It seems that these days, every large enough city with something resembling a waterfront is required to turn that waterfront into a park. Detroit is no exception; their riverfront has been turned into a nice promenade, with scattered trees, grassy areas, and benches. There’s even a small state park to show what a natural riverbank is supposed to look like, with the corresponding environmental benefits.

There are also a couple of party boats and river cruises available – none of which I took advantage of on this trip. No ferries between the two countries; I guess they aren’t needed.

Maybe if I had a party of 200….

Plenty of those electric scooters for rent. I suppose that maybe someday I’ll use one – if the rental company would make them more user-friendly, and post signs at the charging stations showing the rates and where the nearest other stations are, so you’d know exactly what you’re getting into with one. You could even stick a QR code on the sign, that lets you download the app right away! Come on, people! It’s not that hard!

One cool thing of note was a vending machine in the snack area at the Michigan Science Museum – salads in a jar! I forget which one I had (lots of bean sprouts), but it was tasty and substantial. A bit messy getting everything out of the jar into the cardboard “bowl”, though.

Something that struck me was the lack of traffic Downtown – both foot and vehicular. For a major city, it was weird to see so little activity in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. Was everyone off on vacation somewhere? Things were pretty sparse even in the major office complex of the Renaissance Center.

By the way, it’s pronounced “shine-O-la”……not “shin”……

Every major city is going to have some sort of art museum and a science museum. If the place is old enough, it will have a history museum, too. Being a first class city, Detroit has all three. I don’t know if they planned it that way, but all three are in the same neighborhood. You can even see all three of them if you stand in the right spot. Not that I’d try and visit all of them in the same day. Well, you could, but you’d have to rush through them and you’d miss a lot.

Let’s take the Detroit Institute of Arts first.

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Comerica Park is conveniently located downtown on the site of an old law school. Seems like no one uses that name; everyone I heard referred to it as “Tigers Stadium”. Maybe the block of land the place is on is the “Park”, while the building itself is the “Stadium”. Whatever. What I do know is that it’s still very appropriate to call it “Tigers Stadium”; there are plenty of tiger statues around.

Photo (tweaked by me to bring out details) of one of the many tiger-head “gargoyles” around the stadium exterior. Note the baseball in its mouth.

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It is truth universally acknowledged, that the best thing to do in a city you are visiting for the first time is to take a walking tour led by a local guide. Well, it’s acknowledged by me, anyway. I booked a downtown tour with City Tour Detroit. Lorrie was the guide for our group of about 10 people; she was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

We started in the Guardian Building, an art-deco masterpiece known as the “Cathedral of Finance” (since it started as the Union Trust Building), in comparison to the Woolworth Building’s “Cathedral of Commerce” moniker. The style – both exterior and interior – belong to that subset of art deco called “Mayan Revival”. Lots of rectangular shapes, bold colors, mosaics…. At the far end of the main lobby is a giant fresco with a stylized depiction of Michigan, showing all the industries that power the state’s economy.

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If you must know, I stayed at the Hollywood Casino Hotel in Greektown. I don’t know why it has the “Hollywood” name; I never noticed any connections with Hollywood. “Greektown”, on the other hand, is a small neighborhood that was settled by Greek immigrants in the early 1900s (after the Germans who arrived in the early 1800s moved out). It’s a very small neighborhood – maybe four blocks, at most – but there’s a very high concentration of Greek restaurants and bars. And not your basic “Hellenic” diner places; these are real honest-to-Zeus Greek restaurants. Don’t let the tourist propaganda fool you – if there’s no festival or event happening, the place is fairly ordinary.

It does happen to be rather centrally located in “downtown” Detroit, within easy walking distance of a lot of attractions.

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This year’s big vacation is a trip to Detroit. Now you’re probably asking “Why Detroit? Isn’t it a dump?” Well, maybe so, but it has a couple of advantages. First, I’ve never been there before. Changing planes at the airport doesn’t count. Second, it’s home to a major league baseball team – so I can take in a game or two. And finally, there are direct flights from my local airport to Detroit. Put it all together, and it makes a little sense.

As always, I’m going to pad my post count as much as possible.

So before I arrive in the “Motor City”, my tips on packing and other travel-related stuff. Continue reading →