A Grand Old Weekend

This has been a good weekend. For a start, on Friday I got my Minnesota license! It was actually pretty easy in the end. Plus, some of our friends from church have offered to give us their old car. It's a '91 Toyota and it's pretty rusty, but it will do for the summer, and it's free! We are very grateful for their generosity. It means that we can take a bit more time finding a newer, less rusty, car for the winter months.

On Saturday we visited downtown St. Paul. A few weeks ago we visited downtown Minneapolis. Maybe we just don't get downtown in the US, or maybe we weren't downtown proper, but we were pretty underwhelmed. There wasn't really much to do. Heaps and heaps of pubs, cafes and restaurants, but nothing like cities in Australia, like Melbourne or Sydney, where you can just wander the streets and you're sure to find something interesting. Anyway St. Paul provided a much better experience.

We caught the 9:30 AM bus and started exploring, hoping to find something interesting. Initially it seemed just like Minneapolis: condos, office buildings and not a whole lot going on. Then, when we were waiting at a set of traffic lights, a nice Minnesotan wound down his car window and asked 'Are you looking for the Farmer's Market?' We responded 'Yes! Yes we are. That's exactly what we're looking for.' He gave us directions, which we followed and found the Farmer's market full of fresh produce (a lot of rhubarb), jams, sauces, dips, cheese, eggs, bread and fudge. Most of which we sampled. It was really good, but also priced as such.

Then we went to this Cafe and got a plate of chippies. It was one of the most hipster places I've ever been in. In a good way. And the chips were great.

We were very impressed with the chalk art on the menu.

Then on Sunday, some friends from Church, Jim and Kelly, invited us to the Grand Old Day celebration. On the first Sunday of summer, most of Grand Ave, St. Paul, is closed off and taken over by a market/fair type thing. It was very enjoyable. We ate roasted sweet corn, deep fried cream cheese wontons, an egg roll and a corndog. Cheese curds will have to wait until the State Fair.

 

Authentic New Zealand pies. Made and served by Americans.