SVP Travel Tips

[Danvarner@aol.com]

       As a former resident of the Twin Cities, I thought I'd pass on some 
information that may aid you during your stay in St.Paul.
       Cossetta's Italian Market and Pizzeria is renown in the area and easy 
on the pocketbook-pizza by the slice. It's within walking distance of the 
festivities at 211 7th St West (phone 222-3476).
       An excellent blue-collar (read cheap) brew of the area is Pig's Eye 
Pilsner (Pig's Eye being the original name of the settlement).
       If you and/or spouse wish to take in the sights, there is the Bell 
Museum of Natural History down University Avenue on the Minneapolis campus of 
the 
University of Minnesota. When the great diorama painter Francis Lee Jaques 
(remember those Seymouria, Diplovertebron, and Cynognathus paintings he did for 
W.K. Gregory?) retired from the AMNH he settled here and created some of his 
best work for the museum. The Bell also has a gallery and they are currently 
running "The Art of Cats" with paintings by big-shot wildlife artists like 
Bateman, Coheleach, and Brenders (http://www.bellmuseum.org/temp_exhibits.html) 
.
       The Minneapolis Institute of Art is world-class and there are many 
other art museums in the area.
       The Como Park Zoo is in St. Paul. Como Park is where the first 
Siberian tigers were bred in captivity here in the States. There is a good 
reason for 
that. Just visit in January. The Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley is also 
excellent (I remember Musk Ox, Przewalski's horses, and I think they have 
Komodo 
Dragons now).
       Lastly, if you wish a taste of the gorgeous countryside and can't get 
as far as Lake Wobegone or distant Frostbite Falls, head up the St. Croix 
River about 60 or so miles noth of town to Taylor's Falls or across the river 
in 
Wisconsin at St. Croix Falls. There you can catch a taste of the boreal 
northwoods at Interstate State Park with it's lava cliffs deposited when the 
old 
continent began to unzip a billion years ago 
(http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/interstate/narrative.html). 
       Have fun! DV