It used to be a major and busy rail hub when there was a lot more rail traffic in the Twin Cities. There were quite a few very active rail areas including Minnehaha Falls Park, which is hard to imagine.
The new Light Rail line that connects downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul that is set to open in 2014 will end at Union Depot. Unfortunately it just ends on the street in front and not somewhere within the building. But at least it's there. (I think I'm a public transit snob)
Currently Union Depot is only servicing busses - local Metro Transit and Jefferson Lines. In 2013 Amtrak will reroute it's Empire Builder route to Union Depot rather than stopping in a quirky and uninteresting area that it has been going to for years. So that's good. In the future if a midwest high speed rail takes shape it will stop at Union Depot. If the metro area develops additional commuter lines they will also stop at Union Depot. Right now it looks a little silly and sparse but over time hopefully it will be developed and become a real hub.
There were all sorts of activities going on there today.
This is Olive ready to explore. Apparently she is comfortable with crowds.
Sure, run away into the new building full of hundreds of people.
This is Tyler trying to keep up.
Olive found a giant touch screen thing because she's a kid. They have touch screen map/info stations. For a depot with like two buses. heh.
Not a huge fan of the colors.
We sat on a bench for a while. I don't have a photo of it but the style didn't fit the building one bit. I'm assuming they're the real seats they picked out but I can't figure out why.
There were people from the Bedlam Theatre dressed in period attire wandering around.
I wish the clock was still there.
Olive wandered confidently into this room. The windows say Amtrak. I'm not sure what it will be used for - I think ticketing is in the first room we were in and the entire hall is for seating, I believe.
I like this green.
They must be waiting for a train.
Screen printers were making canvas tote bags.
Suddenly there was a flash mob.
My favorite photo from the day.
This is maybe my second favorite.
This lady was dancing the Light Rail Shuffle. Yes. You read that right. She was dancing to a song about Metro Transit and Union Depot and the Light Rail as well. Yep. Mmmhmmm.
Olive danced a little.
And so did these folks.
A model of the new Saints ball park.
Olive found some kids.
And what looked like a button. There must have been a lever there when the doors were operational and lead to platforms. Right now they're mostly just windows as there are no stairs or platforms on the other side.
I'm getting better at photographing people in public places.
It makes me nervous.
Why no icon for ticketing?
Afterwards we headed to Mickey's Diner for lunch but it was pretty packed. We couldn't figure out where else to go so we drove to the other, less interesting, Mickey's Diner. Olive then had her first potty accident in a public place so we paid for Tyler's coffee and went home. I ended up making eggs and potatoes so it was kind of like Mickey's. :)
Olive's Advent Calendar
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
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