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Commonly known as the Twin Cities, MINNEAPOLIS (a hybrid Sioux/Greek
word meaning "water city") and ST PAUL are competitive
yet complementary. Fraternally rather than identically twinned,
they may be even better places to live than they are to visit, thanks
to their good looks, cleanliness, cultural activity, social awareness
and relatively low crime rates. About thirty of Fortune Magazine's
500 top corporations are based here; many extend substantial financial
support to local arts, community projects and sports. Life for a
majority of Twin Citians seems so vibrantly wholesome that the most
significant threat would appear to be their own creeping complacency.
St Paul has been called "the last city of the east,"
making Minneapolis across the curving Mississippi "the first
city of the west." Only a twenty-minute expressway ride separates
their respective downtowns, but each has its own character, style
and strengths. St Paul , the state capital - originally called Pig's
Eye, after a scurrilous French-Canadian fur trader who sold whisky
at a Mississippi River landing in the 1840s - is the staid, slightly
older sibling, careful to preserve its buildings and traditions.
Its residents are mainly German, Irish and Catholic. The compact
but stately downtown is built, like Rome, on seven hills: the Capitol
and the Cathedral occupy one each, august monuments that keep the
city mindful of its responsibilities.
Minneapolis , founded on money generated by the Mississippi's hundreds
of flour and saw mills, is livelier, artier and more modern, with
skyscraping, up-to-date architecture and an upbeat and even brash
attitude that never quite jeopardizes its essential affability.
The mostly Slavonic, Nordic and Lutheran residents are spread over
wider ground than in St Paul, with dozens of lakes and parks to
underscore the city's appeal. The home-grown superstar Prince and
the recording company Flyte Tyme cast a global spotlight on the
local music scene.
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