies or get a haircut. I don't have the space to list all the interesting places at The Mall, but I'm vastly amused that it has... a dollar store.
The Mall is easy to get to from downtown: Take the Light Rail, or take the #55 bus from Nicollet Mall.
And if that weren't enough...
Across the street in the North Lot: OVO by Cirque Du Soliel 1-800-450-1480 (costs a bit more by phone).
Also across the street from The Mall: Ikea. Good breakfasts (but so popular that you have to wait on line).
A cheap and easy thrill: The Skyways. The skyways near the Convention Center aren't particularly interesting, but farther north they can get downright fancy. Some go through huge atriums, some have shops and restaurants to lure you. If you have some time between Netroots Nation events and wonder what to do, just head to the Hilton and keep going. (The skyway to the Millenium doesn't do much.) On Thursday, what I would suggest is to walk north on Nicollet, seeing the Farmer's Market) down to the Library (between 3rd and 4th), check out the Library and walk back through the skyways. Whee!
The Foshay Tower with the IDS Tower behind.
Foshay Observation Deck & Museum 12-9, 12-6 $8 adults/ seniors/kids $5, under 5 free, museum part of the cost. The Foshay is the only building in the country with a patent or a John Philip Sousa March. They have the only observation deck in the city (though some buildings have restaurants higher).
The Mississippi River isn't particularly impressive this far to the North, but if the weather's nice the view is fine. The Stone Arch Bridge and St. Anthony Falls gives you a bit of the history of the place (the falls were the northernmost navigable part of the river, which is why Mpls was build here). You can view the Upper St. Anthony Falls Lock and Dam from a small tourist building way at the north end of Portland Ave.
This just in: If you don't have anything to do Thursday evening, you go to a Klingon Batleth Training in North Mpls.
Chris Mezzolesta plays a wax recording at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting 3/4/10
Docent at the Pavek Museum
Pavek Museum of Broadcast. 3517 Raleigh Avenue . St. Louis Park, 55416 952-926-8198 $6 adults W-Sat 10-5. You're going to have to forgive a long entry. I've been a radio producer for more than 30 years, and am geek enough to appreciate the history and the ability to play with the toys. Good heavens, the Pavek has the machine they cut the records for The Jazz Singer, the first talking movie!
The place is a huge warehouse full of gadgets, from Edison Wax Cylinder recorders to tv game show set-ups to a theremin. If you let them know in advance (or go on a light day) they'll be happy to give you a tour. They love to talk about their stuff.
1912 Rotary Spark Gap Transmitter demonstration at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting 3/4/10
Other movies I made on that trip: Chris Mezzolesta Plays The Theremin (which you can play too) and Pavek Museum - Sound Wagon
Me at the Bakken Museum. They have a camera set up to take pictures of people at the Van Der Graaf Generator.
Bakken Museum, "A one-of-a-kind museum exploring the world of electricity" founded by Earl Bakken, who helped develop the pacemaker and co-founded Medtronic. 3537 Zenith Ave. S 55416 Visitor Service at 612-926-3878 OpenTMWFSat 10-5, Thu 10-8, adults $7. More formal presentations than the Pavek (which the Bakken now controls), with most being hands-on, but far less stuff.
The University of Minnesota has numerous interesting places, from the Frank Gehry-designed Weisman Art Building to the energy-saving Civil and Mineral Engineering Building which is built with one floor at ground level and 95 percent of the building underground.
Ah, okay. I'm just going to zip through a few places I might take tourists.
Milwaukee Avenue, with interesting houses.
First Avenue (where Prince shot much of Purple Rain) is still a funky danceteria.
Speaking of funky: The Electric Fetus 2400 4th Ave. S (one block south of Franklin near I-94) 612-870-9300 9-9 M-F 9-8 Sat 11=8 Sun remains one of the great places to buy local music without losing its cred as a head shop. The Seward Community Cafe 2129 Franklin Ave 612-332-1011 7-4 M-F, 8-4 SS is collectively owned and has many vegan and vegetarian items. The Seward Coop Grocery and Deli and The Wedge Natural Foods Coop are remnants of the days when hippies showed the world how to eat right.
Lakewood Cemetery and Memorial Gardens are quite beautiful this time of year.
Mpls has a staggering amount of art galleries and hole-in-the-wall places of intense creativity, but I'll only mention one: Intermedia Arts, because of the Summer Kickoff BBQ on Saturday 4-7 and because I've chronicled their ever-changing murals: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2008d, with further years in my Facebook galleries of the Fringe Festival.
Driving/walking around the lakes is a common summer activity, and if you're bored (or hot) you can go to movies in Block E.
Well, that's it for the nonce. I suspect people will be arriving tomorrow. I intend to register early, and do some interviews for KFAI-FM.
So... any questions? I'l either answer them in comments here or do a tenth Prequel.