From: The Grand Rapids Press
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| "Minneapolis, Minnesota. The downtown riverfront attracts many types of visitors." |
I was in Minneapolis last week, and it seemed like a nice place, except for the giant Canada goose terrorizing the place like Gooszilla.
The back of this week’s postcard reads “Minneapolis, Minnesota. The downtown riverfront attracts many types of visitors.”
I had a nice conversation with photographer Virgil Damhof, who apparently survived his encounter with Gooszilla.
I saw no geese of any size when I crossed the mighty Mississippi during my morning run through the University of Minnesota campus, but it did seem like a nice place.
Check this out: The city’s light rail -- which stretches from the Mall of America to Target Field, where the Twins play -- runs pretty much on the honor system.
I bought my ticket at the station in the airport – just $1.75 to get downtown – and found no turnstiles or ticket-takers.
I jumped back on later in the day to see Target Field. The fare was just 50 cents, and, again, there are no turnstiles or gates.
Worried I was missing something, I asked the nice folks in the Twins’ gift shop if there was someone I should be giving the ticket to.
No, I was told. You just buy your ticket and board the train. Police occasionally ride the train and ask to see the ticket. If you can’t produce one, you get a different kind of ticket, and it costs a lot more than $1.75.
After photographing the stadium from every conceivable angle – even being allowed a quick peek inside to see the scoreboard – I paid the 50 cents again and hopped back on. Talking to another passenger, he said he’s only been stopped by the police on the train one time in eight years, and even then he was just given a warning.
In New York, we’d call that kind of system “free subway.”
The next night I jumped on again – yes, I paid the $1.75 – to go to the Mall of America, where I found this goose-centric postcard. I also found home plate for the old Metropolitan Stadium, where the Twins used to play, in the middle of the theme park in the center of the mall. That discovery, ostensibly, was my reason for going to the Mall of America.
Even better, the train tickets are good for two hours. After finding home plate, buying something for my nieces in the American Girl store and this postcard and walking around for a little while, I realized that the Mall of America is pretty much like any other mall, but with three more levels.
My ticket was good for another 10 minutes.And good thing, too. Because when I went down to the station, there were two police officers checking tickets.
Maybe they were on the lookout for giant geese.
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