Sometimes the best-laid plans go astray. For Detroit, we didn't book any excursions because we wanted to visit Greenfield Village. It's part of the Henry Ford properties. Our plan was to get off the ship, take an Uber or Lyft to the village, spend the afternoon, and then head back.
Little did we know that on October 1, they switched to Winter hours, meaning they were open only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Since we were there on Tuesday, no Greenfield for us. We tried to find another guide in town, but pretty much everyone we contacted was booked solid. So we decided to do our own little tour.
We got off the ship, walked about three blocks, and found the Detroit People Mover. It's a free, elevated light rail that makes a 20-minute circuit of the city. We got on and rode the entire line, sitting facing each other with a big window behind us. After we completed the route and were back where we boarded, we switched places and did it again. That way we could see what we missed. Total touring time: about forty minutes.
Next, we had heard really good things about The Guardian Building downtown. The entrance was less than 100 yards from where we got off the People Mover, so it was a likely stop. We are certainly glad we did. The exterior (as you can see in my pics) is pretty cool, but the interior of the HUMONGOUS lobby was awe-inspiring (again, see my pictures). After that, most of the group walked back to the ship, but Steve had seen a building that looked to have some pretty cool sculptures on the outside of it, and I could almost see it when we left the Guardian Building, so I set off to take a couple of photos (again, in the photos below).
After that, it was back to the ship for me, with a couple of pictures on the way. One was of an amazing statue of Detroit native boxer Joe Louis’s right arm. That and another statue just about covered my photography for the day…at least until later, when we were sailing away under the brand-new Gordie Howe Bridge linking Detroit, Michigan, USA, to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Took a few of those as we sailed underneath it.
BTW: If you are wondering why you are getting two posts today, it is because today was the day we were supposed to ride the Special Operations Boats and Zodiacs, but the wind was too high, so we had a sea (lake?) day instead. This ship really isn't equipped for days with nothing happening, so besides some lectures, there was nothing else to do but work on my photos and write. So there you are. Tomorrow is Port Colburne, where we will take a “luxury motor coach” about 40 minutes away to see Niagara Falls. Everyone in our party has already been there, but if I have to stay one more full day onboard, I just might write a novel… and no one wants that.
Detroit turned out to be heaven, but it also turned out to be hell. —Marvin Gaye
The autumn sun is giving your photos some amazing lighting. Detroit is actually somewhere I have been but we never stepped outside the airport and just made a connection there.
I am trying to work out if you are enjoying this one or not, your recent posts would suggest to me that its missing a lot of what you had high expectations of. Given the ship, the cruise line and the location, I think, I too would have hoped for more. You would think whoever does the scheduling would be aware of seasonal timings of what is open and shut. I think if I had travelled from the UK for this, then I would be pretty pissed off.