People from Saint Paul are sometimes referred to as “Saint Paulites”, though more commonly just “people from Saint Paul”; likewise, it’s correct, if uncommon, to refer to people from Minneapolis as “Minneapolitans”.
Saint Paul is the smaller, and easternmost, of the Twin Cities, a fairly imprecise term for the seven-county area that also encompasses the larger, grittier, and more dangerous Minneapolis and is home to more than three million people, better than half the state’s population, living in more than a dozen fair-sized cities and countless smaller cities, towns, and townships.
They might be twins, but they’re far from identical. Minneapolis has a thriving nightlife, with many bars and clubs, while downtown Saint Paul is largely devoid of legal entertainment after sunset. Minneapolis, for that matter, has a downtown recognizable as such, with proper skyscrapers, a light-rail system, and panhandlers… unlike Saint Paul.
The area encompasses a lot of potentially noteworthy attractions, such as Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (which is located in neither), the infamous Mall of America, the Lower 48’s biggest and most ostentatious shrine to consumerism and the capitalist way of life, as well as a number of other sights, including two zoos, a pair of museums, a number of theaters, and much more, some of which deserve, and will receive, their own pages here.
The downtown areas of both Minneapolis and Saint Paul are heavily endowed with networks of skyways, habitrail-like enclosed pedestrian walkways one storey above street level, which allow one to get around on foot without braving vehicle traffic, inclement weather, or fresh air. In connected buildings, numerous small businesses often face out into the hallway-like passages on what is widely referred to as “skyway level”. Heavily trafficked during business hours by shiny happy business people (and after business hours by shiny happy ne’er-do-wells), the skyways are often a microcosm unto themselves, complete with panhandlers, leafleters, and police patrols.
Smoking is prohibited in Twin Cities skyways, and indeed most public structures - including the Xcel Energy Center. It’s also generally illegal to have open containers of alcohol in the skyway, or any other public area. Wheelchairs are okay (of course); skateboards, rollerblades, and Segway scooters, not.