Heads are butting in Minneapolis between Muslim cab drivers and passengers trying to get a ride. USA Today has a story on the situation saying many Muslim drivers are refusing service to passengers carrying wine, spirits, or any type of booze what-so-ever. Many of the cab drivers in the Minneapolis area are Somali Muslim and have stated that driving passengers with alcohol is against their faith and Islamic law. Additionally, they’ve also told dispatchers not to call them to pick up passengers heading to liquor stores and bars. Not all Muslims agree that Muslim cab drivers are not allowed to transport alcohol – the main ban is against drinking. Passengers have complained that they’ve been turned away by up to four cabs before finding a ride home from the airport. Bummer. Sounds like a major clash in cultures and hopefully they’ll be able to make some middle ground. In the end I’m sure the taxi drivers will lose out (perhaps not in faith), but in deals that pay bills. Someone will come along and fill the void for passengers that just want to go to Italy and come back with their fine wines in peace. Read the full story at USA Today.
Fall Into St. Paul
I’m going to follow after Erik, who left us a list of links, just hours ago today on some of the best spots to experience fall. Having taken a look at the two lists I must say I’m surprised St. Paul. MN didn’t make the cut. I just spent three days in the city for the first-time ever and nearly fainted from such delightful fall beauty along the Mississippi River. I could very well be deprived from my living in Florida, So. California and Hawaii the last nine years of my life, but I thought the scene in St. Paul was something right out of a fairytale book. What I’m offering is my first-hand account of the seasonal grandeur and if you so happen take my advice before things take a turn towards the cold take a walking tour of the Summit-Selby neighborhood. Long known as a meeting place for people and ideas since the 1850’s, there are rows of Victorian-style mansions as well as small cozy homes mixed together. Famous names associated with the area include F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, August Wilson and Garrison Keillor. Really, it’s an area beyond enchanting.
If you’ve got the chance to make a run from a nearby area or somewhere just teeny ways further off, I’d throw Minnesota on your list of autumn destinations, NOW! St. Paul is just one of many fab Minnesota spots to watch the leaves breeze down from their branches to the ground. Check the Minnesota tourism bureau online for more recommendations statewide.