Minneapolis – Day 2 (Thursday)

I wanted to explore the breakfast scene of Minneapolis, but was running late my first morning there, so I just hit up something convenient – Basil’s Restaurant inside the Marquette Hotel .

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I sat on the “outdoor” patio…

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…which was actually inside a mall-like area.

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Coffee + newspaper

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I wasn’t sure what to get on the menu – everything was sounding good, but I decided to try the one item I’ve never seen before – Wild Rice Waffles.

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Yes…the waffles had wild rice inside! It sounds weird, but it tasted like any other waffle would – the rice just gave the waffle more texture. Apparently, wild rice is local to the area.

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I also had a nice side of fruit, which I ended up getting boxed to-go so I could take it to the office because I was running late!

I met up with a co-worker and we made it just on time.

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We had some lovely boxed lunches. I had a club sandwich, baby carrots, pasta salad (with peppers, spinach, carrots), fresh fruit, chips, a toffee cookie, and a mint…it was so cute!

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After work, the group headed out for a drink. We got to walk by all the downtown buildings, which was so interesting to look at.

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Below, it was construction galore!

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Seriously…it was everywhere. But the construction wasn’t too hard to avoid on foot.

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We headed to Restaurant Max for cocktails and dinner #1.

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The lighting inside was so cool.

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I ordered the Gatsby’s Daisy – green tea vodka, lavender simply syrup, tarragon, and cranberries.

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The drink was amazing! I loved it..it was so unique.

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For dinner #1, I shared a bit of this mini crab cake

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…some Garden Flatbread

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…and some sundried tomato flatbread.

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Next, we took the light rail for a special trip.

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The light rail reminded me so much of the one we have in Charlotte.

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While we waited for our train, we snapped some photos of the downtown buildings.

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On the light rail.

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We took the rail all the way to the end to the Mall of America – the largest mall in the country.

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Escalators – lots of them!

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Inside the mall – rollercoasters!

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Carousel

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I wanted to go on this ride, but the flips scared away my co-worker.

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We ended up going on this one instead – Orange Streak.

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Ticket

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On the ride…

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…which went all around the inner mall area.

We walked around the mall a wee bit and hit up the Nordstrom sale and H&M. The mall closed at 9:30, the light rail left at 9:45, so it was about 10:15 pm by the time we got back and I was a bit hungry.

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I decided to take Dinner #2 at the hotel since all restaurants in Minneapolis seem to close at 10 pm.

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I got a half order of the spagetini pasta with tomatoes, garlic, parmesan, and fresh basil. Wish they’d put more fresh basil on top, but it hit the spot.

Next up…Minneapolis, Day #3…

1 thought on “Minneapolis – Day 2 (Thursday)”

  1. Wow — how fun for me to see pics of the MofA and the light rail. We moved from MN 10 years ago — back then the light rail was just a twinkle in the governor's eye (and a very controversial twinkle at that!) Thanks for posting!

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