Day 5 - September 18

We decided to spend today in downtown Minneapolis. We took the light rail train to downtown where we went to the Metro Dome – home of the Minnesota Twins pro baseball and the Vikings pro football. We saw a beautiful clock tower in the distance and we walked a few blocks in that direction. Once there we learned this beautiful, historic building is the City Hall and old jail (pictured here.) We walked through it to an underground tunnel that went under the road to the government center buildings. There we found a beautiful fountain and got a few pictures of planes over the buildings. We also got a couple of pictures of us with cartoon characters in the park. Once we got tired of walking we got back on the light rail train and went to the Mall of the Americas. We learned it is the largest mall in the world and has more visitors than any other attraction in the US (including Disney World.) We had heard about the mall but we were really not prepared for the size. In the center of the mall is a full amusement park (6 roller coasters, a full size ferries wheel, a space shot, a full set of children’s rides and lots more.) There is a picture which doesn’t do it justice. There is also an area built with Lego blocks, a full size aquarium and numerous restaurants. The shopping area has 4 wings, each one with 4 floors. The stores are numbered and we know there were 76 stores on the 2 floor of one of the wings. You can imagine how large this thing is. By the way, James made a new friend (picture enclosed.) We did not move the car today – first day this week with no miles (except what is on our feet.) We were able to do our laundry today and we are ready to “hit the road” tomorrow.