Another beautiful day here in St. Paul, MN. As the temperature was in the low 50’s when I awoke, I waited until temps reached 70 degrees at about 10:00 AM before I ventured out for breakfast at the same wonderful café as yesterday. I selected the Bon Vie scramble and a cappuccino and, thus fortified, made my way back to my room to “repack” for the train. My hosts were kind enough to extend my checkout from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. My train doesn’t depart until 10:20 PM so I knew I had a lot of time to kill. Also, it had been suggested that because the roomette I reserved was small, I should pack my carry-on with essentials and clothing for two days and check the rest of my baggage. As a first class passenger, Amtrak held my luggage so I was free to wander St. Paul.  I had forgotten that St. Paul is the capital of Minnesota until I saw this…

As their capital building is built on high ground, you can see it glow from many points in the city. Downtown is very hilly with many cafes having sidewalk seating (which I took advantage of several times) but very few shops. Beautiful parks with incredibly soft grass, lovely flowers, and fountains are everywhere. At one point, I even took off my flip flops so I could walk barefoot through the grass. I noticed that Minneapolis does not have the only skywalks between buildings.

I also wandered through the science museum where they have a tyrannosaurus rex right in the lobby. One room’s floor was tiled in this amazing topographical map of St. Paul and Minneapolis. During a tour, I found out that St. Paul has more Mississippi coastline than any other city, a total of __ miles and I was surprised to see that the Mississippi River is just as muddy as it appears in New Orleans.

After wandering around St. Paul for almost six hours, I headed back to Union Depot and decided to have a snack and a glass of wine. I am not someone who generally orders French fries but the description called out to my taste buds—fries tossed in truffle oil, parmesan and fresh basil, served with béarnaise sauce and a creamy Brie dip. OMG! Divine.  

I then headed to the first class lounge to await my train which, unfortunately was about a half an hour late. But, Car 2731, Cabin 013, my home for the next 36 hours or so was already made into a bed so I made myself comfortable, poured myself a glass of wine, and settled in with my book.