To Kill a Mockingbird~Park Square Theatre

I left my house at 8am to drive to Park Square Theatre, I wanted to give myself plenty of time because of early commuter traffic to the Twin Cites. To my surprise it was smooth sailing all the to the theatre, arriving in downtown St Paul about 9:30am. I parked at the Lawson Parking Ramp, a little pricey ($10) but easy to get to and only a couple of blocks down from the theatre. With some time to waste I decided to go to Macy's and find some deals.....I did, and got a couple of things I needed. While at Macy's I bumped into some classmates, Candy and her sister walked out with me and we decided to go to the Candyland, I can never resist the candy shop and homemade fudge!

Next stop Park Square Theatre, YAY! I was really looking forward to this show because I did not like the book very much and I was hoping the the live show would shed a another light on it.

The theatre from the outside looked so small, and even walking into the lobby I felt the same way.

Dr K. was in the lobby meeting everyone and handing out tickets, she is always so smiley, and looked excited to see the show. When I walked in to the atorium, it was much bigger than I expected and the stage had a wonderful glow. I found my seat and waited with excitement!

When the show started I was a little disappointed, with different screens representing different homes. I got over that quick! The show had my attention the entire time! There were a couple character that I was a little caught off guard with. Jem in the book seemed like he was much more demanding in nature and protective with his sister. I always thought of Boo as being a young man, not hunched over with greying hair. Calpurnia did a wonderful job, I think she played her part perfect!

Intermission...

I was so pleased with this play and have a much better liking of To Kill a Mockingbird after seeing it.

Mercado Central

Mercado Central was a Mexican style market, selling ethnic foods, clothing and trinkets. It is in the middle of the city surrounded by all sorts of different Mexican shops.

 I think that taking Spanish in college would greatly benefit me, I could not read any of the advertisements on any of the buildings. I really wanted to eat in the market but I could not read the meau, so I opted out!

When I go visit my Grandmother in Arizona there are bakeries like this all over, authentic Mexican pastries. Personally these sweets are not sweet enough for me....notice there is NO chocolate anywhere!
The market like the Hmong Market was fun to walk around and see what different cultures use as their staple items, and how they interact with one another. I did not feel so out of place here as in the Hmong Market. I was surprised that there was not a place selling fresh produce (at least I never found it). I really wanted to buy some fresh tortillas as I love them but I never found anyone selling those either.

Native American Center

We went to The Native American Center and there was not a whole lot going on. When we entered the building we were greeted by a lady walking out, and she told us that she worked the front desk but she was leaving for lunch, but we could feel free to walk around.  Very trusting lady if you ask me. We did walk around and seen very pretty murals on the walls, it would have been nice to know the meaning behind them. I did look for some ligature about the murals but none were found.

We went into the gift shop and bought our middle daughter a dream catcher and admired all the wonderful bead work, what time and patience bead work must take. Lastly we went to the gym, what a great place to have for the community to use.

Murals along side the freeway

When we left I saw more amazing things that made really realize that this was a Native American Community and that they seen to be very close nit to their heritage.

This picture is not that good, taken from inside of my car "Pow Wow Coffee"

Another picture taken from the car to show the Native American Community. All Nation Indian Church. All this culture in the middle of the city.

Minnesota History Center

When arriving at the History Center I really did not know what to expect, as I have never been there or heard about it until this class.  We entered from the lower level because we parked in the paid parking lot and found a delightful little cafe, we decided to get a snack before our tour. After eating we went and paid to enter museum. Walking up the stairs to go see the exhibits I saw a mural of "Minnesota" which I loved because it showed all the great things Minnesota has to offer, and if I am not mistaken I have seen it on a post card before.

The first exhibit we seen was the George Washington exhibit. I learned a lot of things about the President. The President was a very tall man, as shown below. There was a life size model of him, my husband thought it would be fun to get his picture taken to see how he measured up..

Some more facts I learned was that Martha was a widower, and had two children that were not President Washington's, but he raised as his own. They had no children of their own. Fact two, false teeth in this time period were gruesome, with all that lead in a person's mouth you surely would think that you would die of lead poison. Lastly Mt Vernon, what a beautiful plantation, 800 acres I could not believe the size. My daughter went to Mt Vernon last year for a class trip so I have seen many pictures, but she never told me how large it was.

MN150, our next exhibit. 150 places and tings that helped make Minnesota great. The Greyhound bus, life sized so you could pretend to drive. US mail delivery wagon.

My favorite was the wind turbine (windmill) I never knew that Minnesota was the 1st state to try these. I have been to the west coast several times and they are all over there so I always assumed that is where they originated from.

Next exhibit, Weather Permitting. This exhibit was particularly  interesting to me because my family has gone through a tornado "The Siren Tornado". My father in-law held on to a pole outside watching his cows fly in the air above him. Went went in to a replica of a basement in this exhibit to see what the Fridley Tornado was like.

We also went to Grainland exhibit, though this was not as interesting as the others, I believe if I would have brought my little kids they would have surely enjoyed climbing and bouncing down the grain elevator.

There were two more exhibits that we did walk through, Minnesota's Generation: The depression, The War, The Boom.  There was alot to see in this exhibit unfortunately there were about 100 school kids there and it was very hard to see and read about everything. I did take some pictures to share.

The last exhibit I saw was my favorite, Open House: If These Walls Could Talk. Walking through a St Paul home and meeting the last 50 families who lived there throughout the years. Seeing children grow up and how the house had changed through the years because of the time and fire. This made me think of my home and how someday I will have grandchildren running around and how my house will change and what would my walls say.

The History Centeer will be a place I watch for special events it was great fun to go to and step back into time, everything was very well done and easy to understand. I loved it!

St Paul Cathedral

What a beautiful place, this picture was taken while we walked up to the Cathedral. Not until we were on the steps did I realize that this building was HUGE, I felt like a little speck of dust standing beside it.

When we entered I was in awwww...I do not know if I can described the feeling I had seeing all the pretty stained glass, and just the spiritual feeling that overwhelmed me. This build was truly amazing.    

  

The Cathedral was started to be built in 1904 and finally finished in 1915. Still it took forty years to finish the interior. Seeing the interior I can't believe that it ONLY took forty years.

We walked the entire main level looking at all the wonderful stained glass and statues then exited on the lower level going through the little gift shop.

 I would love to go back for mass with my children, I really think that it would be a great experience for the entire family.

Hmong Market

The Hmong Market an interesting experience! With so many building to choose from we did not know where to start. We started with the building that said "get your taxes done here". This was an interesting sign for me because I thought the market was going to be ethnic food for sale and Hmong Trinkets. I was mistaken! There was a beauty salon, cell phone services, and a tax preparation place in the first building we went into. There was also a little cafe, and many little shops selling Hmong posters, clothes, shoes, and beauty products.

We arrived at 9:30 am, thinking this would be a good time to start because on-line it said the market opened at 7am. When we walked in many of the booths were closed, I was a little disappointed. Most of the posted hours on the chained gates were 9:30-6, still a little disappointed because at this time it was past 9:30 and they were still not opened. We headed to the next building and this one was my favorite. The second building vendors were all open and ready to sell things and the people were much more friendly, greeting us and saying "Good Morning". This build had fresh produce for sale and a little meat market. Some unusual things for sale were Bamboo Stalks, Pig Stomachs, and Chicken Feet! Yuk! It it so interesting that different cultures eat things that I would not even think to eat, even if I was starving.
The Hmong Market was a neat experience, and it is fun to see what different cultures wear and eat. I do not think this will be my normal shopping place though. I did want to take more pictures, but after I took the one in the first building I say signs saying "no pictures or videos" I did respected this so sorry I could not get any pictures of the chicken feet.