Moved here from rural area and have some questions... (Minneapolis: live, restaurants)

[whitebox]

I recently moved into Eden Prairie for a job and had a couple questions about the area as I am trying to quickly adjust to everything. Prior to this, I've lived in rural areas my entire life so please bear with me (but I want to be clear that this is a good change for me; I'm not here to complain about "ugh the traffic is horrible" or any such thing)

1. What are some good things to do that I should be aware of in the city? I've been told that I should check out both the downtown as well as Uptown area; I drove through those areas but the biggest issue I saw was trying to figure out where I could park so I could actually walk around and check things out. (It looked really congested with most of the metered spots filled and so forth, and I've heard parking is really expensive)

2. In this vein of thought, is there any way really for me to get into the city easily without having to use my car and at a minimum of expense? I looked at the schedules on the metro transit website but the biggest issue that appeared to me was when the buses run (I work in the suburbs so I would be going into the city in the evenings and it looks like the buses are not 24/7 until I'm actually inside Minneapolis proper). I looked at the possibility of parking at one of the park and ride locations closer to the city and taking the bus in; thoughts on this kind of idea? Cabs aren't really an option in my mind due to the expense. (granted I haven't done a lot of research in this area so please feel free to correct me if you disagree)

3. What areas of the city should I really try to avoid (aka where I'm gonna have to worry about getting robbed/car broken into/etc)

4. I'm gay; what is there to know about the gay scene in minneapolis? (I've heard it's fairly decent for the midwest but I really don't know where to start). Thanks!

edit: fixed formatting issues

[uptown_urbanist]

If you're coming into the city from Eden Prairie you're probably right that you're going to run into bus issues. From that direction the buses are more heavily geared towards commuters, not towards people out for a night on the town. (maybe that will change down the road - long, long down the road -- when the eventual Eden Prairie to Minneapolis light rail line opens) If you're lucky you'll make friends who live out near you and then you can carpool. Or you could move in closer and just walk to the bars and restaurants! As far as parking, some places are more expensive than others. If you're coming in a lot you'll either figure out where the cheapest parking places are (or blocks with more readily available street parking), where to find the cheap garages, or you'll just get used to sometimes either paying for parking or walking longer distances. I think you're right that cabs are expensive, or at least I think they're more expensive than many other cities.

I think there's a pretty good gay scene, although I don't speak from personal experience. There are a lot of gay people (among the highest per capita in the country, I believe). And, since you're looking for a "scene," this isn't relevant at this point, but for what it's worth there are a lot of GLBT-headed families with kids here, also, I believe, among the highest rates in the country. Pick up a copy of Lavender Magazine if you haven't already. It's free and you can find it all over the place (library, coffee shops, etc.), or online.

Park and rides could be a good option, but you'll want to confirm that the buses in question run late enough. Those are also heavily geared towards commuters, and many of the routes don't run later in the evening.