Minneapolis

The view from the ninth floor at the Guthrie. 

We've been in Minneapolis for almost three weeks now. Our first week was spent in and around the theatre as we teched and opened our two shows.

The view from the Endless Bridge at the Guthrie

The theatre is an amazing building with lots of clever windows that let light in to the public spaces and give great views over the city and the river. 

The girls headed out for a walk across the stone arch bridge and a different view of the theatre and the mill district that we are staying in.

The Guthrie. The section of the building that comes out over the road toward the river is the Endless Bridge.

Another view of the Guthrie. The yellow box is the ninth floor lobby of the studio theatre.

You can see how much snow there has been!

Downtown Minneapolis. We walked through this area on our day off before catching a bus to uptown.

The covered bridge over the road here is part of the Skyway system. This links shops, offices and parking lots across downtown allowing people to walk up to 5 miles without going outside. Perfect for the Minneapolis winter.

Our favourite hangout. The coffee shop by the hotel.

Mary Tyler Moore

Uptown, we had a wander around some vintage clothing stores, had lunch in a microbrewery and indulged in one of our favourite pastimes - taking pictures of comedy signs!

On our first day off we had a big storm. It snowed for a day and a half varying from fine snow almost like frozen drizzle to heavy big fat flakes. We saw lots of different people out fighting to keep the roads and pavements clear. Once the snow stopped it was soon clear for traffic and pedestrians, except at street junctions where we had to clamber over snow banks between the road and pavement!

We've been told there will be a bit more snow before we leave but that warmer temperatures mean it won't hang about. In fact over 6 inches have been forecast for this weekend.

Ann Arbor

We had a great week in Ann Arbor. The team at the Power Center made us feel very welcome as did our audience, and we had some very raucous audiences during the week. We also had some good weather, mostly blue skies and crisp air with a couple of windy days and some snow - a little taste of what was to come in Minneapolis. 

The fly rail

Prompt corner

The monster truck that arrived to take our show to Minneapolis

Walking around the town is like being in a movie, the wide streets and pavements, the low rise buildings in blocks. We found lots of great places to eat, Prickly Pear, the Noodle Company, Zingerman's, Savo's and Arbor Brewing Company (which is also a micro brewery). We were taken to Mani's for post show drinks - and sampled our way through the cocktail menu.

At the end of our week the set took off for Minneapolis and we had a day off in Ann Arbor before following it. I went for a long walk in Nichols Arboretum. It was a lovely day with blue skies and crisp air. The arboretum was pretty quiet, I only saw a few joggers and walkers and 1 man on cross country skis in the couple of hours I was there. I saw lots of squirrels and some of the others spotted deer. Janine and I went sledding in the dark with Mike and Ann from the theatre before having a last supper in Arbor Brewing Company.

Huron River