CODI 2005

Sunday afternoon
Well, it turned out that half of Minneapolis got to Hell’s Kitchen ahead of us, and the wait for a table was 90 minutes. Instead, we finished up at Caribou Coffee (next door to Brit’s Pub) for breakfast.
We wanted to get something to feed the Loring Park squirrels with, but all we could find at Target was a catering sized pack of “Squirrel & Critter food” …so, we ended up buying that!
Within minutes of arriving at Loring Park, we were surrounded by dozens of hungry squirrels – a few are even tame enough to eat straight from your hand:

CODI 2005

Sunday morning
The start of our 2nd full day in Minneapolis and the last of the jetlag has finally gone. Outside it’s grim and murky – ideal for making the English abroad feel just like they’re back home 🙂

…at least the weather here is still better than what we left behind in the UK:

Yesterday morning we wandered off to try and find somewhere for breakfast but, after strolling up and down Nicollet Mall and Marquette Ave South, the best we could find was a small Starbucks. So today, we’ve done a bit of research and decided the nearby Hell’s Kitchen looks like a good place to go!
We were surprised how few people there where walking around the streets at 9am on a Saturday morning. It wasn’t until we were heading back to the hotel that we realised that they’ve got more sense than to wander around on a chilly morning – they’re all using the Skyway system. I can’t think of a single city in the UK that has one of these.
After freshening up, we walked up to Nicollet and jumped on the Hiawatha Light Rail Transit and went to the Mall of America ($1.50 each way). My jetlag caught up with me, and the huge 50ft Snoopy in the center of the Mall started looking really surreal – I half expected it to come alive and start a rampage 😀
Bryony was well chuffed with the Hello Kitty store, although the promised appearance of the eponymous feline at 12pm failed to materialise. Given my hazy jetlagged state, that was probably a good thing!
In the afternoon I headed off to the Summit meeting, whilst Bryony went to Loring Park, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, and the Walker Art Center.

CODI 2005 – Minneapolis

Bryony and myself are off to the CODI (Customers of Dynix Inc) Conference in Minneapolis at the start of November and I’m hoping to blog as much as the conference as possible.
As there’ll be several other conference blogs, I might go for a UK slant on things – so expect stuff like “by ‘eck – it cold enough here to freeze the knickers off a vicar’s wife!” and other comments about the weather & lack of decent tea making facilities 😉
At the moment, the only other blog URL I’ve got is for Kelli Staley’s ‘Brary Web Diva (www.kellistaley.com/blog.htm).
As a Brits abroad, I suspect we might have to go and gawp at the Brit’s Pub. Apparently it’s exactly like stepping into a real pub in the UK – it’s got pictures of the Royal family on the wall and a bowling green on the roof.
Bryony’s also discovered that there’s a “Hello Kitty” store in the Mall of America, so I suspect she might spend at least half of the week in there!