  Texorama Member Username: Texorama Post Number: 9 Registered: 12-2006 |
Next week I am going to give some Russians who have never been to the U.S. before a quick driving tour of Detroit. I'll have several hours in the afternoon, so I could make four or five stops depending on length. They are going to go to the DIA and Greenfield Village with someone else, so those are off the list. Where would you take them? Fisher Building? Fisher Mansion? Belle Isle? Hamtramck? Heidelberg Project? The People Mover would seem dull for anyone who comes from a city with real mass transit, but visitors inexplicably seem to like it. Inner-ring suburbs would be OK, but we don't want to drive too far. | ||
Rrl Member Username: Rrl Post Number: 770 Registered: 12-2003 |
If you can arrange a tour of the Fox, that ought to impress. Another stop ought to be the Guardian lobby. Belle Isle is nice, but I don't know how it would be received by the ruskies, and the DIA will take longer than several hours. Last stop, Bouzouki. | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 454 Registered: 04-2005 |
the heidelberg project hands down ...all my out of state visitors take more pics of that then anything else we go to | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3949 Registered: 08-2004 |
Nothing beats the showstopping interiors of the Fox or Guardian Buildings. 2 busloads of German Tourists that I took there in 2001 and 2005 proved me correct. | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 1673 Registered: 04-2005 |
I would hit the Ford Piquette plant. http://www.tplex.org/ | ||
Jjw Member Username: Jjw Post Number: 278 Registered: 10-2005 |
Russians love churches. I had a group stay with me from the Ukraine and they wanted to see churches. Also, Eastern Market area is a must even if it is not a weekend. And... perhaps a trip to Windsor or the casinos. Maybe Fort Wayne. And... they would love to meet other Russians. So if there is a place where they congregate, they would like that. Oh---and they were very impressed with local food products. Maybe a perch dinner somewhere. | ||
Downtown_remix Member Username: Downtown_remix Post Number: 91 Registered: 03-2007 |
Take them to Greektown, lunch at New Parthenon, tour the 2nd baptist church on Monroe, They have an underground railroad hide out in the basement. Belle isle would be a great choice, the loggoons,weeping willows, the casino, big fountain,nature trails, city views of Detroit and canada. Also take them to all the casinos. The churches on Woodward are amazing, i toured them all during last years noel night.Dinner at the whitney, Seldom blues. The Fisher building will be breathtaking, along with the gardian building. Don't forget the Detroit historical museum near the DIA. i Also took out of towners to the Fisher mansion. | ||
Upinottawa Member Username: Upinottawa Post Number: 780 Registered: 09-2005 |
Take them to the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel during rush hour. Tell them that the line-up is for gasoline. It make them feel at home circa 1988. | ||
Jimaz Member Username: Jimaz Post Number: 1770 Registered: 12-2005 |
They will want vodka too. Sincerely. This I learned from personal experience. | ||
Conkretepete Member Username: Conkretepete Post Number: 1 Registered: 07-2006 |
make sure you take them to lafayette coney island, and have them wash down those coneys with an ice cold vernors | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3951 Registered: 08-2004 |
Upinottawa, you owe me a new keyboard... I just sprayed coffee all over it LOL about the tunnel...  | ||
Irvine_laird Member Username: Irvine_laird Post Number: 17 Registered: 02-2007 |
The Detroit Historical Museum is the best place to begin any tour of Detroit. Your guests will get the story of the city before seeing the sites. You can see the whole museum in 60 to 90 minutes. | ||
7milekid Member Username: 7milekid Post Number: 176 Registered: 01-2006 |
Unless they are from the ghetto of Russia, dont take them to Heidelberg! They would probably be scared out of their hockey skates! | ||
Mikem Member Username: Mikem Post Number: 3222 Registered: 10-2003 |
On the way to Greenfield, drive them by the Ford Rouge plant. Show them the blast furnaces (once staffed by communists, apparently) that helped defeat the Axis, and are now owned by Russians. | ||
Texorama Member Username: Texorama Post Number: 10 Registered: 12-2006 |
Thank you for some great ideas that hadn't occurred to me. I'll have to check and see how big a group has to be to get into the Piquette plant--it's only actually open a couple days a month. S. Dearborn/Rouge area would certainly be an idea. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5095 Registered: 11-2003 |
Rouge plant Ford F-150 tour, go in morning when they are running. Then tell them that Albert Kahn, a Jew who built the Rouge and the Fisher Bldg., also built auto plants in Moscow for Zill, Szlata, and Volga cars. With auto assembly line teechnology, they could build enough tanks fast enough to keep the Germans the fuck out. Tell them how proud we are that they defeated Germany, thus the World was saved from Fascism. Final stop. Take them to a commercial bakery. They still can't bake bread for everybody, gently noting that nobody in America stands in line for a stinking loaf of bread. Mother Russia still has a ways to go. Bake bread first, world domination later. jjaba. | ||
Jjaba Member Username: Jjaba Post Number: 5096 Registered: 11-2003 |
Tell the Ruskies that seeing all that Russian lettering on the new Nuke plants in Iran gives us all heartburn over here. jjaba, Westside observations. | ||
Gistok Member Username: Gistok Post Number: 3954 Registered: 08-2004 |
Taking a page from Jjaba... a drive down Lakeshore Dr. in the Grosse Pointes to show them where the "Capitalist Pigs" live is always an eye opener... | ||
Jiscodazz Member Username: Jiscodazz Post Number: 10 Registered: 02-2007 |
I'd take em to Slow's for lunch. You just can't top that. | ||
Blort Member Username: Blort Post Number: 102 Registered: 02-2007 |
Take them inside the Packard Plant. Quite an experience. Then take them to Lafayette Coney Island | ||
Neuroticapril Member Username: Neuroticapril Post Number: 3 Registered: 03-2007 |
i also say take them down Lakeshore Drive in GP. Capitalist pigs or not, it is a beautiful drive. Also, maybe to the Edsel Ford House. | ||
Paczki Member Username: Paczki Post Number: 19 Registered: 02-2007 |
Tour Belle Isle, Eastern Market and the polish churches like Sweetest Heart of Mary, St Albertus, and St. Hyacinth. Finish out the day with a perch dinner at the Polish Yacht Club. http://www.ivanhoecafe-pyc.com /aboutpyc.html | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 441 Registered: 02-2007 |
American Coney in downtown, Tiger Stadium for photos, WSU Campus, One of the Historic Neighborhoods (IV, PP, B-E), Science Center, Riverfront or Belle Isle like you said, Shopping at Somerset Collections, Tour of Better Made Factory, Tour of City airport, Tour of Faygo Pop Factory, Tour of Stroh's before they close, the possibilities are endless. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 722 Registered: 10-2006 |
Texorama, they aren't in town for the wrestlemania thing or whatever, are they? | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 307 Registered: 10-2003 |
Take them to Baker's or Cliff Bell's for some of that American Jazz. Make note that eastern Europe really needs to get past heavy metal and techno. | ||
Craig Member Username: Craig Post Number: 109 Registered: 02-2007 |
Ivans in Detroit? Being part Uke, the first thing I'd do is inquire after their opinion of Stalin: if you don't get an apology for the famine I'd drop their pale asses off on Cass and then leave. For worthy out of towners you're wasting their time to showcase our traditional jewels (they can see 'em in any book). Show them who we are: whip over to MoTown and let them take some stills, then buy them a few "Best of's..." to listen to at home. Hit an orthodox church and tell them: "when they were shooting priests at Katyn the Rus (big and little) prayed on their knees here." Drive through the opulent neighborhoods of the Pointes for perspective, and then over to Hamtramack or Michigan-Martin to see where their cousins ended up; make certain to point out the Babushkas walking, and recount the flood of DPs that we spared from the labor camps of Siberia. Finally, load them up with coneys and fries at Lafayette, and spring for as many beers as they can hold. Put some American candy bars in their pockets, Doz vedzanje, kiss on the check, a nip of vodka in the car, and then push them out onto the sidewalk at metro. Don't try to out-drink Russians - you'll embalm yourself before they say "uncle." | ||
Ddaydave Member Username: Ddaydave Post Number: 455 Registered: 04-2005 |
better yet Johnlodge Nancy Whiskeys on a thursday of friday night Detroit blues at its best | ||
Dan Member Username: Dan Post Number: 1370 Registered: 10-2003 |
Guardian lobby for sure. Amazing, free, and there is a Pure Detroit store so they can get some Detroit swag. From there you could walk to Campus Martius park for a great view of the skyline, and a coffee/ pastry break. | ||
Aarne_frobom Member Username: Aarne_frobom Post Number: 51 Registered: 10-2005 |
Not too much to add to these, except to second showing off the Rouge and any other surviving 1920's auto plant that helped beat the axis. This history is very much alive in Russia. Maybe Highland Park and Piquette Avenue, too, as the soviets tried hard to emulate "Fordism" in the 1930's, and your friends may be familiar with Ford history. Depending on how worldly your friends are, be prepared to see them drop their jaws at two sights: any suburban mall or Meijer's store, and any half-abandoned Detroit residential block. The notion that a city could be abandoned and walked away from is an alien concept to the rest of the world. A trip down I-696 at 80 mph should be included, too. Detroit is unique, and showing it off and explaining it to foreign visitors is a rare treat. Please post your friends' reaction to the city. | ||
Quozl Member Username: Quozl Post Number: 371 Registered: 07-2005 |
MoTown, then proceed east down W. Grand BLVD to the Fisher BLDG, Old GM, Albert Kahn in one fell swoop, then drive over to Piquette, lunch in Hamtramck, then down to Belle Isle, then east on Jefferson to IV, Berry Sub, GP. Make sure to kick back in a couple of bars along the way or go totally Detroit and get a couple of 40's and pass those puppies around. Cans of spray paint are optional but you are encouraged to leave a lasting impression of your visit to Detroit (any alley will do) as it will certainly leave a lasting impression in the minds of your visitors. If any of your buds served in the Russian forces down in Grozny, Chechnya they may see similarities between these two cities. | ||
Spirit2028 Member Username: Spirit2028 Post Number: 9 Registered: 01-2007 |
Tex, I wouldn't discount the People Mover by any means. For all of 50 cents you get a cheap thrill ride through the heart of our fascinating city. The starting point of your guided tour is wherever your favorite parking spot is. Let's say it's around Grand Circus Park. Before you board the automatic elevated guideway, with a little walking you can see the Fox, the stadiums and even the vacant David Whitney Building. While on the People Mover you can play the knowledgeable tour guide and point out all the happenings in the "D" (without having to concentrate on driving). You might not have enough time to explain it all. It's possible you may have to take multiple loops around and around. I would also take a stop at the Ren Cen and check out the river and a portion of the riverwalk. You could make a case for every transit stop along the route. Lots of possibilities so little time. Ask your friends how they would apply real mass transit to Detroit. We finally are getting started in this region. Any suggestions from people who are familiar with a good working system are welcome indeed. Be sure to let the forum know how your tour went ! Thanks in advance. | ||
Treelock Member Username: Treelock Post Number: 202 Registered: 03-2005 |
Polish Yacht Club for perch lunch and tour of the east side hood. Then take them to either Indian Village or Palmer Woods to illustrate the dichotomy. | ||
Gtat44 Member Username: Gtat44 Post Number: 92 Registered: 02-2007 |
The Fisher Bldg. Marge's Pub for a Wings game.........let them see how we react for a hockey game. | ||
Norwalk Member Username: Norwalk Post Number: 38 Registered: 11-2006 |
fyi Hamtramck liquor stores have the best Vodka selections |
