NewbE

Just got back from a great little trip to Detroit—thanks to everyone who gave advice on hotels, restaurants and attractions! We were surprised at how much this underrated city had to offer, but surprised, too, at how back on its heels the poor thing is. Here’s hoping for better days ahead.

Highlights:
The Inn On Ferry Street: What a gem—thanks, wolverine7! Beautiful, immaculate, with friendly, helpful staff, a free breakfast (eggs, waffles, toast, cereal, fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, coffee cake, muffins), free shuttle (5 mile radius), free parking, free warm cookies and bottled water delivered to the room daily, free tea and coffee throughout the day, plus an honor bar in the lobby—you could not ask for more. Our room was spacious, and, like the entire inn, which consists of four refurbished mansions, decorated in Arts and Crafts style; each house features a large parlor area complete with gas fireplace, a treat in January, I can tell you. And the midtown location was very convenient for us; we will definitely stay here again.
www.innonferrystreet.com

The Joe Louis Arena and the Detroit Redwings: GO WINGS! Hockeytown showed us a great time, although the Joe is looking a bit tired, certainly when compared to newer arenas we’ve been to recently. Ah, the history, though! We saw two great games, one against the Avalanche, which the Wings won, and one against the Wild, which they lost in a shootout—the first I’ve seen live, so it was fun despite the loss. Great crowd, excellent staff, what a team. Note to cocontom: there’s a weekly tour listed on the Joe’s website at http://tinyurl.com/3bt39c, but we gave it a miss.

The Detroit Institute of Arts: The newly remodeled and expanded DIA sparkles! And the collection is grand beyond belief, both deep and wide (if that makes sense) in decorative arts, painting, and sculpture across time and cultures. Really, it was way more than we hoped for, and we could have spent two days there had time permitted. There’s even an arthouse movie theater in the complex, which is just a block from the Inn on Ferry Street. This is a must-see!
www.dia.org

Pewabic Pottery: This historic Arts and Crafts style pottery museum and store was a very pleasant surprise, and we were in the mood for it after enjoying the décor at the Inn on Ferry Street. The museum isn’t much, frankly, but the shop is a treat, carrying a variety of pieces in a variety of styles, plus its signature A&C tiles and vases (thanks, dsgmi!).
www.pewabic.org

The Henry Ford Museum: Another must-see, out in Dearborn, which was about a 20 minute drive from midtown Detroit. The museum calls itself “Henry Ford’s attic”, which is apt given that the collection includes not only cars but trains, a full-scale roadside diner, planes, furniture, bicycles… I found the Rosa Parks bus very moving, JFK’s limousine somewhat macabre, and the Wienermobile delightful as ever. The exhibits are very thoughtfully designed—we loved making paper airplanes in the Heroes of the Air section. And SO nearly fainted with joy when he saw the Mold-A-Rama!
www.hfmgv.org

Food: Well, we ate at the Joe the first night—enough said about that, but it was no worse than any other arena in that regard. We hit the Hockeytown Café after the game, but it was dead as a doornail, even after a win, although it was a Tuesday.

The next day we found The Avalon Bakery (on Willis in Midtown), and Oh, Happy Day! I cannot describe how blissful that place made us, every day until we left. BEST scones outside the UK, I swear, amazing brownies, bread pudding, focaccia, brioche… perfection, easily one of the very best bakeries in America, and all-natural and organic to boot.

In Greektown for dinner, we settled on the Laikon Café (thanks, Mamaw!) after perusing several menus and eyeballing how many tables were filled. We weren’t sorry—some of the best spinach pie we’ve ever had, plus darned good pastitsio and spanakopita, a terrific baked shrimp/feta/tomato appetizer, eggplant dip, and Greek beer. Opa!

The Old Shillelagh was cool to hang out in before the game, but here’s the thing: I hate cigarette smoke, and smoke-free dining has not yet come to Detroit, so I was good for a Guinness and we were out of there.

Saved for next time: the Museum of African-American History, the Motown Museum, Greenfield Village, Windsor, Mexicantown, the Ren Cen, Eastern Market on a Saturday, Middle Eastern food… oh yes, there will be a next time.

Thank you Citylights, cocontom, dsgmi, wolverine71, Mamaw, kelliebellie, and everyone else who gave us advice, we used your ideas and had a great trip!

Citylghts

Glad you had a good time.

kelliebellie

Glad you had a great time! You should come back in the fall for some college football. That is when this part of the state really comes alive! Cider mills and football, ahh...

Windsor's county across the bridge went non-smoking not too long ago. I can't wait until Michigan goes as well. I'm afraid it is going to be a long wait however.

It is amazing how a major city like Detroit can be so abandoned in places. Did you notice at night how many of the buildings were completely black with no electricity? It has definitely come around in the last few years and it has such authenticity to it. No Applebees in Detroit. Hopefully a few more decades will bring back the glamour!

And go Wings! I just bought tickets on ebay ($$$) for the Wings/Leafs game in Toronto. I'm surprising the husband with a weekend away. He is going to faint!

Mamaw

New! I have been wondering how your trip went. And I was so glad to see your title, I too think Detroit Rocks. I'm really happy to stayed right in the heart of downtown. I have heard good and bad about the Inn on Ferry Street, but I'm glad to hear it was good for you.

Laikon is my fav in greektown, and I'm glad you tried it. I have been eating there for over 30 years. I love all the food there. And the feta/tom/shrimp is one of my favorites. I also love the beets and garlic (I forgot to tell you about that dish)the only problem is whom ever your with has to eat it too otherwise it can be highly offensive. Dracula would die on the spot Greektown used to Hop. The place was packed from thur-sun back in the day. All the restaurants would be packed and you'd have to wait for a table. But like you said, Detroit has fallen on hard times and it shows. Did you happen to go into the Casino? They are the only ones making a profit in the motorcity. Too bad. Most of the people in there spending money gambling shouldn't.

THANK YOU so much for doing a report. And please say nice things about Detroit.

Love Theresa

NewbE

Mamaw, your post reminded me of something I noticed time and again over our stay in Detroit--how NICE the people are. Open and friendly and quick to laugh, we saw it everywhere we went. Sure, the people we talked to were all in the service/hospitality industries, but even so, they went above and beyond the call of duty in being so very pleasant to chat with. We lived in Minnesota for a while, and so expected a similar polite reserve from Detroiters (is that what they're called??), but nope, the Motor City gets 5 stars for the warmth and friendliness of its people.

No, we're not really casino types and so didn't go into either the Greektown one or the Motor City casino (very flashy exterior, though!). We saw that the Greektown casino is expanding, and yes, I agree that it's sad that they prosper on the backs of people who probably can't afford to gamble. Governments have sold what souls they had for revenue--lots of that going on here in Florida, too.

kelliebellie, have a GREAT trip to Toronto, a city very high on our list of places to go, cheer on our Wings!

kelliebellie

When the Superbowl was here, everyone did comment on how friendly everyone was. That is very true about this area.

And I may be naive, but I never see any racism here. We go places all the time with all sorts of different mixed ethnicities and everyone seems to be able to get along just fine. I'm sure raciism exists here, but it shows you that it doesn't have to.