Mar 28, 2008
A recent trip to Minneapolis/St.Paul served to remind me of the touristic pleasures of this under-appreciated U.S. city
Together with my guidebook-writing daughter, Pauline, I delivered a speech on travel this week at the bi-annual convention of the Public Libraries Association inMinneapolis/St. Paul, attended by some 10,000 well-read, intellectually curious, open-minded librarians. There is no better audience in all the world for preaching the delights of intelligent, sensibly priced travel.
The city added to the pleasures of the occasion. Unappreciated by most Americans, Minneapolis/St. Paul is one of the most culturally-alive locations in America; it probably enjoys more presentations of theater each week than any U.S. city other than New York and Chicago -- and some would argue that the intellectual content of those presentations is matched only by New York's off-Broadway scene. The city's Ordway Center is probably America's best opera house (presenting experimental and avant garde productions of the sort one rarely sees at New York's Met); its Guthrie Repertory Theater is the best in America; its children's theater is another stand out; and its many smaller playhouses are always a delight to attend. Add a number of outstanding art museums; throw in Mall of America for shopping fun; and you have the ingredients for a different type of urban weekend that more of us should enjoy.
I'm not sure I would recommend Minneapolis/St. Paul for a winter stay; the weather then is appalling. But April and onward are excellent months, and if you'd like to explore a different kind of American city, you couldn't choose better -- as I again had the chance to discover this week.
Write and read comments about this post.
The city added to the pleasures of the occasion. Unappreciated by most Americans, Minneapolis/St. Paul is one of the most culturally-alive locations in America; it probably enjoys more presentations of theater each week than any U.S. city other than New York and Chicago -- and some would argue that the intellectual content of those presentations is matched only by New York's off-Broadway scene. The city's Ordway Center is probably America's best opera house (presenting experimental and avant garde productions of the sort one rarely sees at New York's Met); its Guthrie Repertory Theater is the best in America; its children's theater is another stand out; and its many smaller playhouses are always a delight to attend. Add a number of outstanding art museums; throw in Mall of America for shopping fun; and you have the ingredients for a different type of urban weekend that more of us should enjoy.
I'm not sure I would recommend Minneapolis/St. Paul for a winter stay; the weather then is appalling. But April and onward are excellent months, and if you'd like to explore a different kind of American city, you couldn't choose better -- as I again had the chance to discover this week.
Write and read comments about this post.
Labels: midwest, minneapolis
Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
