9-20-15

Our last day in town, we elected to have breakfast in St. Paul so we left before sunrise.  One great thing we learned about this city, FREE PARKING on Sundays.  Enjoy this video as we go to St. Paul.

We  explored a bit of downtown before breakfast. It sure is pretty at dawn. The Minnesota Children’s Museum.

Palace Theater, undergoing renovation.

Park Square Theater for live performances.

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We discovered we were right next to Hamm Building, the founder of Hamm’s  Beer. There was  a marker across from the building. One of the many commercials.

We had breakfast at Mickey’s Dining Car, a historic landmark in St. Paul.

Quite a delicious breakfast, we finished at about 7:30. Our next stop was the Capitol. On the way we found the Fitzgerald Theater, where A Prairie Home Companion radio show takes place. We listen to that show!  How great to finally see it.

The Capitol building was not far from here, right now it is undergoing some renovations.

A closeup of the gold decoration on the building. The sign says “Minnesota”.

And on top of the Capitol.

We further explored the grounds, most other government buildings are here near the Capitol. The Minnesota History Center.

The beautiful Cathedral of St. Paul is close to here as well. I could see it from the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis.

Minnesota State Office Building

State Veteran Service Building

Also many memorials and monuments.  A statue of Leif Erikson near the Capitol.

Outside of the Veterans building is a display of large boulders, each engraved with an excerpt from a letter written by a vet during their tour of duty. Very touching.

A timeline to the Women’s Suffrage Movement, dedicated in 2000.

We got done exploring here and went back downtown to see more. The Landmark Center, formerly the courthouse.  Now it is a center for performances and special events throughout the year.  It has an ice skating rink outside in the winter.

A castle stand up display in park by the center.

The Hamm Building we saw a bit of earlier.

A couple of the fine businesses in the Hamm Building is the Meritage restaurant.  Also Landmark Jewelers and Heimie’s Haberdashery.

See those heads in the picture?  There are metal Peanuts™ characters in this downtown area. Lets see a few more, I didn’t get all of them.

We finished exploring downtown and headed to another neighborhood called “Lowertown“.  It’s a historic neighborhood with an upbeat atmosphere and a beautiful square-shaped park called Mears Park. A former warehouse district, it now the “in” place to live and work.

Mears Park

Many delightful business in and around the square.  It was a nice warm morning and people were eating alfresco at The Buttered Tin.

Barrío Tequila Bar and Food

Public Kitchen and Bar

Faces bistro

After exploring Mears Park and the square we enjoyed lunch at The Bulldog. The food was wonderful and I could see why they are a popular place to go, especially on game day.  A Minnesota Vikings game was beginning at noon and it played on the many TVs while we ate.  Thankfully we weren’t wearing Green Bay Packer clothes that day, we would have received a few side-eyed glances  🙂

After lunch we stopped to see one last attraction before heading back home.  We enjoyed some great views of the city and water on The Mississippi River Trail.  It is a trail that spans 800 miles with the start point at Itaska State Park.

This trail has many interesting views. On the right is the St. Paul Municipal Elevator and Sackhouse.  It has been restored and you can go inside, its HUGE! There are signs inside describing its history.

View from the other side.

Across the Mississippi you can also see the river boats to go on cruises.  This is the Padelford Riverboats Landing where you can choose your boat ride.

Enjoy a view of the skyline and all the activity in this vibrant city. The First National Bank‘s “1st” on top of the building is visible for 20 miles at night and 75 miles in the air.  We saw it on our arrival in the morning, flashing red (see video at top of page).

And from here our trip is concluded, 1:40 PM and time to go back home.  It was a fun trip and it was great seeing family too.  We are glad you could join us for the last 3 days.