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The Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul
A Great Place to Visit
Part Two: Stately St. Paul
By Michele St. Martin
Adjacent to the Japanese Garden is the Conservatory – a popular site for weddings – complete with palm trees, orchids, a sunken garden and bonsai room. The Conservatory hosts a number of seasonal flower shows and features a glass dome with a 64-foot palm tree.
If you have children, the Como Zoo is a don't-miss part of your visit to Como Park. This free zoo is open 365 days a year (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the winter). The zoo features a variety of animals, including several endangered species: Galapagos Tortoise, Snow Leopard, Sable Antelope, Black-Footed Penguin, Ring-Tailed Lemur, Lowland Gorilla, Siberian Tiger, Orangutan, Grevy's Zebra and Eastern Timber Wolf.
"The Great Minnesota Get-together" is what Minnesotans call the Minnesota State Fair. The fair is held yearly for 12 days, beginning in August and ending on Labor Day, on the 360-acre permanent fair grounds in St. Paul. If you are in the Twin Cities during the time when the fair is running, you owe it to yourself to spend a day at the fair, which is one of the nation's largest, attracting 1.6 million people each year. Most fairgoers admit they come for the food (everything you can imagine is on a stick, including deep fried alligator!), but there's also major-league entertainment at the grandstand, free entertainment, crafts, animals of both the farm and pet variety, amusement rides, agricultural exhibits and more. Where else can you eat walleye on a stick, sit on the newest John Deere tractor, listen to a barbershop quartet, ride a roller coaster, watch a cooking demonstration, see award-winning flowers, watch a stock car race and catch Christina Aguilera in concert?
Although the food – plentiful, varied and ever present – is a huge draw, the people-watching is not t be missed. A day at the fair is fun for visitors of all ages.