I highly recommend visiting Minneapolis during summer and fall through September. It is one of my favorite cities in the United States. I lived in Minneapolis before the downtown area was rebuilt, and I returned to visit in 1997.

I missed the seedy area I was fond of as a kid, but the reconstructed areas are charming, with cool places to hang out for a bite and a brew. I went by the old Greyhound Station where we used to hang out in the old days to pick up Ollie's daughters coming in fresh off the farm. It had been converted into a nightclub - the kids sitting around on the sidewalk said it was Prince's club.

The grain-silo style buildings and architectural renovations along the river park are pleasing to the eye. Stay down by the river if you can get a room. You'll like it. Be sure to walk along the park and across the bridge. I did, and I took a picture of a huge sign advising people not to commit suicide. As for St. Paul, I'm sure it is just as capital as its twin, but I didn't dally there  - I can only enjoy one thing at a time, and I like to savor what I have.

I found the locals to be friendly and fun-loving, still having a bit of that famous Midwestern gullibility despite the city life and its occasional dangerous characters. While walking along the street, I was invited to get into a van with some sordid looking guys; but I had lost my Midwestern trust in Manhattan long before: I walked into a hotel, called the police and gave them the license-plate number. Yet I did strike up conversations with some fine people including, by the way, fabulous-looking women whose boyfriends had to drag them away much to my dismay. Guys: I had just shaved and oiled my head; I was decked out in black silk shirt and pants and sharp-pointed black Georgia boots; I was sporting a gold earring and a gold chain; I was wearing Moneta cologne. The hairy chest is optional - the results are inconclusive, so if you have one you might or might not get it waxed.

I went out on the town more than once. The old historical society building had been converted into a burlesque club. I checked it out, sat at the bar for awhile and talked to the barmaid, who was working her way through mortician's school. I don't care much for the panting, slobbering and drooling like a dog scene, so I stuck to myself. The ladies were lovely, but I determined they needed modern dance and jazz dance lessons. I spoke to one of the owners about it; he invited me to make a proposal to give classes if I returned to town. I am still speculating on the choreographic possibilities.

The new Minneapolis was not nearly as raucous as the old one I knew. I recall us underage kids liked to hang in a joint favored by wrestlers. I was in the bathroom doing my thing at the urinal when one wrestler punched another's head right through the wall where I was standing. He still had a burning cigar in his mouth. So I finished up and went into the barroom where a man picked me up into the air and slammed me down on a table, busting it into pieces. They were just playing around - wrestling is just a joke, you know. I was not hurt, so I went next door to watch the famous stripper who had lights on her boobs and could make them circle in opposite directions - I always wondered how she did that! I thought I was hallucinating.

Anyway, I left the fancy go-go club and wandered into a brewery parlor and struck up a conversation with a fun-loving lady. Newcomers need not worry that the party is over: the population of recovering alcoholics is till growing, evidence of a helluva lot of "fun" going on in the Cities.

There were plenty of serious evangelists around when I visited, but none were too pushy. I was staying by the river in a hotel where people liked to get married - right outside my window, of course. But I didn't mind. I was impressed by the ceremonies, and very touched by the old saw used by one minister, "You shall not put each other down, but shall hold each other up, and when one falls, the other shall help that person up," and so on. I wish it was like that for everyone.

I enjoyed my visit to Minneapolis so much that I seriously consider moving there in the summer. It gets a tad chilly in the winter, so dress warm lest you lose some toes.