We stayed at the Marquette Hotel, right downtown. It was super nice. Our room had a great view of the city
I especially loved the shower. It was huge and had 2 different types of shower heads!
Most of the company functions were held in the Windows Over Minneapolis tower. It was up on the 50th floor of a skyscraper and had an amazing view.
Friday night we had a reception at the Mill City Museum. This was one of my favorite things we did. Minneapolis was historically a flour mill city. This museum is built into the ruins of the Gold Medal Flour Factory. They set up a bar outside in the bottom courtyard.
I really liked how they integrated the old mill ruins into the new museum building.
They also had a very cool ride that gave us a much better idea of what the mill was like when it was functioning. We were in an elevator that moved up and door the floors of the mill. The door would open to different reconstructed scenes. They used various multi-media effects to make it feel like we were back in time in an operating mill. I was amazed at the complexity of technology they developed that ran only on the power of the river. We finished up on the top where there was an observation deck with a great view of the Mississippi.
Friday and Saturday I was stuck in the hotel gym because I had early meetings and didn't want to run in a strange city. Sunday morning though, I went for a great run. I ran about 8 block down to the river. I don't know how you city people do it- stopping at all those intersections drives me nuts! Once, I was on the river path though it was smooth sailing. I did a 2 mile loop that went down the Minneapolis shore, crossed the river, and then back up on the Saint Paul side. It was really well marked and there were so many people out enjoying the trail that I felt totally safe by myself.
I worked up an appetite on my run, so we headed to Hell's Kitchen for brunch. I was afraid it might be an over hyped tourist trap, but it wasn't at all. The decor was totally funky and they had a great live band.
We grabbed spots at the bar and within minutes had coffee in front of us. I just couldn't decide so I ordered a couple small things. I got the Rosti potatoes- which where shredded potatoes with bacon, scallions, garlic, and onions, all sauteed in a sweet cream butter. Holy yum.
I also got a single pancake, which was huge. It also was great. It was really light and airy. I totally smothered that sucker in their homemade peanut butter and blackberry jam. I then went back for several straight spoonfuls of the peanut butter. It was that good!
In the end, I wished we had more time in Minneapolis. The food, the people, the buildings, and the running were all great!
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