Market Day and Other Attractions

Saturday, May 16, 2015--Detroit

We started the day by going to the Eastern Market, named that because it is just east of the downtown area.  It's an old, traditional market that is held on Saturdays each week and also on Tuesdays during the summer months.  Up to 45,000 people go to the market each week.  Even though there was drizzle today, it was crowded.  There are 4 covered sheds offering flowers, herbs, vegetables, nuts, meats,baked items, and other products.  It was fun weaving through the crowds to see what was for sale as well as watching the people there to buy.  There were so many choices within each category.  Wes was especially attracted to the pies (with homemade crusts) at one stall.  I found a couple of the bakeries that had heavy, dense multi-grain breads and crusty sourdough breads interesting.  Many of the items on sale today were plants, because it is just the beginning of planting season here.  There were lots of hanging baskets, bedding flowers, potted flowers, etc.

From there, we visited New Town, the area just north of where we were yesterday.  It has a concentrated development within about 4 blocks that includes several huge buildings (the old General Motors headquarters which is now called Cadillac Place and the home of Michigan government offices, the Fisher Building which was the headquarters for Fisher Body Works and houses an the old Fisher Theater, the Argonaut which now houses a school of design and art, the Alfred Kahn building which headquarters the architectural firm which designed many of the impressive buildings in Detroit, the St. Regis Hotel, and several smaller outlying buildings).

From there, we explored some exclusive housing enclaves in Highland Park--the Boston-Edison neighborhood and the Arden Park-East Boston neighborhood.  Then we headed to the nearby Polish area of Hamtramck.

Having tired of the inner city area, we thought we would explore one of the more expensive parts of town--the Somerset Collection which consists of two malls on either side of a suburban street connected by an overhead sky walk.  It was interesting to see how clean and nice the nearby area was in comparison to where we had been inside Detroit and to watch the people.

To end the day, we headed back to the inner city.  We drove up and down the streets of Corktown seeing the old, small wooden residences that originally housed Irish immigrants and have been restored mostly by young residents in the past few years.  While there, we also visited St. Anne's Church which is the oldest church in Detroit--a huge structure with nice stained glass windows and other features, although it is in need of LOTS of restoration work.  The church was closed, but Joseph who attends services there invited us inside to see it. 

Finally, we visited Mexicantown just beyond that which houses quite a few restaurants with outdoor dining, tortilla factories, bakeries, Mexican grocery stores, gift shops, etc.  It is big enough that it makes a nice destination for tourists and people living throughout Detroit to enjoy its atmosphere and its offerings.