GENERAL INFORMATION It is said that Mark Twain was the first to call Minneapolis and St. Paul the 'Twin Cities,' both are less than a dozen miles apart and straddle the Mississippi River. The Twin Cities are pure heartland USA - industrious and prosperous, heavily into sports, shopping and the great outdoors. Yet they are not carbon-copy twins. St. Paul, the state capital, is smaller and quieter, a sedate midsize city spread across gentle rolling hills. On the other hand Minneapolis is the the financial, cultural and retail center for the area and has quite a nightlife with entertainment venues and good restaurants. Population: Minneapolis: 368,400;St. Paul: 287,150 Metro: 3,083,640 Flight times: Tokyo- 8 hrs., New York- 25 hrs., Los Angeles- 20 hrs. WEATHER Rainfall is plentiful in summer, with an average 17in (45cm) falling between May and September. Average Daily High/Low Temperature: - Spring: High 65°F/ 18°C, Low 40°F / 4°C - Summer: High 80°F / 27°C, Low 63°F/ 17°C - Fall: High 59°F / 15°C, Low 37°F / 3°C - Winter: High 27°F /-3°C, Low 8°F/ -13°C TRANSPORTATION Airports Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, a major regional hub and home of Northwest Airlines, is a 20-minute drive south of downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul. The airport handles around 22 million passengers a year. The Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport is 15mi (25km) southeast of Minneapolis and about the same distance southwest of St. Paul. http://www.mspairport.com/msp/ Buses and Trains To get around the city, Metro Transit run a comprehensive bus system throughout the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. During the winter months the climate-controlled skyway system provides comfortable access to a large area of the city. Greyhound has stations in both cities that are reasonably convenient to sights and lodgings. The Twin Cities are at the crossroads of two major interstate highways, I-35 and I-94. The former runs north-south from Duluth, Minnesota, to Des Moines, Iowa; the latter east-west from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Billings, Montana. http://www.metrotransit.org/ Amtrak: Twin Cities Passenger Station: 12500 W Marion Ln., Minneapolis, MN 55401 (612) 644-1127 The Twin Cities are at the crossroads of two major interstate highways, I-35 and I-94. I-35 runs north-south from Duluth, Minnesota, to Des Moines, Iowa; I-94 east-west from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Billings, Montana. ATTRACTIONS The St. Paul Winter Carnival, the USA's oldest winter festival, was started back in 1886 to celebrate some of Minnesota's most obvious features - snow and ice. There's ice fishing, ice-castle building, snowball fights, torch-lit processions and all manner of oddball winter worship. The annual festival draws up to 1.3 million visitors over 12 days in late January/early February.