A Jolly Excursion

I rose bright and early Tuesday morning to catch the commuter rail into Minneapolis:



A speedy trip brought me to Target Field and the transit hub, now linking Minneapolis and Saint Paul via the just opened light rail—the "Green Line":



The Green Line is handy, it goes directly from the heart of Minneapolis to the center of Saint Paul. That said, it is sloooow. Not quite as bad as the bus, but it has twenty scheduled stops. We ended up in the Lowertown neighborhood, a year ago my younger son used to live cheaply in the building behind the train, but gentrification is running riot in the area, especially since the Green Line has opened:



You might think that two similarly-sized cites next to each other would be alike, but there is a HUGE psychological difference between Saint Paul and its upstart rival, Minneapolis. I love some of the quaint touches of Saint Paul—like this iron stairway:



The mighty Mississippi was nearby, with the picturesque Wabasha Street Bridge spanning the torrent:



A monster crane was clearing logs from a jam which threatened the boats in the marina:



Going back downtown, I caught this lively combo playing for the luncheon crowd in Mears Park:

  
I returned home the way I came—the return of the streetcar (we had street cars up until the mid-fifties, but lost them due to political chicanery.)

Another triumph of 19th century technology returns!