Completed a three-morning walk along University Avenue (connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul) with a friend, pausing at architecturally interesting buildings. Today, our walk along “Asian Main Street” included wonderful Vietnamese pastries.
Category: Twin Cities
The Best Croissants
Continued exploring University Avenue with a friend. Visited a modest Vietnamese bakery for one of the best almond croissants ever. I was experiencing a consequence of a convoluted path from French colonialism to skilled Vietnamese refugees and their offspring.
Tail Races
Walked under Stone Arch Bridge on my way to meet friends for a walk. Paused to look at the remains of mill tail races (water channels). Three rusty upright girders once supported a railroad trestle. The blue Endless Bridge cantilevers out of the Guthrie Theater.
Grain Belt Beer Sign
Walked past the historical (1941) Grain Belt Beer sign on the banks of the Mississippi across from downtown Minneapolis. Los Angeles has the Hollywood sign; we have this.
St. Anthony Falls Laboratory
Posted St. Anthony Falls Laboratory.
Fluid Dynamics Laboratory
Visited the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, across the river from our home. It specializes in fluid dynamics of air, water, etc. Its lower levels are carved out of rock, allowing experiments to take advantage of the difference in height of the Mississippi.
St. Anthony Falls Laboratory
St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. Across the Mississippi from our home, we can see the University of Minnesota’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory. This week we got a chance to peek inside. The building, pictured at the top of this post, was funded by the WPA (Works Progress Administration), a Federal New Deal program to put people…… Continue reading St. Anthony Falls Laboratory
A Quiet Place
Cycled past this modest building. It houses one of the quietest places on Earth, an anechoic chamber. Notable recordings when it was a studio include: the first digitally mastered album (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on 3M equipment) and parts of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks.
Traces of Ox Cart Trail
Met a friend at St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. Tried to trace the route of the Red River Ox Cart Trail ending, here, at Lambert’s Landing in St. Paul. Until the railroads took over in the 1870’s, this was one of the busiest steamboat landings in the country.
Crystal Court
Ran errands Downtown, always a good excuse to walk through the Crystal Court at IDS Center.