It was a cloudy 12.6C (54F) as we boarded the coach bus for today's adventure at 8:15.
The first stop was Minnehaha Falls. This park takes its name after the beautiful stream and its spectacular falls that plunges 53 feet into a gorge before running out to the Mississippi River. The New England poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, gave this Minneapolis waterfall national fame in the
Song of Hiawatha, although he never saw the 53-foot falls he wrote of in 1853.
From there we drove along Ford Drive, past where the former Ford plant was located, then across the Mississippi River (one of many crossings).
Next, we cruised along Summit Avenue, the longest street of preserved Victorian homes in the nation. It is a beautiful street, divided by a grassy, treed boulevard. Most of the houses on the street are large, distinctive houses built between 1890 and 1920.
At 10:00 we arrive at Saint Paul's Cathedral, an imposing and impressive structure. The Cathedral of Saint Paul is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the city of St. Paul, Minnesota. It is the Co-Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis; the other Co-Cathedral is the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. One of the most distinctive cathedrals in the United States, it sits on Cathedral Hill overlooking downtown St. Paul and features a distinctive copper-clad dome. It is the third largest completed church in the United States, and the fourth tallest. It is dedicated to Paul the Apostle, who is also the namesake of the City of St. Paul. The current building opened in 1915 as the fourth cathedral of the archdiocese to bear this name. On March 25, 2009, it was designated as the National Shrine of the Apostle Paul by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Vatican.
Downstairs, I found a model of the church built with Lego! The model is 5 feet long, 4 feet wide and 3 1/2 feet wide. It took about 50 hours of planning and 100 hours to build. Approx. 70,000 blocks were used to build this model. Each Lego brick is unaltered from its original from its original size and colour.
For our lunch stop at 11:05, we went to "Joseph's Grill" along with several others. It started raining when we went in. We enjoyed a great lunch from an extensive delicious menu!
The rain continued as we returned to the coach.
A short drive later, we arrived at the Wabasha River Caves, which are said to be haunted. Our tour guide was "John Dillinger", who provided an entertaining history of the site.
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Our Wagon master, Bill holds up "John Dillinger"
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The caves, which technically are mines because they are man made, are carved out of sandstone and date back to the 1840s. Throughout history the caves have been used for a number of different activities, including growing mushrooms, storage of food and belongings, music, and dancing.
In the 1920s, the caves were used as a restaurant and nightclub venue known as the Wabasha Street Speakeasy. The speakeasy was said to have been frequented by gangsters such as
John Dillinger and
Ma Barker, however there is no evidence that these visits occurred; thus, these stories are considered legend.
After the tour of the caves, "John" joined us on the coach and escorted us on a "Gangster Tour" of Saint Paul.....when the Saintly city wasn't so saintly, a bus tour that took us around town to the sights of mayhem & mystery.
Along the tour, we saw the Hamm mansion, where Hamm's, first brewed in Minnesota in 1865, is America's classic beer. Hamm's is brewed using the purest water and the choicest barley malt, grain and hops. The Theodore Hamm Brewing Company was established in 1865 when a
German immigrant, Theodore Hamm (1825-1903) inherited the Excelsior Brewery from his friend and business associate, A. F. Keller, who had perished in California seeking his fortune in the gold fields. Unable to finance the venture himself, Keller had entered into a partnership with Hamm to secure funding. Upon Keller's death, Hamm inherited the small brewery and flour mill in the east side wilderness of St. Paul, Minnesota. Keller had constructed his brewery in 1860 over
artesian wells in a section of the Phalen Creek valley in St. Paul then known as
Swede Hollow. Hamm, a butcher by trade and local saloon owner, first hired
Jacob Schmidt as a brew master. Jacob Schmidt remained with the company until the early 1880s, becoming a close family friend of the Hamms. Schmidt left the company after an argument over Louise Hamm's disciplinary actions regarding Schmidt's daughter, Marie. By 1884, Schmidt was a partner at the North Star Brewery not far from Hamm's brewery.
Our day continued with a tour of Saint Paul before returning to the park at 5:00.
Early start today at 7:05 under clear skies, but only 4.6C. It wasn't long before it became foggy.
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