The last two days were rest days here in Minneapolis. Short version: Minneapolis is really nice. It reminds me a lot of Portland, OR, and I mean that in a good way. They have a killer mountaineering store, amazing bike paths, a super great and completely free art museum, and everybody has been super nice. It feels like a slightly bigger city than Portland, even though I know it isn't, population-wise. I know some of it is misleading because the weather is so good right now, but it does make me feel like this is somewhere I could live. I listened to a special on NPR months back about all the immigrants here in Minneapolis and the refugees and how open Minneapolis has been, but to see it in action is interesting. We had great Ethiopian food last night; there's a neighborhood right next to the dorm that is essentially all Africans (not African-Americans, either).
A quick note about bike paths, because Minneapolis really does them right: a bike path is a nice thought, but for those of us that use a bike as transportation, a bike path is the car equivalent of a small, windy country road; maybe nice to take a stroll on, but not a good way to get someplace. Normal bike paths are frustrating, so much so that usually we ride on the road right next to them. Because, just like drivers, we want to get where we're going. But here in Minneapolis, the bike paths are amazing, they are more like bike superhighways. Even through campus, they are fully marked and signed like roads, wide, flat, straight and easy to follow. The greenway even goes under the roads so you never have to worry about interacting with cars.
And I didn't even get to talk about the MIA (Minneapolis Institute of Art). So amazing, and totally free!
I need to come back here sometime to visit.
