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The Twin Cities
Nicolet Mall Nicolet Mall functions as a classic traditional downtown area. There is much foot traffic here, and all of the motorized transportation consists of busses, and cabs. There is no private automobile traffic here. This has produced a very pedestrian friendly, and shopper friendly series of public spaces. This place has the look and the feel of an old fashioned big city downtown. Too many downtown areas these days, function as little more than staging areas for the Interstate.

	More skywalks appear, which are now empty, and seem to serve little purpose on a pleasant day, but are certainly a blessing during the colder months.
	Yet another look down Nicolet Mall, showing the large buildings seeming to crowd in, off in the distance.
	A look up towards the top of the Wells Fargo building.
	A street level view of the Wells Fargo Building.
	Nicolet Mall. Like most of Minneapolis, there is significant new construction of impressive buildings, contrasted by numerous classic structures from earlier times.
	There are glass towers, all along the mall, and all over the downtown area of Minneapolis.
	Towards the end, Nicolet Mall begins to open up into a sort of a plaza.
	The Reliastar Building seems to act as a sort of an anchor at one end of Nicolet Mall.
	I had initially thought this to be a church, but it is, in fact a religiously based university, all interconnected by skywalks. This is part of the campus of the University of St. Thomas.
	A look up towards the US Bank building, with a partial view of the Wells Fargo building to the right.
	The Crown Theater building. We are now on Hennipen.
	The classic stone facade of the old Masonic temple building. Needless to say, this is a masonry building.
	A look at the old Masonic Temple, from up the street. The blank side plainly shows that this was initially constructed alongside of another building. This building is now being used as the Hennipen Center for the Arts.
	The sandstone front of another classic masonry building. In this case, it is the old Lumber Exchange.
	During one of our visits, the city was busily constructing it's new light rail system.
	More construction, looking off towards the Mall.
	Still more construction, this time looking towards Hennipen.
	A view of the future light rail line, in process. The red building towards the center of the photo is Renaissance Square.
	This is the old Federal Reserve Bank building. The Federal Reserve has since moved, and this building now serves more commercial purposes. The building is actually held together by cables, like a suspension bridge. This building is now known as the  Marquette Plaza.
	The Minneapolis Central Library. This is one of the most literate cities in the nation.
	A street level scene, with skyscrapers reflecting the clouds in the background. The upper and lower levels of the city seem like two different worlds, with a different color palette.
	Outside of the Gaviiad Shopping mall
	A look at a rather sodden downtown, on a rainy, and gloomy afternoon. A bit of the huge IDS Tower is visible to the left.
	The rain soaked streets, lend a nice atmospheric touch to this early evening shot.
	The US Bank building peers at us, over and through the twin skywalks of the Gaviiade center.

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