We arrived Thursday afternoon and the kids were very excited to get inside the hotel. It's so fun to watch them explore the room and see their faces. All week Will had been talking about the "how-tel" and had packed a bag of books and toys to take along. (Which we never really had time to get into!) After dropping off our things in the room, we all went exploring through the hotel halls and history.
The last train left in 1971, but the Depot still stands as a monument of rail days gone by. For nearly seven decades, family members and loved ones stood at the atrium of the Depot and waved to passengers boarding the trains of the Milwaukee Road line.
In 1998, the Minneapolis Community Development Agency approved a land sale to CSM Corporation for the development proposal currently underway at the Depot. The finished complex includes The Depot Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, the Residence Inn Minneapolis Downtown by Marriott, an indoor water park, an interpretive history center about the Depot, The Stone Arch Bar, Charley's Restaurant, banquet space, underground parking for 650 automobiles and an enclosed seasonal ice rink. The entire project was completed in July of 2001. (One of John's jobs was the ice rink a few years back.)
As you can probably guess, there were a lot of train decorations, and yes, Will LOVED them all. Katie was in charge of taking pictures on our tour through the hotel.
A cute little model train...can you see Will trasfixed in the reflection? 
A map showing the train routes...interesting because it not only shows Minneapolis, but also our hometown in IA. 
The kids quenching their thirst with some water.
For supper we ate at Charley's restaurant in the hotel. We were surprised by how kid-friendly it was. The kids got special kid-cups, crayons and toy animals to keep them occupied. The food was yummy - especially the sorbet we all split for dessert.
Katie slept on the pull-out sofa while Will slept in the pack-n-play the hotel provided. While John and I were in the next room, we could hear whispers and secret conversations among them. They had a great night - eventually falling asleep. We also found out the next morning that they had been sneaking fig newtons.
It's pretty much exactly what I was hoping they would do together. :)
4 comments:
Sounds like fun indeed-- I have some questions, but I'll wait and see if the future entries answer them.
well, wait, maybe one-- how did the ghost travelers come off?
Jim
Ok - I think I'm just tired...ghost travelers? Can you specify? :)
maybe I'm crossed up, but aren't there statues scattered around the depot, of travelers, and people who worked on the trains?
Ahhh, no you are totally right. There are ghost stories that come with the hotel and about a dozen statues scattered around to commemorate people of the era. We got about as far as the title of the statues, but the kids weren't interested in much more than that. :) So I don't have details....but there was a policeman, a newsboy, a kissing couple, etc. Katie took some pictures of a few statues. :)
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