Sunday, July 10 - any recommendations for China visitors?

**Orthophonic** · July-01-11, 11:14 AM

Greetings to all. On Sunday, July 10, I have a brief opportunity to show a couple of visitors from China around Detroit. Pretty much morning/afternoon. Not Sunday evening and not Saturday evening.

Clearly this is pretty limiting schedule and no chance to get into anything in depth. So, presuming good weather, I'm thinking things like Dequindre Cut/RiverWalk, Heidelberg, lunch at a coney downtown/Southern Fires/someplace in Corktown, etc.

Any suggestions out there for specific events going on that day? I see insidedetroit.org offers a regular Sunday walking or Segway tours downtown. Anyone have experience with those?

muskie1 · July-01-11, 11:38 AM

The Gold Cup races will be going on that day, plenty of free viewing areas on Belle Isle. There will also be the demonstration of the FA-18 fighter which is usually around noon. This year there is also supposed to be a biplane airshow. The FA-18 demo is awesome, something about a jet near mach one skirting around downtown and doing low passes over the river are to me a must see.

**Kathleen** · July-01-11, 11:39 AM

A spin around Belle Isle is a must. And the Conservatory and Dossin Great Lakes Museum are both open with free admission.

The Detroit Historical Museum is another option.

As for a tour, check out Detroit Tour Connection's offering that day at 1pm:
Photography Tour [[Bring Cameras)
The best spots for taking great photos of downtown Detroit buildings and sculptures. See sample photos by professionals, and take photos from the same places. You get a tour of downtown, and you end up with a lot of great photos. Bring your camera and give it your best shot.
http://www.detroittourconnections.co...kingtours.html

**DetroitPlanner** · July-01-11, 12:03 PM

I think the Gold Cup races will limit Belle Isle access.
Being from China does not give us a good idea about what thier interests are. Are you saying this because you want to incorporate chinese things into the tour? If so, you're best bet is Ann Arbor or Windsor.

I would assume that just showing them what is unique or spectacular would be enough. Therefore, Fisher and Guardian building come to mind. Greenfield Village can give them a slice of americana they can't get anywhere else. If it was me and we had the time I'd try to shoot down to Cedar Point or up to Sleeping Bear.

**detroitpride313** · July-01-11, 12:57 PM

I think the Riverwalk/Milliken Park is a good idea. Also a drive around Belle Isle and Campus Martius would be nice. Lunch at Coney Island would be okay and perhaps a stop at Astoria Bakery for ice cream afterwards [[which would also let you show them around Greektown). Also, taking them inside of the Guardian building would be great. You could also consider scheduling a free tour of the Fox Theatre [[the tours are free as long as it is not a large group of people), but I am not sure if they would be open on Sunday. Also, perhaps a drive past Comerica Park / Foxtown would be nice.

DetroitPole · July-01-11, 01:06 PM

Chinatown?

**RaumVogel** · July-01-11, 01:11 PM

Back in the 70's GM gave the Japanese a tour of Detroit and it's been downhill ever since. J/K

**stinkytofu** · July-01-11, 01:36 PM

I was going to recommend this...

http://www.gmrencen.com/Tours/tabid/65/Default.aspx

...but apparently it's closed on weekends. That provides a great view of the city. Is there any good viewing area you can access on a Sunday?

**stromberg2** · July-01-11, 02:08 PM

Yeah, Chinatown would be great. Be sure to check out the crack houses on Peterboro between Cass and Third!

Stromberg2

GUSHI · July-01-11, 03:12 PM

Take them to wal-mart, so they can see who buys there junk.

**Hypestyles** · July-01-11, 03:31 PM

a stint on the people mover would be good, and a short bus trip. Engage them about how mass transit is in their home cities. Ask them would chinese be willing to help consult on designing and building rail systems for Detroit?

thatguy123 · July-01-11, 03:42 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

a stint on the people mover would be good, and a short bus trip. Engage them about how mass transit is in their home cities. Ask them would chinese be willing to help consult on designing and building rail systems for Detroit?

BC he is showing President Hu Jintao around that day and is a member of the US government authorized to negotiate and make decisions.

People on this board need to come back to reality he isn't showing the Chinese ambasador around

**mwilbert** · July-01-11, 03:59 PM

I'd recommend Cranbrook but it is fairly far and they probably don't have time. Keeping relatively close to downtown, MOCAD looks like it will be open. Maybe Indian Village or Boston-Edison, or Brush Park. Piquette Plant should be open. On Sunday morning a bike tour [[assuming they are up for it) can be very pleasant, and it is a great way to go to a lot of the areas you mentioned.

**Gistok** · July-01-11, 05:27 PM

GUSHI.... now I have to cleanup my keyboard of all the pop sprayed on it after reading your comment.

As someone who has taken busloads of tourist around town for many years [[since 2001), I always give the same tour [[since the Europeans, mainly German and Hungarians, always rave about it to hosts in other cities, thus annoying the hell out of those hosts!)... here's my itinerary [[you can pick or choose from it)....

1) visit to the Ford House & grounds in Grosse Pte. Shores. Never fails to amaze even jaded Europeans where castles are a dime a dozen.
2) drive down Lakeshore to show how America's elite live...
3) pass over Alter Rd. to show how America's less fortunate live...
4) drive around Belle Isle with a quick stop at the western tip to allow for photography of downtown and the waterfront.
5) Guardian Building... this is a must... foreigners are awestruck by Detroit's Cathedral of FInance.
6) ride around the People Mover.... the highlights are route along the waterfront behind Cobo., and just the ride between the towers of downtown.
NOTE: schedule your PM and Guardian Building visits together so that the embarking/disembarking at the Financial Center Station allows you to take them to the eastern platform edge where you can show them the 1 Woodward Ave. Building... a Minuru Yamasaki prototype [[built 3 years earlier) for the World Trade Center... this NEVER fails to impress the visitors who take photos by the dozens.
7) stop in front of Comerica Park and take a photo of your guests in front of the Tiger who appears to be swooping his paw down at them... a photo highlight for out of towners.
8) a visit to the Fox Theatre... although I was not aware that this was available without prior special arrangements with the Olympia folks. If they do have anything like a regular tour, that's great, but I doubt that weekends are available [[i've inquired). One thing that leaves foreigners mindboggled about the Fox is that it was built as a "mere movie theatre"....

All of this alone is about 5 hours... if you want to add the Fisher Building to the tour, that's fine, but the Guardian Building already gives them a nice image of Detroit in the roaring 20s.

If you have more time, then a visit to the DIA and Fisher Building is an option... but I don't see how the Dequindre Cut is anything they'll be impressed by. As for the Riverwalk... yes it too is very nice... but there are those by the dozens worldwide.

I always try to make a tour a UNIQUE experience... and leave out the stuff that doesn't give visitors the WOW factor.

**stasu1213** · July-01-11, 07:50 PM

bring a gun and dont stop in any neighborhoods asking for directions

**Orthophonic** · July-01-11, 10:05 PM

Stasu, I'm sure your heart is in the right place!

Re Chinatown - unfortunately, I think they would be Chinatown were we to visit Cass and Peterboro. Maybe we can make this trip the kickoff of Chinatown Mark 2 [[shades of Spinal Tap Mark 2)

They are from Shanghai. I visited there once - it is huge [[about 15-20 million?) but is a fairly young city by Chinese standards and has a lot of interesting 19th century European style architecture. So Guardian/Fisher/Fox/etc. ideas are great.

Gistok, I like the Dequindre Cut because of the juxtaposition of manicured flowers/lush grass with the wild grafitti. I am not well travelled but I haven't seen much like this elsewhere.

Piquette plant - this might be a real winner as they are engineers working in the auto industry. And the bonus is I have never visited there either.

Didn't realize Gold Cup is that day as well, so another good and unique Detroit thing going on. A Belle Isle drive-around might be in order as it is probably unlikely we can get a good parking spot there.

And nobody has any opinions on Heidelberg? I think it is fascinating and does get a lot of international visitors. I'm slightly troubled that they seem to be going the corporate sponsorship route lately, but I think I understand why. Just hope it doesn't kill the spirit of the place.

Photo tour - I didn't know about that, but I think they will have their cameras and will love to take photos. Will have to check that out.

I knew there would be too many good ideas, so I may have to punt and take them to the mall. And is Kid Rock's American Badass beer still available [[preferably in 40 oz portions)?

**Gistok** · July-02-11, 01:12 AM

Orthophonic.... you want to show these people the flowers and graffitti in the Dequindre Cut and Heidelberg Project??

For real??

Orthophonic.... common.... they have flowers and graffiti throughtout the world... show them something unique [[although I guess that would be the Heidelberg Project...)

What can I say..... except risky and edgy....

And for God's sake don't take them to a mall.... their malls put ours to shame.... and why would they want to buy something at a mall [[where al least 1/2 of the items are made in their country anyway).... so they can schlepp home something that they can buy at home already??

I know I sound critical... but I'm just trying to give you some pointers in an area [[sightseeing) that you're not used to!

**Orthophonic** · July-02-11, 08:09 AM

Gistok, I'm just kidding about the mall. I should learn to use the smileys

I can't imagine anything more depressing than taking someone to a mall. They have their own Shanghai malls, anyway. But I am really interested also in the 1 Woodward Ave. stop as I don't recall that vista. Clearly I need to hire you as a tour guide.

**Gistok** · July-02-11, 11:19 AM

Orthophonic, the 1963 One Woodward Ave.... formerly known as the "Gas Building" to old timers at Wooodward & Jefferson never really reminded people of the World Trade Center [[a 1966 Yamasaki design)... except when one thinks about the aftermath of the horrific events of 9/11.... and the ruined 7 story framework remains of one of the twin towers.... only then does one picture the similarities between the 2 buildings... since the window frames of One Woodward Ave. and the WTC both have that thin modern Gothic appearance, that also can be seen in some of Yamasaki's Wayne State University buildings. You might want to reference that "picture if you will..." analogy....

Of course One Woodward Ave has a utility floor recessed "box" on top of the building, whereas the WTC appeared flat topped... which, as someone who visited the North Tower in 1983 is really not the case... there was also a recessed utility floor on top.
Good Luck!

**Orthophonic** · July-02-11, 02:52 PM

OK, now I get it - I always called that the ANR building but never made the WTC/Yamasaki design connection. Appreciate the background information.

And yes I do still like the flowers and graffiti. "Never out of mustard!"

**Dbest** · July-02-11, 03:11 PM

If they are at all interested in US history I would advise taking them to Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. On your tour you may want to stop in to the Ren Cen for their little GM Museum since these are car guys. There is also the Chrysler car collection out in the burbs. Don't hesitate to bring to the lobby and arcade at the Guardian building.The pewabic tiles make this place uniquely Detroit. Pictures never do that interior any justice... good luck....

**Dbest** · July-02-11, 03:20 PM

Gistok, I think the disconnect between the WTC and Gas Building had a lot to do with the difference in color between the buildings.

**English** · July-02-11, 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by muskie1

The Gold Cup races will be going on that day, plenty of free viewing areas on Belle Isle. There will also be the demonstration of the FA-18 fighter which is usually around noon. This year there is also supposed to be a biplane airshow. The FA-18 demo is awesome, something about a jet near mach one skirting around downtown and doing low passes over the river are to me a must see.

Can you see the races/airshow from the Riverwalk, or is it too far down? Also, what will traffic be like on Jefferson?

**Gistok** · July-02-11, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by Dbest

Gistok, I think the disconnect between the WTC and Gas Building had a lot to do with the difference in color between the buildings.

From my recollections of the WTC from the New Jersey shore... the towers appeared to be almost windowless. Those narrow slit windows were very difficult to discern from that distance, thus giving the towers an almost smooth pylon-like appearance.

But it's that 7 story smoldering ruinous fragmentary framework that is etched into everyone's memory, that reminds one of One Woodward Ave. And since I've taken mainly entire busloads of people to the eastern edge of the Financial Center platform to view One Woodward Ave....[[an ideal place to view it) there's always a sudden long pause of silence among the groups as people reflect back and make the connection between this survivor and the collapsed monoliths that succeeded it.

And for many foreigner's it's a brief reminder of a period in time when we were all ONE.

**Dbest** · July-02-11, 07:37 PM

Good points. I think you are spot on in your description of feelings once you know. I was actually riding the New Jersey/New York train that takes you from Jersey City to NYC under the Hudson River in 2003. We had just entered a tunnel after coming out from the river. I heard someone say "we are going right by the foundation" with a sad look.What I didnt know became painfully obvious, our stop was the WTC stop. Talk about getting hit with a ton of bricks the minute you get to NYC. Still sad...