Minneapolis is one half of the twin cities - the other half is St Paul. It sits on the banks of the Missisippi in South Eastern Minnesota, the first state to the West of the great lakes and joining the Canadian border.
Minneapolis is not the sort of place you accidentally come across, there ... Read review
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Advantages: Cosmopolitan with great bars and the best shopping anywhere Disadvantages: COLD COLD COLD in winter. Did I mention its a bit COLD in winter?
Minneapolis is one half of the twin cities - the other half is St Paul. It sits on the banks of the Missisippi in South Eastern Minnesota, the first state to the West of the great lakes and joining the Canadian border.
Minneapolis is not the sort of place you accidentally come across, there is not much else in terms of cities within sensible driving distance so you have to be going there deliberately, normally by plane.
...90s, and the people of Minneapolis take to the water. Minnesota has over 14,000 lakes and some huge rivers... the Minnesota, the Missisippi, the St Croix. Water sports are everywhere, and the outdoors life beckons loudly in the summer.
Shopping - Minneapolis has the largest shopping mall in the US, and probably the world. Mall of America is just outside Minneapolis, and is linked to the downtown area by a cheap and efficient light ... more
Minneapolis is one half of the twin cities - the other half is St Paul. It sits on the banks of the Missisippi in South Eastern Minnesota, the first state to the West of the great lakes and joining the Canadian border.
Minneapolis is not the sort of place you accidentally come across, there is not much else in terms of cities within sensible driving distance so you have to be going there deliberately, normally by plane.
I've been six times so far with my work, so here goes with a (no doubt) short and sweet summary of what I've found about the place!
Winter - its cold. Really cold. -30F (-35C) is a relatively common Minnesota winter temperature, and it can go even colder with windchill on top! That's so cold they put the christmas decorations up in October and take them down in March. Average snow fall is over five feet, and January averages only two days a year where the temperature rises above freezing. The city doesn't stop beacuse of the cold though, the downtown area is criss crossed by a covered skyway system, you can get right across downtown without going outside at all! The skyways link many of the shops, hotels and attractions together and are often crowded during peak times in bad weather.
Summer - its hot. Not Florida / Arizona hot, but warmer in a continental type way than the UK. Temperatures head for the 90s, and the people of Minneapolis take to the water. Minnesota has over 14,000 lakes and some huge rivers... the Minnesota, the Missisippi, the St Croix. Water sports are everywhere, and the outdoors life beckons loudly in the summer.
Shopping - Minneapolis has the largest shopping mall in the US, and probably the world. Mall of America is just outside Minneapolis, and is linked to the downtown area by a cheap and efficient light rail service ($1.25 return off peak). It is huge, 500 shops, nightclubs, bars, restaurants. Everything. Shops that sell every product imaginable, from land crabs to apple computers. The Mall is so big it has a theme park (Camp Snoopy) in the middle, complete with roller coasters, big wheel, and log flume. All under cover because of the winter cold! Prices are good, particularly in the outlet stores, and choice of product is virtually unlimited. If you're a shopaholic then MoA is a Mecca. I think there is a sponsored link somewhere down the bottom of the page... worth a look!
Bars / beer - Minnesotans in general like a bit of a drink, and like the Brits for the most part the tipple of choice is beer. That's not beer as in fizzy yellow pop (Coors Bud et al), but proper beer! My own favourite is the Minneapolis brewed James Page Amber, a pale ale with loads of fruity flavour. Almost worth travelling for on its own. The downtown area has its own brewery, the Rockbottom, with a range of micro brews on tap including stouts, brown ales, boston lagers and Scandanavian brews. Worth a visit as the brewery runs a bar and restaurant, both are pretty good. The bar has about a dozen pool tables which are charged by the hour, if you fancy banging some balls around. In Autumn the have an Oktoberfest, at which I was conned into drinking some Doppelbock - 11% abv! If you're homesick for British ales there is a bar on Nicollet Mall called Brits (I kid you not) which serves Boddingtons, Old Speckled Hen, Guinness, and Newcastle Brown. It even shows premiership games on TV and has a Crown Green bowling green out the back! Feels a bit strange drinking in a British theme pub! Beer comes in 20oz glasses and costs somewhere near $4 a glass... try the Brits Guinness Pot Roast at about $12 for a man size cow pie type meal. Haute cuisine is available, but I've only eaten in the bars where the food is generally excellent in any case. Murrays is a pure 60s steak house complete with Chintz, excellent but slightly pricey steaks.
Sports - The two main sporting venues in Minneapolis are the Metrodome (Baseball and American football, Twins and Vikings respectively), and the Target Center (basketball - Timberwolves). Both are indoor arenas similar in size to premiership stadiums. The baseball season runs from April to October, the football season over the winter. Prices are reasonable, the cheap seats for the baseball are $8 and you can move to more expensive areas if the ground is not full.
Theatres/arts - So many you can't list them. Everything from Burlesque to Shakespeare and Broadway shows. Take your pick, you'll find what you're looking for. There are lots of festivals over the summer months in particular, check the Minneapoilis Star Tribune web site for what's on.
People - By and large possibly the friendliest people I've come across anywhere. Minnesotans are often of Scandanavian or German descent, and this is still obvious today in many of the characteristics of the people. Basically they are a very friendly lot, but as with any group there are exceptions, and as with most big US cities don't assume it's a go anywhere place. Stick to downtown and out of town and life will be fine, the bits in between, particularly between downtown and the airport, can be a bit ropey.
Travel - MSP airport is within the bounds of the city, and is Northwest airline's main hub of operations. There are direct flights from Gatwick, and indirect flights via Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Newark, or Chicago among others. The cheapest I've found tickets on sale for the direct flights are £225, this varies considerably. Connecting on arrival the light rail service runs from the airport to downtown, and is the cheapest way into town. Expect to pay $30 for a cab to downtown from the airport. Car hire away from the airport is about $28 for a mid size car, you can rent Harley motorbikes in Minneapolis for around $150 a day. Insurance and damage waivers may increase this significantly.
Hotels - Downtown is full of hotels. The price ranges from $40 (Normandy Inn) to $300+, there are generally offers and discounts available. Make sure you're in downtown then all the main attractions are walking distance. Even the cheapest are acceptable, mid range hotels like the Hyatt Regency or Marriott offer extras such as gyms, swimming pool, or swanky conference facilities
Other general things to see - The falls of St Anthony are quite dramatic when the Missisippi is flowing heavily, these falls are within easy walking distance of the city centre. The downtown area is dotted with artworks and sculpture, some of the bronzes on Nicollet Mall in particular are attractive. The skyline of the city is dramatic, three modern towers loom over the city at heights over 600 feet. The convention center at the end of Nicollet hosts many shows and events during the year, sometimes worth a look in.
In summary, lovely place, lovely people, fantastic beer, great food, unbelievable shopping, top entertainment, and off the beaten path. Well worth a visit.
PS - Prince is from Minneapolis, I was looking at this review and noticed most of the sponsored links had Prince related goods for sale etc. You never know, you may bump into him!
Advantages: Good route network, comfortable seating Disadvantages: Food poor in domestic economy, staff not always great, safety concerns
---Introduction---
The title of this review "Possibly America's best airline" is meant to be slightly tongue-in-cheek. I have to date flown with several American carriers, including Delta, American Airlines and Northwest and to be honest none of them were really shining stars in the firmament of airlines. This review is based on my experiences flying with Northwest, both on their international and domestic networks.
---Pre-flight details---
My flight was booked via a high street travel agent and was a one-way economy ticket from London Gatwick (LGW) to Great Falls (GTF), a mid-sized town in north central Montana. This routing meant I had to change 'planes in Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) with a layover of about 5 hours. Cost of the ticket was GBP 280 and the relevant flight numbers are NW43 (London to Minneapolis) and NW709 ...
Advantages: Cheap flights, on time, food was better than BA Disadvantages: DC10's getting old & creak a lot, nealy always full
The trip in question was Gatwick-Minneapolis-Anchorage & return and I was with a party of 5. After reading many bad reviews here & elsewhere about NWA I was ready for anything when I got to Gatwick.
On arrival at the gate I have to admit the DC10 does look very dated now, although our plane looked in a lot better shape than the one bound for Detroit whick looked like it had recently seen a very severe hailstorm.
Once through the security checks & boarded we found we had a half full flight for the first leg so we had the opportunity to stretch out a bit which is always nice regardless of airline.
The transatlantic crossing was pretty much uneventful, we had the groans & creaks of the aircraft during takeoff but once up to cruising altitude the only annoying thing was the noise of the fuelling of the 2nd engine on the tail which ...
Advantages: Cheap, direct flights, Skyteam awards (KLM, Air France etc) Disadvantages: Old planes, poor in flight entertainment
I have used Northwest airlines several times in the last two years to fly to Minneapolis from London Gatwick direct, and also to fly internally in the US into and out of Washington Dulles.
The flight from Gatwick is nearly always full, and the aircraft in use are DC-10s. These planes are ageing badly, I was surprised to find Northwest still flying them as it seems every other developed nation airline has replaced them years ago. I don't know how old the planes are, but they certainly lack many of the features of more modern fleet aircraft. There is no seat back TV, the in flight entertainment is by projector on the bulkheads. Unless you're pretty close you can't see what's being projected!
Space in economy class is not the greatest, although at 6'4" this is a problem for me on most flights where I don't get upgraded! The seats are ...
