The rain clouds had cleared the next morning in Minneapolis, promising a much drier day to explore the city. We weren't sure how much we'd be able to see today, so we said our thank you's and goodbyes to Kim and Mike, who had been so kind and hospitable during our stay. They'd spent the morning in the garden, and we'd left a day before the black raspberries in their backyard were ready, but we did leave with delicious fresh lettuce from the garden! The neighborhood had a ton of squirrels and rabbits out and about now that the rain had subsided (making Sheila very, very excited), so no doubt these animals would be trying to find lettuce and other delicious garden treats to eat.
The Elf Door
Kim had told us that there were elfish doors and the like all over the city, but we only happened to see the Elf Door at Deming Heights Park, painted in vivid green with yellow accents for the hinges. It's a proper door, opening up to show a few trinkets and things inside! Someone clearly takes care of it.
Sheridan Memorial Park and Zoran's Sculpture Park
As we drove into Sheridan Memorial Park closer to downtown, we could clearly see a spherical sculpture, which is part of the Minnesota Veterans Memorial, that details all the major wars that America was in, with face casts of an individual above it, and how many total American, as well as how many total Minnesotan casualties there were. The faces were kind of eerie in a way, but it made the war more real and personalized with someone representing each of them.
Immediately next door, we could see what looked like construction happening, but from gazing just a bit further it was clear that it was Zoran's Sculpture Park, with various boulders in place, ready to be cut into sculptures. Born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, Zoran Mojsilov was a champion wrestler before he studied art in Paris, eventually moving to the US and designing various sculptures that can be seen in Serbia, the US and France. We saw that Zoran was at his sculpture park, and ended up chatting to him for a while. He is a hilarious mix of brash, grumpy and witty, with his sentences interspersed with multiple expletives for extra emphasis. But we must have made a favorable impression on him with our Aussie accents and going out of our way to visit his artist studio, if you will, that he gave us a book about him and his sculptures around the world!
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
One of the most popular images of Minneapolis is its Sculpture Garden, including the adorable Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture (a cherry on a spoon, poised on the water), and the bright blue Hahn/Cock (a giant cockerel). We struggled to find parking and thought that we wouldn't be able to check out the garden, as the one parking lot where our RV could fit was closed, due to preparations around the city for the Pride parade over the weekend (starting tomorrow). We were going to give up when we ended up finding a perfect spot on a side street, which we decided would be a good base for us to see the rest of the places we wanted to visit downtown. At the Sculpture Garden there are about 60 other wonderful sculptures to check out, and it's a lovely walk outdoors to see them.
Downtown Minneapolis Highlights
We walked across a colorful blue and yellow footbridge and across Loring Park, which was full of stalls and people getting set up for Pride festivities tomorrow. On the other side of the park, we ordered banh mi sandwiches at Lotus Restaurant, which was super busy with all the tables full of people dining in, placing orders in person, or picking up Doordash orders. After waiting for a long time (with a ton of customers doting on Sheila and saying what a pretty dog she was as they went in and out of the restaurant), we finally got our sandwiches. The bread is key to a great banh mi--it wasn't toasted, but it was fresh, which is better than having overly crusty and flaky toasted bread, in our opinion. Lisette highly recommends the tofu banh mi, although Michael reckons the grilled pork may have been a better option than the traditional pork.
We had lunch by the historical Sculpture Clock, a pretty clock with four clock faces and incorporated a “perpetual motion” kinetic sculpture, before wandering over to the Bob Dylan mural called "The Times They Are a-Changin'", which shows the singer-songwriter at 3 different stages of his life, by Carlos Eduardo Fernandes Léo, a Brazilian artist who has over 3,000 murals worldwide. Standing at 18 meters (60 feet) tall and over 45 meters (150 feet) wide, we struggled to fit the whole mural in the photos that we took, although it is apparently Minnesota's most "Instragrammed" artwork! We could see why it was so popular: the mural incorporates photo‑realistic portraits laid out via grid in black & white, then overlaid with kaleidoscopic color-blocking using airbrushes.
We walked past Target Field, the baseball stadium that's home to the Minnesota Twins team (great public transport too--the stop is literally right in front of the stadium!), arriving Sidewalk Harp, a permanent, outdoor interactive instrument! We had to hit the sensors, which would light up with LED colors, while producing musical notes. We didn't play a song (especially because Lisette couldn't reach all of the sensors!), but it was super fun to play!
At First Avenue, an iconic live music venue, we saw hundreds of stars with the names of acts who have performed there, most notably Prince's gold star (the album version of the song "Purple Rain" was recorded here), Nirvana, INXS, and many others. There's also one red star that stands out, for George Floyd. Looking further down the street, there's an awesome mural by artist Hiero Veiga that's about 8 stories tall of Prince--and similar to the one of Bob Dylan, it also shows Prince at 3 different stages of his life.
We headed back to our RV, walking past the beautiful Basilica of Saint Mary (cool building from the outside). It was great to see the diversity, blossoming and vibrant plants and nature, and fascinating history of Minneapolis--all factors that likely contributed to it ranking among the World's Happiest Cities this year. Although for us, we think we'd struggle with the brutally cold winters and snow!
Our last stop in Minneapolis was Ingebretsen's Nordic Marketplace, so Lisette could stock up on her favorite Scandinavian sweets. While the selection of licorice was not as good as Poulsbo to Went to Scandinavian shop! Not as good as when we went to Poulsbo in Washington for licorice assortment, Lisette scored a block of Icelandic chocolate (delicious, very creamy and melts in your mouth), a block of Norwegian chocolate (sea moss and matcha fusion--an interesting citrus and grassy blend!), and a small jar of blackberry licorice spread.
On our way to Saint Paul we had a quick stop to see an 80ft sculpture of a Loon (the state bird) titled "The Calling".
Saint Paul Highlights
Saint Paul and Minneapolis are described as the "Twin Cities" because they are so close, but they're two distinct cities, with Saint Paul being the capital of Minnesota. Late in the afternoon we arrived first at Como Park, a free park that seems similar to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park as it has sprawling, beautiful grounds where people can have a picnic, run/jog or just hang out, but there's also attractions inside. This includes the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, which was closing for the day as we arrived. The conservatory also looks similar to the one in Golden Gate Park, with an elegant, domed greenhouse that's made up of curved glass panels, providing an airy space for the plants inside. Walking around the conservatory, there are some lovely sculptures (including quite a few of seals), and we saw a few people who seemed to be using the park to take pictures of their graduation and wedding.
The US State Capitol building in Washington DC is inspired by ancient Roman and Renaissance buildings like the Pantheon and St. Peter’s Basilica, with a distinct dome. It seems that this was the blueprint for all other state capitol buildings, including the grand and handsome one in Saint Paul. Near the state capitol are the Story Stones, a military family tribute, which have actual personal letters and messages between service members and their loved ones etched onto the stones. It's a lovely and thoughtful way to provide people with a deeper visual connection to those who served in World War II, and the impact it had between them and their loved ones.
Despite seeing several different sculpture parks already today, we weren't "sculptured out" yet! There are some cool sculptures at Western Sculpture Park, a small park that doesn't take long to walk around--we probably were there for about 15-20 minutes, taking our time. The sculptures here are fairly abstract, including one of a frame, a megaphone (called "Democracy Speaks"), and a skull with an American flag attached behind it ("Eye of Newt"). Saint Paul also has statues of the characters from the "Peanuts" comics because Charles Schulz, the creator, is from this city. After his death, the city kicked off an art campaign to feature statues of Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and others. We spotted Lucy in a nearby kid's playground.
One of the most striking buildings on the Saint Paul skyline is the Cathedral of Saint Paul, which sits high on a hilltop looking down on the city. Built in the grand Beaux-Arts architecture style (read: tres Paris), it was completed in 1915 and can seat over 3,000 people. Its gorgeous features include a limestone exterior, grand stairs leading to the main entrance, stained glass windows, and marble altars.
Kim and Mike had mentioned we should also check out Raspberry Island in Saint Paul, for its scenic views, but unfortunately our vehicle too big and heavy to make it across the narrow bridge to get across. We did get to see it from a short distance away though, and how it was certainly a pretty place to hang out and be on the water!
Our final stop in Saint Paul was The Nook, a pub and burger place. It's rather understated from the outside, but we didn't go there to eat--we walked downstairs once we entered, and there's surprisingly an old-school bowling alley below that seems to be still in the 1960s or so, and the bar adjacent to it has $1 bills stuck everywhere, from the walls to the ceiling! Customers are welcome to add to the collection like many people have already.
We ended up stopping at a Pilot Travel Center, a gas station/truck driver stop, just outside of Saint Paul. It was packed already, with trucks sidled up next to each other for the evening, and cars jammed into all the spots (it seemed like the car drivers were also planning to sleep here overnight). We just managed to find one last spot where the cars were, so we could be on the end and not feel squished by the massive trucks around us. Gas stations aren't always the best places to sleep in because of the noise from the trucks at all hours, and the beaming lights overhead. But since we've now permanently put insulation on our back door and some of the windows for summer, and have the fan blowing through the night, it seems this combination of darkness and white noise has helped us to better sleep.
Route Map
