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There is an eerie similarity in how Americans describe Canada and Minneapolis. To those on the coasts, Minnesota must be this vast, frozen, all-white, unsophisticated-but-polite-and-liberal place that sits on top of the rest of the country but mostly stays out of the way. The caricature was succinctly portrayed in the only widely-known film to take place in the Twin Cities, which was actually named after Fargo, North Dakota.If you visit, don't eat like a Viking.
To those who live here, Minneapolis is gorgeous, diverse, and worldly. It boasts a landscaped, integrated patchwork of parks that are sprinkled through every square mile. A greenway surrounds the city, connecting the Mississippi river to all of the lakes clustered around downtown. Galleries, gardens, colleges, venues, restaurants and shops (not including the Mall of America) form a trove of local gems. The immigrant community is vibrant and progressive - far more than I've seen in Los Angeles. It's no wonder so many Fortune 500 giants (Target, General Mills, 3M, Ameriprise, USBank to name a few) haven't left for New York.
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