November 6, 2008

City of Bridges

I'm in Minneapolis for a few days; it's cold, gray and wet. They predict snow tomorrow. Good thing I'm here for something besides the weather.

Christopher, who is a student of city planning, has described Minneapolis as one of his favorite cities. What little of it I've seen certainly backs him up. I've been here for less than a day and have seen the city only from taxis in the rain, but it is beautiful.

The city planners have connected most of downtown through hamster bridges they call Skywalks. I can do most of downtown without going out in the rain. (At least I could if my hotel was connected. I'll figure it out if I have time to get out.)

The Stone Arch Bridge was built around 1850 and straddles the Mississippi River behind the world-famous Guthrie Theatre. A new bridge behind the Stone Arch carries motor traffic now.

The Guthrie Theatre houses three stages, three restaurants and a gift shop. The "endless bridge" that juts from the building toward the Mississippi River is just one of the unique architectural features of this amazing building. I attended a show last night; later I will write about the Guthrie. It easily earns its own post.

The conference starts in about an hour. Gotta go.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That looks like a really cool town. I only drove past on my way to Fargo. Now I go back, and I can't wait!

Doug said...

Nice! Is it snowing yet? ;)

Rox said...

Nice pictures! Travel safely!

Sooo-this-is-me said...

Looks like an interesting city. Wow 1850, beautiful.

Snow? It is like summer up here, sunny with temps between 60 to 65 the last few days.

Fabulously in the City said...

Gah! Minneapolis! The best place ever! :-P

Great photos, too. Hopefully the weather won't be so nasty and it'll clear up. I hope you have a great time! :-)

Birdie said...

These are great shots of sights I saw; however, the photos are not mine. The day was too dark and wet for any good shots. These came from a blog set up by a professor of architectural design at UMN.

Joe Jubinville said...

Nice. I hope we start to point our energies toward our cities and renewable new ways of living, restoring our home on earth. I think that's the moon shot of the next cycle, a transformative mission.

Anonymous said...

Love that photo of the bridge, yours or not.