St. Paul, Minnesota has a system of skyways that connect many of the downtown buildings with enclosed bridges on the second floor.  The system covers about 30 square blocks, and makes it possible to access most buildings without having to step outside.  And if you do have to go outside, it’s only for a block or two.  There are skyway entrances at many of the public transit stops and parking garages.  I noticed a similar system in Minneapolis last summer but, seeing as it was nice and warm then, didn’t really appreciate it until I visited St. Paul this week when the high was 20 degrees.

Of course the skyway system connects buildings rather than addresses.  If anybody gives you an address in downtown St. Paul, just ignore it.  Ask for the name of the building.  Nobody knows how to decode addresses in St. Paul, what with 230 E. 5th Street being 6 blocks from the east/west dividing line.  Rational cities have 100 addresses per block.  In St. Paul, it’s 40.  I ended up wandering the streets of St. Paul in a short sleeved shirt looking for the address because I didn’t have the building name.

They shouldn’t send guys from Texas to Minnesota during the winter.