Quote:
Originally Posted by Poddy
What a great thread! My husband and I will be visiting MSP for 5 days at the start of August from Melbourne, Australia, and we're so looking forward to exploring your city! Besides the historical sites, galleries, and museums -- we love walking around neighbourhoods and really getting a feel for the city. We also enjoy good coffee/cafes, independent bookstores, fresh food/organic markets and parks and gardens. We'll be staying in the Lowry Hill neighbourhood (no car), but we hope to explore neighbourhoods in St. Paul too. We're not excatly what you'd call touristy tourists so we enjoy throwing in some obscure sites that only the natives know and love. Any additional suggestions, websites or blogs would be most welcome!
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I'm sure there are good websites and blogs out there, but I'm not familiar with them. Regarding a few of your requests for info, I'd offer the following:
Coffeehouses: There are lots of them in close proximity to Lowry Hill: Hennepin Avenue from Franklin to 28th Street has a semi-urban/semi-highway commercial feel so its not the best strolling street, but it does have lots of interesting restaurants (check into Duplex and Namaste (sp?), plus a grocery store, drug store etc... South of 28th St, it becomes more urban in feel in the Uptown area. Lyndale Avenue is further east, but offers a nice collection of restaurants and coffeehouses (Muddy Waters at 24th, Java Hut at 27th, plus a few others)
Organic Market: There's the Wedge Co-op on Lyndale and 22nd St, which is pretty close to Lowry Hill. Kowalski's at 24th & Henn is a good quality grocery store too, not to mention Lunds in Uptown (on Lake 1 block west of hennepin) (Rainbow is also in Uptown (along Lagoon and Fremont)and is less upscale). There's also Tao Foods, which I've never been in, but has been on Hennepin near Franklin for decades.
Bookstores: There's still a few interesting bookshops around, but its not like it was in the pre-Amazon days. Magers & Quinn has a great bookstore on Hennepin, just south of Lake. There's another used bookstore on Hennepin just north of Lake. There's also James & Laurie XXXXXXX Books on Nicollet Mall downtown (near 9th Street).
Walking:
There's a lot of great walking neighborhoods, just don't expect a high level of density. The Lakes are great for walks, plus any neighborhood around the lakes. I'd try to rent a bike and ride around the lakes and along the Midtown greenway to the river, up the river to downtown (and go over to the Stone Arch Bridge to see St. Anthony Falls). You could also bike out to the suburbs on the SW LRT trail (check out Three Rivers Parks on Google for the Hennepin County parks Dept--they should have good info on trails).
Linden Hills is a cute neighborhood, with a nice little business district at 43rd & Upton (you could walk around Lake of the Isles to Calhoun and south to Linden Hills and then take the #6 bus back to Uptown and Hennepin Avenue).
Other interesting neighborhoods:
St. paul's Summit Ave/Grand Ave; Cathedral Hill, Lowertown and Rice park areas of DT St. Paul; Nicollet Mall/Loring Park in DT Mpls, Mpls DT Riverfront/East hennepin/Main Street areas
There's a lot to cover. Hopefully this will give you a few ideas. Enjoy your trip!
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