Creative Connection!

Debbie and I are here in St. Paul, Minnesota attending Creative Connection! Awesome! Last night we walked over to St.Paul's Cathedral. The desk clerk at the Crown Plaza, Matthew, was really great about marking the map for us to get around. The Cathedral isn't really that far of a walk, and just a little way down from the Exel center, you can actually see the Cathedral. The closer you get, the more you realize, that not only are you going up hill but there is one big hill to get up before you are actually at the Cathedral. Debbie and I joke about Humpday Hustle (a think at work they are doing at lunch time, quite honestly, I only want time to go to the bathroom and have a few uninterrupted minutes to shove the lunch in my mouth vs. those who have time to gather and walk back and forth six times in the hallway for exercise). So, we get out Humpday Hustle exercise going up this hill. Ok, so my knees aren't like they used to be, so what if they swell to balloons, there is always Advil, I guess I could get ice packs at the hotel, and I could elevate them. Maybe and oxygen bar because this is a pretty big hill, and you know what, they don't have hills like this in my part of Florida. The only saving grace is that it is not 92 degrees with 100% humidity.

St. Paul's Cathedral is beautiful. It is magnificent. It is jaw droopingly fantastic. It makes me think I'm back in Rome....ahhhhhh, Rome...anyway, we want to go in, but we're not sure if its open. Churches used to be open all the time, but there is an element of humanity that just can't play by the rules and churches lock up.... makes me wonder if God has a time clock. Debbie reminisces about the Cathedral in the area of Buffalo that she attended as a child and the side door was always open, well the side door here has a plaque that has times 7am to 7pm on it, so we were fortunate to go in......oh my gosh, it is huge and has several chapels, one for the Blessed Mother, one for Joseph, one for Luke, ..... the ceiling is spectacular and there are words around the dome. The Altar reminds me a bit of the one at St. Peter's in Rome, the one only the Pope can give Mass at, and the we find a Pew and pray. We then sit and just admire this beautiful house of God. We did walk around and took pictures, which will never capture the beauty that we see through our eyes.

We then brave the outside, it is getting cooler....awwww alright, cold. we do see a white building with a dome, is the capitol building. It is actually the third capitol building built in St. Paul. It has a golden sculpture at the bottom of the dome which is called the "The Progress of the State" or the Quadriga. It does have characteristics of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. There is a nice view of the St. Paul, it doesn't appear to be a big city but it has a population of over 3.5 million!

We make it down the hill, tougher on the joints walking down the hill, and the air is becoming chilly and the wind is picking up. We walk down near the river (the Mississippi) and turn right and go by Liffy's Pub and we find Cossetta's, 211 Seventh Street W. I can't find information on this place, but I'm sure it has been here for quite some time. There is a bakery, a deli (super big) and there is an abundance of olive oils, pasta's even frozen pizza's to take home! There are two lines for food, one line for pizza there other for pasta. The lines are long, but...well worth the wait. The pizza was sooo delicious and the cannoli....like in Rome as was the gelato!!! Yum!!!!

I've heard Cafe Latte (cafelatte.com) is really good, but it is a bit of a distance for us to walk to.

Now having a breakfast and enjoying finding out about blogging and crafting!!!