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Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN |
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| Hotel: - Your choice of hotel | |||||
| Car: - Your choice of rental car |
| Package prices include all tax recovery charge & service fees | |
| Leaving Fri, Jul 30 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 1 | from $94 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 2 | from $133 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 3 | from $172 per person |
| Leaving Sat, Jul 31 | |
| Returning Mon, Aug 2 | from $94 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 3 | from $133 per person |
| Leaving Thu, Aug 5 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 8 | from $133 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 9 | from $172 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 10 | from $198 per person |
| Leaving Fri, Aug 6 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 8 | from $94 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 9 | from $133 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 10 | from $172 per person |
| Leaving Sat, Aug 7 | |
| Returning Mon, Aug 9 | from $90 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 10 | from $128 per person |
| Leaving Thu, Aug 12 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 15 | from $128 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 16 | from $166 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 17 | from $190 per person |
| Leaving Fri, Aug 13 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 15 | from $90 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 16 | from $128 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 17 | from $166 per person |
| Leaving Sat, Aug 14 | |
| Returning Mon, Aug 16 | from $90 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 17 | from $128 per person |
| Leaving Thu, Aug 19 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 22 | from $126 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 23 | from $165 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 24 | from $190 per person |
| Leaving Fri, Aug 20 | |
| Returning Sun, Aug 22 | from $89 per person |
| Returning Mon, Aug 23 | from $126 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 24 | from $165 per person |
| Leaving Sat, Aug 21 | |
| Returning Mon, Aug 23 | from $89 per person |
| Returning Tue, Aug 24 | from $126 per person |
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN: Why Go
Okey dokey, oh yah, and you betcha: twin cities Minneapolis and St. Paul are like a two-for-one double feature. One offers sleek sophistication; the other offers down-to-earth sensibility.
The real deal: When you need your festive fill of polka, piano, and pierogi--as everyone inevitably does (just admit it)--Nye's Polonaise Room offers eight rooms of sauced sing-a-longs, dynamite dancing, accordion antics, and more than enough cabbage, kielbasa, and vodka to go around.
Did we mention it's free? It's time to play ball--broomball that is! When the lakes freeze in winter, grab your uncle, your sister, your sweetie, all your friends, and that nice family you met on the plane on the way over, and play this more egalitarian form of hockey. All you need is a pair of boots, a ball, a broomstick, and an ability to laugh at yourself.
Get out of dodge: Follow Highway 8 to Taylor's Falls, which sits pretty on the St. Croix River right by the Wisconsin border. The huge state park cliffs are absolutely phenomenal, and make the perfect backdrop for a play day consisting of riverboat touring, peaceful paddle boating, and happy hiking through an enchanted evergreen forest.
Where the locals go: In St. Paul, the drive along Summit Avenue runs perpendicular to the river, and showcases some of the area's oldest and grandest homes, including the governor's mansion (so long, Jesse Ventura). At the top of the hill, The University Club offers incredible sunset views.
Good to know: Had enough of the Great Outdoors? There's an indoor skyway system that connects all of downtown Minneapolis, providing a sheltered, climate-controlled way to avoid the goose bumps associated with winter chills or summer-storm-sculpted frizzy hair.
Break-the-bank dinner: Located just across the hall from each other, Manny's is a meat-eater's dream steakhouse, and Oceanaire is a seafood celebration. Luckily for all patrons involved, the kitchens work in tandem, so you can mix and match from the menus all you want.
Day after break-the-bank dinner: Melt all your cares away by dipping your greasy spoon into a piping hot mug of morning coffee during brunch at The Uptown Diner, where the young and the checkbook-less stand in line to dig into the daily dish and swap stories of the morning after.
Place we love, even if it's touristy: For your cultural fix, Minneapolis's most nationally known attractions, The Walker and The Guthrie, will not disappoint. This theatre and art museum have both been recently renovated and sport a brand-spanking-new feel filled with the latest trends to hit the artsy edge.
Recommendations & Suggestions
Bryant Lake Bowl
810 West Lake Street
Phone: 612.825.3737
The tiny cabaret in the back of Bryant Lake Bowl plays host to some of the area's most talented actors and fall-on-the-floor funny comedians. Check out the theatre's website, (http://blb.ciceron.com/calendar.asp) for a schedule of events. There is a separate theatre happy hour from 3pm-6pm Monday-Friday.
The bowling alley is small but retro to the max. Bowling is $3.00 per game for adults, and $2.00 per game for kids ages 11 and under, including shoes.
The Bowl's restaurant isn't your typical bowling alley fare. While it does serve nachos, it also features pepper-crusted ahi and warm fig salad. The restaurant also has a large wine and beer list, but if you want to drink like a local, order the James Page Boundary Waters Lager or the Grain Belt Premium.
Fitzgerald Theatre
10 East Exchange Street
Phone: 651.290.1221
Located in downtown St. Paul, the beautiful Fitzgerald Theater was built as the Schubert Theater in 1910 and later renamed for F. Scott Fitzgerald, one of the city's most famous native sons. Today it is the city's oldest surviving theatre space and home to Garrison Kellior's A Prairie Home Companion, as well as a wide variety of concerts, lectures, and productions.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
2400 Third Avenue South
Phone: 888.MIA.ARTS
Established in 1883, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has a venerable history as one of the Midwest's premier artistic venues. Housing over 100,000 pieces of art representing over 4,000 years of artisic craftsmanship, the museum is known for its fine collection of paintings, prints, photography and decorative arts, as well is its works from Asia and the Pacific Rim, Africa and the Americas.
Admission is free, although there may be a special charge for certain exhibits.
Minnesota History Center
345 West Kellogg Boulevard
Phone: 651.296.6126
One of the prettiest museums you'll ever set foot in, the Minnesota History Center is a bright, open and airy structure made from Minnesota limestone and granite that opened in 1992. The center's changing exhibits and continuous special events make it more than just your average historical society filled with books and archives.
"Tales of the Territory" exhibit provides a multimedia approach to the state's changing boundaries, frontier life and Indian treaties. Kids and adults alike will love the Sounds Good to Me: Music in Minnesota exhibit, with memorabilian from Prince, Bob Dylan and Garrison Kellior. The center's extensive research library houses maps, books, photographs, newspapers and census records open to the public. Head up to the second floor of the center for one of the city's prettiest vistas. In one direction, the marble-domed State Capitol rises and in the other the stunning St. Paul Cathedral.
Admission is free.
Turf Club and Clown Lounge
1601 University Avenue West
Phone: 651.647.0486
This joint may be a dive, but the locals love it for its raging music scene beneath year-round Christmas lights, decor from a bygone 1940's heyday, cozy booths, and, of course, the hallmark of every good dive, cheap drinks. The upstairs Turf Club is a music haven packed with hipsters, while you'll feel snug as a bug surviving a Minnesota winter weekend night in the shelter of the smaller Clown Lounge. Oh, and rumor has it that the bar sells tasty tacos if you get there early enough on Friday nights.
W.A. Frost
374 Selby Avenue
Phone: 651.224.5715
Located in the stunning Richardson Romanesque Dakotah Building in the historic neighborhood of high society in St. Paul's Cathedral Hill and named for the pharmacist who did business out of the building during the late 1800s, W.A. Frost is one of The Cities' favorite special occasion restaurants.
Honored by Wine Spectator and Gourmet Magazines, Zagats and more, WA Frost boasts an elegant menu and wine list. The New American cuisine is served in a stunning dining room and, during the warm weather months, charming outside patio.
Walker Art Center
Vineland Place
Phone: 612.375.7622
With a focus on the visual and performing arts as well as media art, the Walker Art Center is one of the pre-eminent centers for twentieth-century art in the nation. The Walker's constant array of major exhibitions, including visual arts, music, dance, theater, film and video installations, as well as its permanent collection of over 8,000 contemporary pieces are all top-notch. Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for students and free for children under 12, and for all every Thursday and the first Saturday of every month--Walker events may require separate tickets. The Minneapolis Sculpture Gallery, adjacent to the gallery, is open to the public daily from 6am-12am, with free admission.
