Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Detroit! (non hockey)

I appreciated Detroit much more the second time.

The last year has been good for the city, too. It felt more energetic. More hopeful. Detroit declared bankruptcy on the Thursday we were there, but nothing felt bankrupt. It felt like a city trying desperately to turn around.

The best-kept secret about Detroit is that it's quite beautiful. Don't believe me? Look at this:


That was taken from our hotel (55th floor of the Renaissance Center, thanks to a very nice check-in lady). Look at the beautiful, dense green. Sure, it's depressed, and there are burned buildings, and everything said about Detroit is at least partially true, but just look at that beauty.

When we checked into the hotel, a wedding party rushed onto the elevator with us as we went to our room. Of course, I had to take a picture:


That was a harbinger of our entire week: people were happy.

I'm a lousy photographer, but even I took a few decent shots:


This tremendous spider lived outside our window (again, on the 55th floor). We named him Chuck Norris:


We had breakfast at the hotel buffet each morning (the best part of staying at the RenCen--it was wonderful), and this was our view: 


Please note: at home, before hockey, we go to a McDonald's. It does not have this view.

Here's one more picture that shows off Detroit's striking (and sometimes conflicting beauty:


More tomorrow.

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