Day 29: June 13, 2025 Rochester, Minnesota, to Minneapolis, Minnesota

Up early and went to church with Patti’s mom one last time. We got the car packed and ready to go after having had nine nights at her home. Patti’s brother Perry and wife Jodie came down to say goodbye. And then we were off to Minneapolis-St. Paul for a few days. 

It was an easy drive of about 80 miles. We felt a lot of nostalgia because we both had lived in the Twin Cities for a number years, and that’s where we met originally met.

We arrived around noon at a place we had been meaning to visit for a long time: The American Swedish Institute. This is a museum, café, and beautiful mansion on Park Avenue in Minneapolis. We had a lovely Swedish-inspired lunch that made us both very happy. Then, we began to explore a little bit of the mansion. We got a little pre-tour taste by one of the volunteers who took us down into the basement of this multi-story mansion. There we were delighted to see a classic kitchen and café filled with Swedish artifacts. And then we also enjoyed seeing what was called “The Nordic Saga Room”. There we found beautiful carved furniture, and wall pieces that had been bought from Sweden by Curt Carlson. This is a name well known, especially in Minnesota and known to Dick because Dick worked in his company for five years. The wood was lovely.

And there is also a large carved Dala horse (the Swedish carved horses that are generally painted orange.) This one was set where you could climb on it and have a little horse ride, which of course Patti wanted to do.

We went on the official guided tour done by a tour guide named Sunny. It was just the two of us and a young woman who had been visiting the US for the last year from Germany. We had a lovely time going through the house and hearing a whole variety of stories about the home which was built between 1904 and 1909 by a Swedish American newspaper man. He was an immigrant from Sweden. We heard many stories and had the opportunity to look at the beautiful intricately carved woodwork, the lovely heater stoves in so many of the rooms, and the artwork, including some beautiful stained glass. Our tour guide was very passionate and enamored with this home and had many interesting details to tell us. The small tour was exactly the kind that Patti and Dick love.

We went and checked into our Airbnb, a classic early 20th century duplex in South Minneapolis near the lakes. This was going to be our home base for the next five nights. It is charming.

Then, we met our friends, Ann and Keith at a Greek restaurant. We were sad to hear news that our favorite local Greek restaurant, It’s Greek to Me, had gone out of business. But this newer restaurant was lovely. We were interested in seeing on the wall a piece of plywood that had been used to cover the windows during the riots following George Floyd being killed five years ago. The restaurant decided to keep that piece and posted on the wall. It helped remind us of the turbulent times. Minneapolis has been through these last number of years

Dinner was delightful and it was fun just having a chance to catch up and tell a variety of different stories. Then time to head back to our Airbnb. It had been an eventful time and we were ready for an early evening.