Minneapolis, wow
Once again I have been very impressed with a great Northern City.
I walked around Minneapolis for a good while yesterday, I happen to be staying right next door to the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. This area reminds me a LOT of San Francisco. There is a huge counter-culture population in this part of the city and it is astounding how pristine the roads, alleys and shops are.
It got to the point that I was actively trying to find a bum to beg me for money, to find a back alley with strewn about trash and rats. Then I had the stroke of inspiration! Find train tracks. There is always filth and vagrants surrounding train tracks. So I walk to the Soo Line tracks. What do I find? Privately kept, terraced gardens. And bike paths. NO trash, NO bums. I almost shed a tear.
I was speaking to a wily Australian last night who said that while living here off and on over the past 6-7 years, the city has been changing quite a bit. Even this hostel has really changed (and he said not for the better). He said especially downtown has been cleaned up, it's like a clean sterile bathroom. Great for lower crime and vagrants, but all the great shops, restaurants, bars and most importantly, people aren't there anymore. He said that the city is slowly tearing out their old buildings to replace them with new condos and apartments, new McDonald's and Taco Bells.
I was amazed though, in walking for hours yesterday, I saw one McDonalds, that could have easily been mistaken for a corner cafe, and a Quiznos Subs. I didn't see another chain restaurant or even a chain store in that time. Lots of REALLY cool looking places to just go check out. Co-op Markets instead of super markets, holistic medicine and supplement shops, bike shops, small theatres (no not movie theatres either, amazing I know), studios, lots of Yoga/Tai Chi clinics. All of this was within a 3-4 mile radius.
Maybe I just got lucky and found a kickass area of town, but even so, I would definitely not mind settling in here during the summer and early fall months.
Now I head on to the Lake Wobegon Trails, Fargo, and hopefully the Glacier National Park.
I walked around Minneapolis for a good while yesterday, I happen to be staying right next door to the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. This area reminds me a LOT of San Francisco. There is a huge counter-culture population in this part of the city and it is astounding how pristine the roads, alleys and shops are.
It got to the point that I was actively trying to find a bum to beg me for money, to find a back alley with strewn about trash and rats. Then I had the stroke of inspiration! Find train tracks. There is always filth and vagrants surrounding train tracks. So I walk to the Soo Line tracks. What do I find? Privately kept, terraced gardens. And bike paths. NO trash, NO bums. I almost shed a tear.
I was speaking to a wily Australian last night who said that while living here off and on over the past 6-7 years, the city has been changing quite a bit. Even this hostel has really changed (and he said not for the better). He said especially downtown has been cleaned up, it's like a clean sterile bathroom. Great for lower crime and vagrants, but all the great shops, restaurants, bars and most importantly, people aren't there anymore. He said that the city is slowly tearing out their old buildings to replace them with new condos and apartments, new McDonald's and Taco Bells.
I was amazed though, in walking for hours yesterday, I saw one McDonalds, that could have easily been mistaken for a corner cafe, and a Quiznos Subs. I didn't see another chain restaurant or even a chain store in that time. Lots of REALLY cool looking places to just go check out. Co-op Markets instead of super markets, holistic medicine and supplement shops, bike shops, small theatres (no not movie theatres either, amazing I know), studios, lots of Yoga/Tai Chi clinics. All of this was within a 3-4 mile radius.
Maybe I just got lucky and found a kickass area of town, but even so, I would definitely not mind settling in here during the summer and early fall months.
Now I head on to the Lake Wobegon Trails, Fargo, and hopefully the Glacier National Park.