Yesterday at 7:00AM I boarded the bus for Chicago. David, my brother, and I left his house at about 6:15, as MapQuest told us that it should only take about 12 minutes to get to where we were going. However, we didn't account for getting lost. A wrong exit was taken which put us on the wrong interstate and we ended up going through town searching for where I was supposed to be. Once we got on a street we recognized as one which ran through an area familiar to us, we thought we would just take it all the way back there and start over. However, we ended up running into one of the cross streets which my bus left from and decided to take a chance and just go down it. My thought was that with how cheap tickets for this bus line are, it would not be a big deal if I had to sit in Minneapolis and extra day or two before getting to Chicago. But, it all worked out! I made it with several minutes to spare, and found that the majority of people had not even boarded yet.
The bus ride was about as bumpy as the trip getting there. We were supposed to be in Chicago by 2:25 and it was almost 6 before we arrived (honestly, since when has it taken three hours to get from Milwaukee to Chicago?). Since my friend Libby works downtown, I was just going to meet up with her between 6 and 6:30, so the delay wasn't bad for me as it was for my seat mate. In fact, when we got to the city it was raining, and my plan had been to just go to the park while I waited for Lib to get off work. I was much more thankful to be dry on the bus and only have to kill a little time hangout out at Corner Bakery on Michigan Avenue. However, I was so soaked after walking the almost mile from Union Station to Michigan and Randolph that I'm not sure it would have much mattered if I went to sit in the park or not.
But lets talk about Minneapolis. My first full day there was just gorgeous. I took my brothers bike out around Lake of the Isles and then spent close to and hour and a half just sipping coffee and reading the Star Tribune. By this point, my mind was made up that it was way to nice out to spend the afternoon in a museum. After going back to my brothers to fix a frozen pizza, I changed clothes and took his bike back out riding around the Greenway and the trails around several more lakes. Sitting in the sun by Lake Calhoun and doing the crossword puzzle was a great way to relax after the bike ride. Dinner was a huge pot of boxed mac and cheese with my brothers roommates, and the evening closed with even more of his friends and beer at Granite City.
Wednesday was another day to explore on the cheap. Though this time not, as intentionally as it had been on Tuesday. The day began again with coffee and the paper, but my plan was to go to the Art Institute of Minneapolis. As I walked toward the bus stop, I was feeling confident. In fact, I was feeling so confident that I didn't write down all the bus transfers and directions to the museum as thoroughly as it turns out I should have. Bad move I'm afraid. My first transfer went just fine, but then I couldn't remember where I was supposed to get off at the next step. Likewise, once I got off the bus, I couldn't remember which direction I was supposed to go if I had, in fact, by some stroke of luck gotten off at the right place. Thankfully, I'm not a guy who has trouble asking for directions, so I stopped at a building for the Minneapolis Council of Churches and asked the receptionist how to get where I wanted to go. She pointed me in the direction, and I was again on my way. Problem was, it was a bit farther than she told me it was, and it was the wrong museum! I wanted to go to the Minneapolis Art Institute, not the Walker Museum of Modern Art. One nice thing about this predicament was even though I was at the wrong museum, I knew where I was in the city, as well as how to get back to my brothers.
So, I decided to go to the Walker. As I entered the museum, I looked for a desk to buy a ticket, but never saw one. "Hmm...perhaps this museum is free", I thought. I went through all the galleries and as I was walking out the door to leave, a sign appeared which told me admission was ten dollars. Now, I wish I could tell you that I went back and paid for my experience, but if they have things set up so I don't even have to scheme a way around a ticket booth and can walk in that easily, who is at fault? Before starting the long walk back to my brothers apartment I took a short stroll through the sculpture garden just next to the museum. Finally, I saw the big spoon fountain I have heard so much about!
It was maybe close to three miles back to my brothers house, and I realized that my lunch that day had been a Fifth Avenue chocolate bar. Since I had eaten so well for breakfast (a bowl of Cookie Crisp) it was certainly time for some ice cream. A double scoop at Sebastian Joe's, an Uptown favorite, made the walk back much more tolerable.
For dinner, I was picked up by my friend Ally who I was in Namibia with. It was good to catch up on each others lives, and the Thai food we had was amazing! ( A quick word to the wise: Thai food, when your body is not used to Thai food, may not be the most advantageous thing to eat the night before a long bus ride.)
No comments:
Post a Comment