From college and the last few years, we have gotten to know our cities pretty well. Minneapolis is the city of lakes, theaters and art. While we don’t explore St. Paul that often, I can tell you there are some trip worthy restaurants there. Our favorite is Cossetta’s italian restaurant. I recommend the lasagna with mostaccioli and garlic bread with a blood orange San Pellegrino!
Our favorite area of the cities is the area southwest of Minneapolis, this is where you will find Linden Hills which is a city suburb. Run, bike or walk around Lake Harriet, watch sailboats race and shop the one of a kind stores. Wild Rumpus is one of my favorite children’s bookstores, there is a little purple door for children to walk through and various animals habitat the store- such as chickens and a cat. Nearby is Broders, an italian bistro that has wonderful sundried tomato mascarpone, stromboli and pizza.
A little further out is Lake Minnetonka which is an incredibly large lake with many bays and is absolutely beautiful. When the lake isn’t frozen over in the winter with ice fishing houses scattered across it, there are many sailboats and boaters out on the water. This is the place to be on the Fourth of July. Literally you will never see so many people and so many boats all at one time. Excelsior and Wayzata are the two main towns off of Lake Minnetonka and they are across the water from each other. Excelsior is my favorite (not just because we live here!), but it has kept its small town charm, old buildings and eclectic shops. Best ice cream you’ll ever taste is right here at Lick’s Unlimited. Walk along the water with coffee or ice cream in hand, sit on the docks, relax at the park or go down to the beach. Wayzata has been much more modernized and has more mainstream shops, although the cutest Starbucks I have ever seen can be found here. It is a little white building with pillars and large windows, all covered in ivy.
Downtown Minneapolis, along the Mississippi River you can find the Guthrie Theater. This is a must go to destination. The building itself looks like it is a ship from a Star Wars movie, a shiny deep navy color. Once inside make sure you take the elevator up to the Yellow Box where you can see all over Minneapolis and beyond. After visiting the Guthrie, walk over to the Stone Arch Bridge. Once halfway across, if you turn around you will see the most amazing up close view of the Minneapolis skyline.
Some other points of interest that we love to visit are the Cherry and The Spoon at The Walker (Spoonbridge and Cherry) by Claus Oldenberg, Minneapolis Institute of Arts (be sure to walk over to Spyhouse Coffee afterwards), Good Earth at The Galleria for Chicken Cashew salad and their fresh pressed lemonade which is actually green apples with lemons and Yum! for fresh, delicious food and espresso.
While the purpose of these destination guides are to help you learn about the not so common places to visit- such as Mall of America! If you are in town visiting and would like to know great independent boutiques to shop at, let me know!
Next destination guide- Virginia!
