Monday, August 10, 2009

One of the twins

Here's what I think of Minneapolis (one of the so-called twin cities) based on what I have seen so far (2 days):

1. It is awfully humid, the very first think that comes to mind when visiting here in summer, something unexpected for me (wonder what would be source, a lake nearby?). The humidity together with the relative high temperatue reminds me of Dubai specially when you enter 'indoors' and notice that ACs are running at full throttle making everywhere inside really cold. Last night, due to sort of extreme weather conditions, we did have a tornado wandering around in the downtown areas and we received subsequent warnings. Although I did not witness it myself, I wish I had since it would have been exicting to see one.

2. The streets are easy, I guess if you live in US and are used to their cities and urban systems i.e. a large matrix of streets and avenues, you will find this one a no brainer as well. Even for an outsider like, it felt pretty straight forward.

3. Public transportation seems to work fine. More importantly, it was pretty cheap e.g. I took a bus and light train from downtown to Mall of America (supposedly the biggest mall in America which could easily be), a 20Km distance, cost me only $1.75 one way...nothing!

4. Sale tax on clothing seems to be so little that is negligible, is it only in Mall of America? I don't know but it is pretty amazing anyhow.

5. No comment on the food due to lack of enough evidence.

6. I have to say that Minneapolis is not as white as I was told it is, I have seen many colored people in the streets and otherwise, surprisingly a lot of them are from Somalia.

Over and out...for now!

No comments: