The motel we stayed in turned out to be right by Minnehaha falls, so we figured we couldn't really not go and see them. After a breakfast of plain rolls and cold sweet potato fries left over from last nights dinner, we walked on down to see the falls. They were very pretty and although mum wouldn't let me put my feet in the water (boo!), it was a fun time. They looked like something out of a postcard!
From here, we caught the metro train into Minneapolis city centre. We arrived really thirsty from all the walking and baking heat, but found it very hard to find any water!
The city centre was a bit confusing and for awhile we felt like we must be missing something...
But anyway, we managed to stumble upon a Jimmy Johns store who very kindly gave us some free water. We were hydrated and ready to go! Minneapolis resident and friend Mr Alex Fisher had recommended we see the sculpture garden so we decided to catch a bus out to it. The garden was great with loads of interesting art to see, including the famous cherry and spoon (which was being meticulously polished for us as we arrived!). There were also lots of nice plants, a cool greenhouse type structure and some awesome sounding windpipes which we sat under for awhile in the shade.
Deciding to head back downtown for lunch, we melted at the bus stop for about 20 minutes complaining about being hot before one arrived. We caught the bus down to the river thinking
it a likely place to find food, but were sadly mistaken. We took a walk down the river and saw another fall which was nice, but were mainly still complaining about being hot and thirsty. Deciding the river was the wrong place, we headed back downtown through boiling hot streets, still unable to find anything! It just seemed like we were missing something in this city!
It was around this point I noticed all the covered walkways between buildings and remembered something about this 'Skyway' I had heard Minneapolis had. The downtown area buildings are
connected by an elevated system of bridges; you can enter any building and basically navigate the city without ever having to go outside! We head inside the nearest office block and it was like some ascension to heaven montage of air conditioning and places to get a drink and food!
Needless to say, we stopped here for quite a while to rest and wonder about this clever set up, taking you out from hot or cold weather. From here, we decided to head towards the Guthrie Theatre which we had heard was beautifully Art Deco and free to look around. The theatre was definitely very cool, with a bridge sticking out the side you can walk on for great views and fun coloured windows to look out. Unfortunately we were unable to look inside any of the auditoriums though. There happened to be a wedding happening there an hour or so after we arrived, so we had to check out their booked floor before they arrived. What actually happened was that they began to arrive as we were still on the floor and we had to sheepishly scuttle to the lift!
After having yet another rest (necessary, believe me, so hot), we headed to next door to the Mill museum, also free in parts. We were surprised to find yet another wedding happening here! Again,
we were told we had just less than an hour to view the place before they were starting, which was fine considering we weren't seeing the paid parts. We began to look at the old mill carts and learn about the many fires that had happened there (one from a flour dust explosion!), but the wedding events did seem to be getting underway already. Feeling a little out of place again, we saw the bride and groom having a rather stilted looking photo shoot in the old mill ruins before deciding that perhaps we should leave!
We headed back to the motel from here since we had had (courtesy of Alex again, thanks!) an idea for the evening; a baseball game! The Minnesota Twins were playing the Toronto Blue Jays at the ballpark which happened to be on our metro line. So we head home for a shower and change, before coming back out again and joining all the Twins fans on the metro. We picked up some last minute tickets from the stadium for just $14, and headed up to our seats. We were on the very back row possible, but the view was still fab!
Feeling super American, we stood for the national anthem, watched the game and ate hotdogs. The game was, to be honest, a bit slow with only one home run and not many points (bad terminology?)
scored, but still lots of fun! We cheered and clapped and, although unfortunately we lost to some great fielding from Toronto, nobody really seemed to mind! It was a great atmosphere with all the families cheering along and a great, cheap way to spend an evening.
Returning by (a very slow) train to the motel, we ate our second slice of delicious delicious pie for pudding and headed to bed, ready for an early start and a 9 hour drive through South Dakota tomorrow!
