Daytrip to Detroit 07.11.2009
So,
after a hard but very interesting and funny week of work I started my Saturday with a day trip to Detroit City.
“Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Detroit is a major port city on the Detroit River, in the Midwest region of the United States. Located north of Windsor, Ontario, Detroit is the only major U.S. city that looks south to Canada. It was founded on July 24, 1701, by the Frenchman Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Its name originates from the French word détroit for strait, characterizing its location on the river connecting the Great Lakes.”
But as it is also known as the city with the GM headquarter, Detroit really suffered from the crisis. The world even call it the dead city. Well but I was still curious to explore the city. My colleagues at work gave me some advice on where to go, not to go, where to park my car etc. One thing all of my colleagues had in common, all were wondering why I was going to visit Detroit….
Anyway, street name of parking garage programmed into the navigation system and lets start the ride to Detroit. The ride was quite comfortable and the city did not had that much traffic. I parked in the parking garage of the famous greektown casino, which is quite famous in Detroit (and it is a safe place to park your car.)
Actually I had chosen a really bad time for visiting Michigan and Detroit….. The winter months are always quiet, not much going on except Christmas parades, as the whole state has to deal every year with masses of snow. I learned that Detroit has a lot of festivals and culture highlights going on in the summer…. My bad luck, but still the city had to show some nice places:
GM Headquarters:
Beautiful old buildings that remind me of the scenery of Gotham City in Batman….
The great Hart Plaza:
“Philip A. Hart Plaza is an open, mostly hard-surfaced park in downtown Detroit, Michigan, along the Detroit River. It is located more or less on the site at which Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac landed in 1701 when he founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, the settlement that became Detroit. In 2009, the Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority opened its new cruise ship passenger terminal and dock at Hart Plaza, adjacent to the Renaissance Center.“
And Mr. Cadillac
The tunnel to Canada was a Gateway to freedom to many slaves during the slavery in the United States:
A look over the Detroit River to Windsor, Canada:
I enjoyed a really nice walk along the promenade of the Detroit river:
Afterwards I went to the Greektown casino. The town was pretty empty, no one working on Sunday, but where are all the people? Well I found them all in the casino… I can’t believe that so many people are gambling… the casino was packed and it is not the only casino in Detroit. I just tried out the slot machines and won some dollars, which was enough for me… I am not that big gambler….Walking through the streets of Detroit downtown and especially Greektown was a bit intimidating… a lot of homeless people and wanna be gangsters… you could see people dealing with drugs, I also saw from some distance a robbery where three police cars arrived etc…. Detroit is not the safest place to live….
After the casino I went to a store which is called Fishbone’s. A great restaurant, that serves all kind of foods….but it is specialised in the seafood based on the cooking traditions of the southern states. Well I must admit that I took a chicken burger…but boy that was the best chicken burger of my life!
Unfortunately I couldn’t find some people to hang out with in Detroit or to go for some clubbing…therefore I took my car and made my way back home… It was a nice day trip and Detroit is not that bad…
I also did not had time to see more of Detroit but recommended are also the Easter market (lots of good food), the art museum (I am not that big fan of an art museum). Close to Detroit are the Ford museum (I visited it in January 2010 (highly recommended), there will be later a blog post about it) and I also went to the Detroit autoshow (also covered in a separate blog entry)
Stay tuned!