Detroit Rock City
Greektown in Detroit
Once every two years, the largest material handling (forklifts,
conveyors, containers, etc.) show in
North America is held in Detroit and this was the year. I had gone to this
before, so I knew what
to expect from both the show and the city. Let me just say that Detroit is
not my favourite city to
visit, it's very dirty, the roads are in terrible shape and you do have to
watch what areas you're
going thru. There are some good points to the city though, a few good
restaurants, night clubs
and touristy type things.
The first few night we were in town were pretty low key. Swing
dancing is big in Detroit and they
even have some clubs where people get all dressed and go to, I wanted
to check that out, but
after the trade show each day everyone just wanted to take it easy.
About the only thing cool we
did those first days was stop off at the high end mall that was near our
hotel, the Hyatt in
Dearborn.
One night we drove across the river into Canada for dinner and to stop
at the Duty free shop.
Even though it was just across the river, Canada is a completely
different country. There is a
noticable accent and at the restaurant we stopped at, they had vinegar
on the table for your fires,
no thanks. Food is relativley cheap because of the favorable exchange
rate and I got to find out
what a satay is, basically a shis-ka-bob. After dinner we stopped at the
duty free shop on our way
out and I couldn't believe how cheap things were, especially the alcohol.
For instance, you could
get a 1 liter bottle of Captain Morgans for about $8. I myself bought a 12
pack of bottled Canadian
beer for $6 and another person I was with bought some Absolut for $11.
Going thru customs
turned out to be a little tricky, it seems you need to be in Canada for 48
hours before you are
legally allowed to bring back alcohol or tobacco into the states and we
had only been there for
about 2 hours. Thankfully our customs man just 'reminded' us for the
next time and let us go on
our way.
Our last night in town we headed to Greektown for dinner and to do
some sampling of the local
Greek bakeries afterward. We chose to go to Fishbone's Rythym
Kitchen which has some of the
best Cajun/Creole food I have ever tasted and it also has the world's
largest indoor waterfall at 9
stories high, pretty cool. While there, I tried some breaded and fried
alligator tail and, well, at least
I can say I've tried it. After we left, I stopped of at The Old Shelalah, a
legenary Irish hole-in-the-
wall bar to pick up a T-shirt and then we went into a bakery to get
dessert. After that, we were off
to the airport.
