Detroit

June 9, 2015

Day 63

 We decided after talking to our hosts to park our car in Windsor and take the tunnel bus which runs under the Detroit River into Detroit. We bought a round trip so we could take it back after the game tonight at Comerica. The bus takes you into the States, where you have to get off at customs and then finish your ride into town.

 I think we were both delightfully surprised at how nice the downtown region of Detroit is. We took pictures around the river walk There were several statues and artwork on the Riverfront depicting various aspects of Detroit history. The fist is a memorial to Joe Lewis, a boxer who grew up in Detroit.

 The Transcending piece represented Michigan's contribution to the labor movement. The monument stands close to where Martin Luther King, Jr. first gave his “I Have a Dream Speech” before giving it at the Lincoln Memorial. 

Transcending

The Horace E Dodge and Son Memorial Fountain was not flowing water today. We are not sure why but we know was previously damaged by vandals. 

Memorial to the Underground Railroad.  Detroit was one of the largest terminals
as it is so close to Canada who had abolished slavery in 1834

 We then headed to the visitor center to get some information. She recommended walking the river walk to the Dequindre Cut which is a rails to trails path into the Eastern Market section of town which has a very old public market (only partially running on Tuesday) and had a great lunch in a very busy deli type restaurant. 

 We then walked back to take a tour of the Renaissance Center which lasted an hour. It got us up to the top of the 75 story building for fine views of the city. Our tour guide was a bit dry but we learned some things about the building and the city. The RenCen is owned by General Motors and serves as their headquarters. It is a group of 7 skyscrapers with the central and tallest building being a Marriott Hotel. It is the 3^rd tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. 

Comerica from the Ren Cen

Touring the RenCen

Detroit River from 75 stories, look close to see the fountain shown above in lower right side

After that we road around on the People mover through most of its stops which is a monorail elevated above the street. It gave us a good idea of the layout of the city. We saw some beautiful buildings in art deco architecture, the Joe Lewis Hockey Stadium, and got off at the Greek section which had some restaurants and casinos. After a cookie and coffee we walked over toward the stadium and had some Detroit beer with the locals. We met a father and son who had come out from Vancouver, Washington to see the Tigers play. The Dad had grown up in Detroit so it was a nice adventure for him to come back to his stomping grounds.