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We wandered around, and occasionally made a loop or doubled back. Some of the places we visited are marked on accompanying maps of downtown Mpls.
We met where he's staying at Denny Lien and Terry Garey's house. Busing downtown (thereby getting a glimpse of the Metrodome), Kim mentioned that he liked to walk, and wherever we went was fine by him. Consequently, our route didn't follow any set path, and was determined largely by whim.
We got off the bus at the Hennepin County Courthouse, Minnesota's only building designed to withstand an earthquake. The pool is frozen and we didn't cross to City Hall, but we got a look at various government agencies serving the public. Kim was amazed at something we take for granted: Newspaper dispensers, where you can put in a few coins and get a paper. In Australia, there are plenty of news stands, but they all are the people-behind-the-counter type. The dispensers in the Courthouse are interesting because there are banks of them, with rival papers next to each other. Everywhere else we saw, each paper had its own dispenser, each of a different color and/or style.
The Pillsbury Building is one of the worst designed buildings in Mpls. It happened to be next, and I showed him around, just so he would have something to compare it against. The inside walkways are confusing, the atrium claustrophobic, and it's ugly.
Travelling a few buildings on the skyway level, we went down one of Mpls' Hidden Places, the great Art Deco staircase in the Dain Bosworth Building. The lobby is very nice as well, and Kim went back the next day to take pictures. Popping outside, I pointed out the structure next to Dain was built to that block would have a skyway connection across Marquette Ave., and is called the Skyway Building. It won an architecture award, and has nifty heiroglyphics on the outside that I've never been able to translate.
If we had stayed in the skyways, we would have crossed into the old F&M Bank Building to see the lobby gone next door to see the forest with running water in the atrium in the National City Bank Building. Alas, too much to see, so little time.
Walking outside, we went down to The Smile Building, aka the Federal Reserve Bank. It's designed on the principle of a suspension bridge, and looks like a big grin. Kim took one glance and pulled out his camera to preserve the image. Most of the security stuff is underground, covered by a sloping plaza with sculptures, a fountain and seating around trees (and concrete slabs to discourage skateboarders). The Fed is moving, and they're going to tear down The Smile Building and plaza. Too bad. The fountain is one of my favorites.
Branching off, we crossed the Mississippi at the Hennepin Ave. Bridge, over Nicollet Island, and went into Riverplace, where Kim rode in his very first glass elevator! Crossing the back over the river on 3rd Ave. with a better view of the falls (such as they are), we went into the Post Office, a leftover New Deal bldg, where Kim mailed a bunch of post cards back to Australia and bought a block of comic stamps for friends. Kim works for the Post Office in Canberra, and was suitably impressed. But he forgot to take any pictures, and came back the next day to take some snaps.
Going up the street via the Federal Reserve plaza, we went into the Public Library to use the facilities. At the Planetarium gift shop Kim bought a few postcards, and at the Friends of the Library used book store, he didn't buy any Utne Readers.
Lunch was in order. Dining at Bruegger's Bakery in Gaviidae Common, Kim finally had a treat he didn't quite manage at Corflu: Lox and bagels. Specifically, fillet of salmon on an onion bagel with chive cream cheese, onions and tomato, with fresh squoze orange juice to down it all. Yum! Another convert.
The bank next door would have been happy to give him money, but he didn't have a picture ID. Alas. Kim had to return the next day, on his own, and did a bit of wandering then, too. We looked at the Art Deco exhibit in the Norwest Tower lobby. They'd changed the pieces since I last looked, and I didn't like anything there. Some of the stuff was downright ugly. We had a grand time laughing at ridiculous teapots.
Going back into Gaviidae, we rode the escalators up in Saks Fifth Avenue to the 4th level, where Kim took a picture of the loon fountain. ('gaviidae' being the Latin name for loon, the Minnesota State Bird). We went up to the fifth level for a better shot. The escalator from the fifth level to the fourth is one of the best vistas of any atrium. Crossing the skyway on the fourth level, Kim marvelled at the food court. "We only have five chains in Australia. Not five restaurants, five chains." We encountered several chains and franchises (not quite the same thing) on our journey.
From there, Kim took his second ever glass elevator trip down to the second level, where we looked at some yuppie travel merchandise. Then I took him to the spot of one of my semi-great epiphanies. On the first floor of Neiman Marcus (the other anchor of Gaviidae), there are several racks of belts. The cheapest belt is something like $75. The most expensive one we saw was $525. Many of them were in the $300+ range. When I visited earlier, I calculated that I was standing in front of at least a half million dollars worth of belts. I realized: I don't belong here. This was my first trip back to the store. Kim's comment on the way to the belts: "They sure have a lot of ties."
Stopping briefly at the old F&M bank (with its Old Money lobby and Worker's Paradise ediface), we went up to the transit authority sales store. The facade of the MCTO store is a bus, poking its head a little into the sidewalk. Kim took my picture leaning on it. We also picked up some bus schedules for Kim, which turned out to be useful for him the next day.
Crossing into one of the neatest atriums in the US, the Crystal Court in the IDS Center, we rode down the Mary Tyler Moore Memorial Escalator and looked at the moving sculpture of The Hammering Man. There's a larger version of this in Seattle, where Kim is going next. The Mpls skyline through the skylights in the Crystal Court is an interesting view of the tops of surrounding buildings from the middle of the city.
Outside the City Center are the results of a 1983 competition the city had for manhole covers. Aside from the winner, most of the finalists are represented on the sidewalk outside, and we looked at a goodly chunk of them. I especially liked the one with all the footprints (sneaker, athletic shoe, roller skate, high-heeled shoe, barefoot, etc.) and the one with the EXACT location (to the second) marked on it.
After poking our heads into the Mick's to see the Art Deco mirrors, at Kim's insistence we walked down the street to First Avenue, where the artist then known as Prince rode his motorcycle in the movie Purple Rain. Kim now had bragging rights to friends at home.
Doubling back we went up to the Food Court level of City Center, where Kim was amazed at the chain stores and astonished at the different types of popcorn. He went for the Karmelcorn and not the Flavor Of The Month ("hot").
Skyway to Dayton's (where we spent a few mintues watching the Video Wall), down to the lower level to 700 on the Mall. More Food Stuff. We slipped underground to the Conservatory. One of the fanciest buildings in town, its also one of the worst designed. We found The Nature Company, and he bought postcards of loons.
By this time it was getting into the afternoon, so there were only two place left on my Must See list. We walked outside to The Foshay Tower. The Foshay Tower has a lot of history behind it, which I won't go into here. Suffice it to say that it's a gorgeous Art Deco building, an obelisk patterened after the Washington Monument, with its own Sousa March, and is the only building in the country with a patent (for the dirigible dock). The grillwork on the elevators is gorgeous, and taking the elevator to the second floor and following the signs to the skyway, we discovered a little door that I didn't know about. I love finding out about such things, and Kim was delighted too, though he'll have less of a chance to use the occult knowledge.
Wending our way through skyway and out past the Schmitt Music Store wall (with a classical music score covering the whole facade), we wound up in Peavy Plaza. A lazy, hazy place, even in Winter, this is the wading pool (then frozen) and open area next to Orchestra Hall. Kim took some pictures, and we took the Nicollet bus up to Lake, where we bid adieu.
The next day he went back downtown with ID to get some money, saw a few other things, such as the Metrodome, took a few pictures where he hadn't before, and ended up walking back to his hosts. The day after that he went to a Mpls party, and helped some local fans move. But that's another tale.
If this has been long and rambling... well, so was the adventure.
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