Minneapolis/St. Paul

-->

      After my sojourn in China, I had a brief 10 day period of rest at home in California. When planning out my summer, I had thought that 10 days would be more than enough time to catch up with friends, sleep, and decent vegetarian food before flying out again- I was wrong. Still slightly battered and weary, I showed up at the San Francisco Airport. To say the least, I could have been more gracious to the security staff. It was a red-eye flight, after all.

      As the plane approached Minneapolis, I opened up my window. A black anvil of a cloud loomed over the city, and the sunrise shown behind it. The edges of the cloud were tinged with every hue of the rainbow, and I realized that the cloud itself was lighting up. Every 20 seconds or so, the cloud would illuminate itself, and the thunder roared outside the plane. I was seated next to a teenage tourist from Wisconsin, who was no where near as enthusiastic as I about the happenings outside our window. The plane broke into the cloud, and the lightning shown all through the panes. The lakes of the city echoed the colors of the sky, and the Mississippi ran, hurtling into to the storm.

      I was visiting family in Minnesota. I've spent about half of my life up in Duluth, a city about 3 hours north of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, on the North Shore of Lake Superior. The cultural differences experienced between California and Minnesota may be more subtle than that of international travel, but believe me, they're there. For someone who grew up in Minnesota, particularly a rural northern city, it's interesting to observe the funny little things people do differently. Especially the accents, as well as the general manner of speech. Although I love to poke fun at my relatives' funny accents, my friends from California still laugh at my own- especially when saying certain words, such as “bag” and “couch” or pretty much anything with a long vowel sound in the center.

"Minneapolis Moon" The city as seen from Target Field

      Minneapolis and St. Paul are both very clean, modern cities. They are collectively known as the Twin Cities, or for anyone living within a 200 mile radius, as simply “The Cities.” A few years ago, the Minneapolis Metro Lightrail was put into place, although public transportation is still very limited. The Lightrail currently only serves a small strip of Downtown Minneapolis, but is being extended to portions of St. Paul as well. Downtown infrastructure of both the cities is new, however, small. Collectively, the Twin Cities Metro region is less than 4 million. After seeing some of the Chinese cities, San Francisco felt small, let alone Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The Minneapolis Metro

The most famous attraction for the area is the Mall of America, which is truly impressive. A vaster temple of consumerism could hardly be imagined. The prices are surprisingly competitive, and it is pretty fantastic to have an aquarium, mall, and full sized theme park in one building. When it comes right down to it, though, it's a mall. A really big mall.

      Downtown Minneapolis is known for it's nightlife, and consists of bars and clubs, as well as upscale designer shops. The SkyWay system provides several blocks worth of comfortable walking, even in the chill of winter. The aged Metrodome, and mondern Target Field and Target Center remind you that Minnesotans are serious about their sports. All of downtown Minneapolis is plastered with banners for the respective Football, Baseball, Hockey, and Basketball teams. With such a dedicated fan base, it really is a shame they don't have a single winning team.

The Landmark Center

St. Paul's Cathedral

      Downtown St. Paul is one of the area's hidden gems: it gets no where near the attention of it's larger sibling. The Landmark Center is a large, gothic building in the middle of downtown St. Paul. It contrasts starkly with the glass and iron of a modern city-center. It was built to showcase the Federal Government's presence in Minnesota, shortly after the territory attained statehood. It also acted as an FBI outpost during prohibition and the mobster era, as the Twin Cities were used as a refuge fromChicago's tightening police force. Today, the Landmark Center is full of art museums, and used as an exhibition hall. A few blocks away, the Minnesota Science Museum watches over the Mississippi. The stone Cathedral looks down from it's hill, a stoic guard to rest of the city.

The Alleys of St. Paul

      St. Paul's Cathedral, the entity from which the city derives it's name, is an impressive edifice. It towers from it's hill over downtown, it's spires reaching to Heaven. Inside, frescoes and shrines decorate the halls, and sea-blue stained glass covers the domed ceiling. The beauty of the Cathedral is something unexpected. The shadows of saints and of the Crucifix filled the silent building. Tours must be taken with a guide, who is a volunteer member of the congregation. Our guide was very clear that building was built as an act of Worship, that the art was to express the artists' love for God.

      St. Paul and Minneapolis are nice cities. They show true potential to develop into a major city-center, and serve as a hub for economics, art, and culture in an area which is very lacking of all three. Their push towards modernization shows that they desire this outcome- there are even plans to build a high-speed train connecting St. Paul with my hometown, Duluth; this would be only the 2^nd high-speed train in the United States. Minnesota has long held the mold of rotten small towns, funny accents, dive bars, and lack of any knowledge of culture that isn't Nordic. The signs of change however, are beginning to appear. It looks like if the United States is going to finally make the changes necessary to become a modern nation, it's going to start in the middle.