An Evening in Minneapolis

I arrived in Minneapolis with zero airline issues—which is a miracle for me! And both my flights were arrived early. My $17 shared-shuttle ride into the city only took 20 minutes and I was ready to explore a new destination. Minneapolis is a great city, friendly, walkable, international, and small enough to easily get around. I strolled down Nicollett Mall from my hotel—basically to get some exercise after sitting on a plane all day. Love the art and sculptures in this city—took a picture of the Mary Tyler Moore statue and figured out the route to the sculpture garden for tomorrow morning. Didn’t find the Brownsbackers bar, but that was because I didn’t take the name of it with me on my stroll, although I did find the street, so it should be easy to find after my river cruise tomorrow afternoon. After my walk, I stopped into a British Pub and got a Guinness. The best way to make friends when you are alone in an Irish or British Pub is to drink a Guinness. I’d only taken one sip when a gentleman came up to me and said “Are you drinking a Guinness?” I said “I am—it’s good for you”. He said “It’s the drink of champions!” I agreed. Then I met another ‘on a business trip’ person and chatted with him for a while. My Guinness was finished and the bartenders steered me toward the French restaurant next door for dinner. Steak au Poivre was the special, and I even ate the roasted brussel sprouts! The entertaining part was that my window seat afforded me a view of the Rolls Royce parked on the street, and the guy who was checking it out. He peered into the window, walked to the corner, then came back and circled the car. At first I thought he was casing it, then I came to realize, he was guarding it. He stayed within 20 feet of that car the entire time I was eating my dinner. Nice work if you can get it, I guess!! More to follow later on the rest of my time in the city.