I woke up around 5:30 AM and we got the family on the road by 6:30 AM...
It's about 2 hrs to the Canada/USA border. We were thankful to have not had any delays crossing into the USA...one of the questions we were asked at the border was how much money we were bringing into the USA. Don't recall ever being asked that question coming or going before - so not sure what they were trying to ascertain.
We arrived in Minneapolis around 2:30 PM and headed to the Minneapolis Art Museum (free admission). We especially enjoyed the Egyptian and ancient arts section and the Modern & Contemporary Galleries...Art Deco & Arts & Crafts eras (particularly the 1926 Frankfurt kitchen and the Prairie School collection ). The boy really liked any area that showcased weaponry and the African Arts.
I wish I had researched the exhibitions before we went because I would have liked to have seen: Play & Ceremony: Cherished Items for Children and Unspoken Messages : The Art of the Necklace.
Next on our list was a stop at Ikea - a first for us all. Being that we had driven for 7 hours and then walked around for about 2.5 hrs - it probably wasn't the best time for us to be heading to a store like Ikea. But our time was limited - so we went. We started off with supper in the restaurant/cafe on the 2nd floor. Having heard about cheap eats like 50 cent hotdogs - we were enthused. The food was relatively inexpensive but no hotdogs, 50 cents or otherwise, were seen on the menu.
The kids had Swedish meatballs, french fries and chocolate milk. The hub had Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes and lingonberries, I had a Greek salad. The food was delicious and calories aside, I wished I had had the Swedish meatball meal (I sampled some off my dh's plate).
Later we spotted the place with the 50 cent hodogs, $1 ice-cream cones and $1 large cinnamon buns (all sampled by us - though everyone just sampled one item).
We were overwhelmed by Ikea. It is not the place to see for the first time around 6 PM after all the aforementioned driving and walking and probably not the best place to look around with 2 young children and maybe not even the best place to look around with a spouse :) I think I would have enjoyed it more - starting out fresh and early in the morning - by myself.
Can you believe that the ONE item I specifically wanted from Ikea, and wanted it very much - they did NOT have. Well actually they did have it as a sample hanging inside the doors as you first walk in - giving me false hopes.
A simple item - some orange fabric with birds. The fabric can not be purchased via Ikea online and buying it elsewhere online costs about double the price. sigh. I was disappointed. We left Ikea empty-handed.
It's about 2 hrs to the Canada/USA border. We were thankful to have not had any delays crossing into the USA...one of the questions we were asked at the border was how much money we were bringing into the USA. Don't recall ever being asked that question coming or going before - so not sure what they were trying to ascertain.
We arrived in Minneapolis around 2:30 PM and headed to the Minneapolis Art Museum (free admission). We especially enjoyed the Egyptian and ancient arts section and the Modern & Contemporary Galleries...Art Deco & Arts & Crafts eras (particularly the 1926 Frankfurt kitchen and the Prairie School collection ). The boy really liked any area that showcased weaponry and the African Arts.
I wish I had researched the exhibitions before we went because I would have liked to have seen: Play & Ceremony: Cherished Items for Children and Unspoken Messages : The Art of the Necklace.
Next on our list was a stop at Ikea - a first for us all. Being that we had driven for 7 hours and then walked around for about 2.5 hrs - it probably wasn't the best time for us to be heading to a store like Ikea. But our time was limited - so we went. We started off with supper in the restaurant/cafe on the 2nd floor. Having heard about cheap eats like 50 cent hotdogs - we were enthused. The food was relatively inexpensive but no hotdogs, 50 cents or otherwise, were seen on the menu.
The kids had Swedish meatballs, french fries and chocolate milk. The hub had Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes and lingonberries, I had a Greek salad. The food was delicious and calories aside, I wished I had had the Swedish meatball meal (I sampled some off my dh's plate).
Later we spotted the place with the 50 cent hodogs, $1 ice-cream cones and $1 large cinnamon buns (all sampled by us - though everyone just sampled one item).
We were overwhelmed by Ikea. It is not the place to see for the first time around 6 PM after all the aforementioned driving and walking and probably not the best place to look around with 2 young children and maybe not even the best place to look around with a spouse :) I think I would have enjoyed it more - starting out fresh and early in the morning - by myself.
Can you believe that the ONE item I specifically wanted from Ikea, and wanted it very much - they did NOT have. Well actually they did have it as a sample hanging inside the doors as you first walk in - giving me false hopes.
A simple item - some orange fabric with birds. The fabric can not be purchased via Ikea online and buying it elsewhere online costs about double the price. sigh. I was disappointed. We left Ikea empty-handed.
1 comments:
I CAN'T believe that you went shopping after a long drive! Yes, you definitely need to shop alone!
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