After finding our feet in this northern USA city we really wanted to explore and get to know our surroundings. We did this mostly in the car of our host (hence the blurry photos!), rather than our usual preference of walking around with our eyes in the air. We realised that, although this city has had its hardships, the people who live there and have stuck it out are passionate and proud of their city, and are striving to make it better. There is a growing art scene, a huge sports following and some fantastic places to eat. We did find out, however, that the city doesn't always seem to support the areas of talent that are thriving, making them nearly impossible to sustain. One clear example of this was the music scene. Being the birthplace of Motown and techno we expected a rich music scene and an abundance of venues to go to but it was difficult to find a venue to hear some Motown, despite asking lots of people that we met along the way.
We toured the city mainly by car, and saw some interesting reminders of the tough times the city has been through, including this huge, now disused, train station which was, at one point, a bustling rail exchange, so big and busy that it had to be located outside the downtown area. Excitingly, there are proposed plans for a large scale art installation inside.
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We visited a street art project called the Heidelberg Project, which was once an entire street full of decorated houses, many of which have since burned down or been left to ruin.
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Beautiful homes now boarded up are commonplace in Detroit, and contrast massively to the interspersed affluent neighbourhoods filled with workers from the car industry.
The skywalks dotted around the city, we were told, provided protection to people during times of austerity, when it could be unsafe to be on the street.
The best part of any trip... the food!
We had some great meals in Detroit. Within our hotel complex was a fabulous seafood restaurant called Joe Muer Seafood, where we had a fun and knowledgable waiter called John, who made the night extra special. He was able to tell us all about the menu and wines, making suggestions along the way, and was abundant in interesting stories. We had a table with views of Canada. OK, really just a garish casino in Canada but still! The highlights were the whole lobster, prepared for you at the table and the truffle fries (ahhh the truffle fries!) Our waiter told us that a certain NFL team had recently visited after a game, and between them went through 70 portions of these fries!!!
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We visited a very cute coffee shop called Astro Coffee for strong cappuccinos and these delicious muffins, filled with scrambled egg and strong mustard hollandaise type sauce.
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We ate a fantastic dinner at Wright and Co, with small plates for sharing, strong and complex cocktails and a grand, baroque decor.
We had some authentic Cuban food washed down with fresh mojitos, at Vicente's.
(Excuse the hair! Frizzy vs. sleek, what's going on? And why did my husband not point it out?!)
And finally, I definitely enjoyed this Melted Pecorino Cheese Plate at Ottava Via!
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So Detroit has good points and bad points, and although I couldn't recommend it for your next summer holiday, we did thoroughly enjoy our five days in Detroit. And in case you're wondering how the mural turned out...
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