Tag: Murray’s

Travels With Charlie Part 2, Day #4 “Goodbye Toronto, Hello Minneapolis”

by reissmd, posted in Minneapolis, Toronto

Last night we had a wonderful dinner in Toronto with our friend Nick and his partner, Aldo.  Nick and I became friends when we met during a trip to Madrid, Spain when we both wanted to experience the country’s culture and study Spanish.  Apparently Nick did more studying than I did since he is now fluent.  At my current rate of improvement I should be fluent some time around the year 2060.  In Spain we were taught by a Reiss Travel blog follower, Angelica, who remains a friend and I affectionately refer to her as my “Spaniard mother”.  

Dinner was at Vos Restaurante Argentino-College (847 College St, Toronto, ON M6H 1A1, Canada).  They specialize in Argentinian food, great service, but not in great air conditioning.  We had a wonderful meal but were too busy talking about life and reminiscing about our times in Spain that I forgot to take any pictures of the food. Patrice did have the presence of mind to take a picture of us but declined a second photo with her in front of the camera.

From left to right: Nick, Aldo, Charlie, Me.

This morning we left the hotel early because of the awful traffic conditions we experienced yesterday. Of course things were much different today (a Saturday) and we got to the airport in about 20 minutes and much too early for our flight.  

We couldn’t get a direct flight to Minneapolis so we had a brief layover in Chicago.  One wonderful aspect of this part of the trip was that we cleared customs (via the Global Entry system) before we even left Toronto.  Many thanks to Charlie’s parents for enrolling him in the Global Entry program and kudos to Charlie for knowing he qualified. 

I had a window seat on the flight to Chicago and saw a great view of the Lake Michigan shoreline and of Wrigley Field (see below).

Lake Michigan and the Chicago shoreline.
Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs.

In Minneapolis we are staying at the Four Seasons Hotel which is walking distance from Target Field.  This place is gorgeous.  There was a slight hiccup on check-in.  They had us set up for a room with a king-size bed but without a rollaway.  Hmmm, we love Charlie a lot but the thought of all three of us in one bed did not sound inviting.  We asked for two queen size beds as we had in Toronto but that was not available.  Luckily they found a rollaway and we were in business.  From our room we have a great view of the city which includes part of the Mississippi River which separates our location from its twin city, St. Paul.

Part of our city view including a glimpse of the Mississippi River.
Charlie enjoying the view from our room.

We didn’t have much of a lunch so we had an early dinner at Murray’s (26 South 6th St, Minneapolis, MN 55402). The establishment is about 80 years old and was recommended by a friend of Patrice. The food, the service, and the air conditioning were all spectacular. We sat at a table from which you could see the below photo. Patrice knowing how old I am said “I bet you know who they are”. I recognized the guy but not the woman. Patrice of course didn’t recognize either because she is too young (ha!).

Eddie Cantor on the left, and actress Joan Davis on the right. If you recognize Cantor you are old, if you recognize both, you are VERY old.

After dinner we walked through “Taste of Minnesota” a monstrous food faire with all sorts of booths to stuff yourself. They only managed to make me sick because we had just had a big dinner. They also had bands and a variety of entertainment venues including a zip line.

Tomorrow will be a happy and sad day. I will leave that for later.