ST. PAUL

[NorthStar]

Downtown St. Paul

St. Paul Cathedral

Minnesota State Capitol, Minneapolis skyline

[Fruit Cove]

sweeeet!

[Neo]

Quite honestly, that's the first time I've seen DT Minneapolis from St. Paul. Thanks for the photos!

[Chachi]

So many people only see Downtown Minneapolis on these various forums, but St.Paul is great looking too, and only eight or so miles away.

[BigCityAttitude]

St. Paul is probably the most overlooked city in the US. I love the place and try to make an effort to go at least every other year. It's great to see it on the forum!

[wolfdawg54]

I have actually never seen pictures of St. Paul until now. That is a really cool city. I seems like a really clean city from up in the air. They have a lot of trees and St. Paul's Cathedral is massive.

[Allan]

Great pics! A friend of the family just moved to St. Paul from Houston, so I'm looking forward to visiting the city for the first time next summer.

[Claws]

Wow, seems to be a very beautiful and well laid-out city. It'll probably be a while before I get the chance to visit, though.

[ndray]

Great Pics.

They deemphasize/miss the convention center and arena as well as the new science museum though.

Some folks say St. Paul is the last city of the East and Minneapolis is the first city of the west -- geographically/culturally not chronologically! -- Mississippi River and all....

[JivecitySTL]

Great aerials. Everyone says that St. Paul has much more charm than Minneapolis, is that true?

Looks like a very spacious city, very well organized.

[Garris]

I don't think St. Paul has more charm than Minneapolis, just a different feel. St. Paul has more of a relaxed, residential, "old world" feel (although there are parts that are shockingly modern) and Minneapolis is in general more varied (with parts that are historic, quirky, modern, and everything in between). The cool thing is that, taken as a whole, the two feel nothing alike despite the fact that they are 15 minutes drive away from one another :-). In general, Minneapolis has much more to do (although St. Paul is catching up in this regard) and is the far, far better restaurant town.

Regarding the comment above that, "Some folks say St. Paul is the last city of the East and Minneapolis is the first city of the west -- geographically/culturally not chronologically! -- Mississippi River and all...." Well....... I would say, having lived in Minnesota for four years and both the East and West, Minneapolis and St. Paul both have far more of a Midwestern city feel in the Chicago/Madison/St. Louis way than feeling like any Eastern or Western city. There are two or three blocks of Minneapolis that have that dense, East Coast, big city feel about them, but it's not convincing. Similarly, there are parts of Minneapolis that have a West Coast sprawl type of feel, but in general, both cities have much more of a wide open, relaxed Midwestern sensation than anything else.

Just my $0.02.

Garris

[Cotuit]

Is there any hope that this expressway in front of the capitol (that's the capitol right?) may get a deck over it. It seems such a tragedy to have that great lawn in front of the capital cut off from downtown by an expressway.

[wolfdawg54]

Sounds good Cotuit but it might be a little expensive wouldn't you think?!

[Cotuit]

Not really, the state could sell the air-rights for development, it could actually be profitable for the state.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is selling air-rights for development over the MassPike to help pay for the Big Dig in Boston.

The areas infront of the Minnesota capitol should be covered and left as openspace to blend into the park infront of the capitol, but there looks to be areas further from the capitol that could be sold off for development to offset the costs of the open space decking.

[Garris]

Actually, Cotuit, the highway isn't all that intrusive at all, not nearly as much so as 95 and 195 here for us in Providence.

First, the highway is somewhat recessed into the ground, so it's not really visible at street level at all. It actually adds character, as the bridges over the highway are fantastically done, with old-European style stone, pseudo-gas lights, and some metal fencing. It looks great.

Second, that really isn't a very pedestrian part of the city in the first place and doesn't feel any more cut off from the rest of town than RI's capitol feels from downcity. It's mostly large institutional buildings with parking lots flanking both sides of the highway (including one for the stadium). Decking it over and placing retail or other attractions wouldn't be very helpful as, again, there aren't many pedestrians there at baseline.

Third, the retail part of St. Paul's downtown is off the view of the photo and closer to the river, where much of the new residential, commercial, and entertainment development is happening. Decking it would be attracting attention in the "wrong" direction.

Fourth, that area where the capitol is is somewhat elevated compared to the surrounding city (not obvious in the photo), so the look (including from the highway) is fairly dramatic.

You'd love St. Paul, Cotuit. It actually has a very similar feel to Providence, but just double the size. Providence, however, could really use some decking over 95...

- Garris

Providence, RI (late of Minnesota)

[Garris]

Quite honestly, that's the first time I've seen DT Minneapolis from St. Paul.  Thanks for the photos!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually, save from high up in one of the skyscrapers in either city, I think there are only three places in the metro where you can see both cites at once in one view/panaorama:

1) A park across the river in St. Paul (you see downtown St. Paul nearby with Minneapolis far in the distance)

2) Standing on the Mendota Heights bridge near MSP airport (very cool, as you see both downtowns far in the distance at once)

3) From the top of a water tower in Minneapolis (you see downtown Minneapolis nearby with St. Paul far in the distance)

I actually pieced together 6 photos from the middle of the mendota heights bridge to form a panorama with both downtowns in the same view. It took me about 2 hours between treking out to the middle of the huge bridge and taking the shots. I'll try to post it up one day, but it's a huge file...

- Garris

Providence, RI (late of Minnesota)

[Cotuit]

First, the highway is somewhat recessed into the ground, so it's not really visible at street level at all.  It actually adds character, as the bridges over the highway are fantastically done, with old-European style stone, pseudo-gas lights, and some metal fencing.  It looks great.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think that would help a lot at 95 in Providence until we can afford the Westminster Crossing plan.

You'd love St. Paul, Cotuit.  It actually has a very similar feel to Providence, but just double the size.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's among the many small cities I would like to get around to visiting at some point. I'll have to make an Upper Midwest road trip to St. Paul and Madison sometime soon.