Minneapolis Audio Tours

Minneapolis has a reputation for being cold and flat, which is accurate -- January temperatures regularly hit -20C and the terrain west of the Mississippi is genuinely level. What the reputation misses is what the city does with those conditions. The network of skyways connecting 80 city blocks means downtown is navigable without going outside in winter, and the Chain of Lakes -- seven lakes linked by park trails in the southwest of the city -- makes Minneapolis one of the best urban cycling and walking cities in America when the weather cooperates. The Walker Art Center's outdoor Sculpture Garden, with Claes Oldenburg's giant spoon and cherry, sits on the edge of Loring Park and has been a free public art destination since 1988.

Prince Rogers Nelson grew up here, recorded at Paisley Park in the suburb of Chanhassen, and played his home shows at First Avenue on North 7th Street, a venue that opened as a bus depot and became one of the great music clubs of the 1980s.

The mural on its exterior is covered in the stars of every artist who has sold it out. Minneapolis also has one of the largest Somali communities in the United States and the largest Hmong community, and the food around the Midtown Global Market in the Powderhorn neighbourhood reflects that diversity in a way that is not performative but simply what's on offer.