Minneapolis River Walk: A Self-Guided Audio Tour
Description
Welcome to Minneapolis, the home of Nerf Balls, the singer and songwriter Prince, and, yes, Zubaz pants. On this self-guided audio tour, you'll stroll along the Mississippi River. Along the way, you’ll hear about: • The history of the milling industry in Minneapolis • The massive Washburn A Mill explosion of 1878 • The 35W Bridge collapse of 2007 • The secret history of "Funkytown" • An ugly mansion with 86 TVs • Cougar attacks • The untimely death of Tiny Tim • The hiring of a hitman in St. Paul • ”Untalented but adventurous” German artists, to quote the author Jonathan Raban • How long it takes a single drop of water to travel down the Mississippi – and how long it takes a person to make the same journey This walking tour can be enjoyed on location or even virtually at home with VoiceMap's Continuous Play function which disables the GPS playback. PHOTO CREDITS: Meet Minneapolis
Tour Options
Itinerary
The tour starts outside the Open Book Literary Center. Here you'll learn about how VoiceMap works, be introduced to the city and hear about the Open Book Literary Center, and all before the walk begins.
You'll pass by the Guthrie Theatre and learn about its history and its role as one of Minnesota’s core cultural institutions.
The tour takes you past the Mill City Museum. As you walk, you'll learn a bit about the museum.
You'll walk past the Mill Ruins Park and while you walk, you'll hear a little about it.
You'll walk past St Anthony Lock and Dam and hear a bit about it, how it was used and why it is permanently closed.
While you walk, you can see where St Anthony Falls would have been if the dam wasn't built. You'll also hear a bit about the falls.
You'll walk past a section of the Mississippi River and learn a bit about it while you do so.
The tour ends in Nicollet Island at the Nicollet Island Pavilion. While you walk there, you'll learn a bit about Nicollet Island and who it was named after.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Reviews(70)
This audio tour was awesome. Could stroll along at your own pace and it would know where you were and start up at the landmarks.
Well-written and well-delivered audio with tons of interesting facts about the Mississippi River and the points along the route. Highly recommend!
I picked this as I had an offer to use. Today was close to 50 degrees outside in Mn. There was times the wind was right in your face. We tried to do with the car - hard to follow walking path. The very start of the video was not very clear where you were to be on the stone bridge, possible on walking path below. So the video kept repeating the same statement like 3 times. I would really like to know next time how many miles total for the walk, I believe this one was about a 5 mile walk.
I really enjoyed the tour. Thank you so much. The stories were endearing and interesting and made me want to read the book Under Purple Skies and sail down to New Orleans. I took way too many photos but posted the best ones here. Thanks again.
Fun self guided walking tour of this beautiful, historic and interesting part of the city along the river. Nice narrative, easy to follow and good humor kept it enjoyable and informative. Open Book is a great starting place (go in) and parking was easy on the street. I grew up here and am happy I finally got to spend some time in this area!
Great walk. This is for people who are prepared for a huge urban hike. Be sure the weather is good and dress comfortably and have water. My only complaint is the end point was a big distance from the starting point. Long walk back. Tiring, but looked good on my pedometer.
The narration was fantastic. So fun! The theater over the river was fabulous. The extension that went straight out toward the river overlooking the river was so cool.
Easy to follow walkabout, picked up some historical tidbits and great views of the river and the city. Took about an hour, across one bridge and back another....
Excellent tour of the City. I learned a lot about its history and enjoyed the jokes in between. I didn’t mind that it ended in a different spot that it started as it wasn’t a super long walk back to where it began and the narrator gave you directions back
Excellent self-guided tour. Took about 1.5 hours to complete. Just walking around without this tour would not give a person the chance to appreciate the history of the areas covered.
