Hello!
Once again there was so much going on that I was unable to
get to the blog last night! Who knew
there could be that much going on in the Motor City!
Up yesterday morning a little after 6. Nice quiet night in Bay City, and it was
promising to be a beautiful but hot Saturday. Lovely to sit on the balcony and enjoy the
moment. There were definitely stirrings
in the park around the hotel of things to come, and the street fair was also
putting itself together. Finally woke R up around 8, and went down for
breakfast around 8:30 am. Excellent
buffet breakfast for all. Around 9:45 we
headed downstairs.
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| Lots to see! |
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| Loved the lemonade stand! |
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| LOVE those cupcakes! |
As the fair was set up on two streets that were perpendicular
to each other, we decided to see the various wares on one street, then go
around the block to walk down the main street in town, and then back through
the other street fair street. Saw some
really lovely and fun things! The shape
of the state of Michigan really does lend itself to some fun things. We already have cooking gloves with the lower
peninsula on one, and the upper peninsula on the other. This time we saw some stunning cutting boards
with variegated woods in the shape of the state, along with wine trays, kitchen
towels, etc. Also, the stores were open
in town – yeah! We did buy some
Michigan-themed dish cloths, as well as some cupcakes to take home with
us. One very unusual cupcake that Sandy
spotted was strawberry and rhubarb!
Finally back to the hotel, checked out and repacked the
luggage in the car. Because of time
considerations, this time we took the freeway until it started backing up
around the Chrysler World Headquarters in Plymouth/Troy. From there we wound our way back to St. Clair
Shores and Sandy’s house where we were happily greeted by Sandy’s boxer,
Sparky.
It being now almost 1 pm we decided to head straight to our
hotel, the DoubleTree Fort Shelby, in downtown Detroit. Having grown up 10 miles from here, we have
never even considered staying here. I
mean, who wants to stay in Detroit? Now,
however, it seemed like a good idea.
We drove down Jefferson Avenue, which follows the lake line
of the Detroit River through Grosse Pointe and into the city. Turned right at Cobo Hall and in two blocks, voila!
Our hotel! Pulled up in front,
and our car was unloaded by three valets and whisked away to the parking area.
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| Bedroom of our suite; see river through the window! |
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| View from our window of river and Windsor in the background! |
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| More Detroit from our window! |
Lovely place! We are
in suite 1023, which is on the top floor, with a lovely view over buildings and
parking lots to the Detroit River, with the Ambassador Bridge to Canada, and
Windsor, Ontario so close it looks like you can touch it! We have a huge living room with TV, comfy
chair and couch, coffee table and working desk.
You then walk through the bathroom area – sink and counter on one side,
and bathroom with lovely bathtub on the other, and finally hit the
bedroom. We’ve got two queen beds and a
nice dresser and large closet with three sets of lovely big windows … through
which the sun is going to start pouring very, very soon!
One thing that I do want to say about Detroit in
general. There are very few people out
on the street, and whole sections of town with nothing moving! It’s very odd. We had spent some time in London earlier this
year, and the streets were teeming with people; in places, we couldn’t walk
next to each other, as there wasn’t enough room to get by! Chicago and New York are very much the
same. Here, while there are people
around – for the most part, the streets are deserted! But Detroit is definitely on the way back and
the revitalized downtown is a sign of its recovery.
Our plan for the evening was to have dinner, and then meet
Sandy and her partner Dave at the Center
Theatre in the Hockeytown Café for
a presentation of the Mitch Albom-written play “Ernie” about the life and times of legendary Ernie Harwell,
Detroit’s long-time Tiger broadcaster who passed away several years ago.
We decided to rest a bit before heading out; lovely, comfy
beds. Robert came up with a wonderful
suggestion for dinner, which we decided to try.
The place is called Wright &
Company, and it is on Woodward Avenue.
So … first question, how to get there?
The front desk had told us on checking in that the hotel shuttle was
available to take guests anywhere in a three-mile circle of the hotel.
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| Huge room with great ceiling! |
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| Interesting bar area |
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| My Sweetie! |
The front desk was also able to supply us with a map, and
said they would call the shuttle to come and pick us up. Well … we waited at the side door for 15
minutes, and nothing came. So, we
decided to make our way on the PeopleMover
to Grand Circus Park, and walk to the restaurant from there. (Note: Detroit has had the PeopleMover for years, but it basically just goes in a circle
around the immediate area. However, the QLine, a new transit tramway just opened
up and goes for 6½ miles down Woodward Avenue.)
Got to the Fort/Cass station and paid for our trip – 75 cents
each; not a bad deal! Then upstairs to
the train, which was just pulling in. We
only road about three stations, and there was Grand Circus Park! Out then into the lovely, HOT early evening. Wright
& Company was at the end of the first block, on the second floor. We entered by a side door, and into the
elevator. Popped out at the
restaurant.
Well … it was quite something! We didn’t take the camera with us, so I had
to use my cell phone for photos, but it was first of all, a wonderful
space! An old ballroom, with tin
ceilings [actually, aluminum. Margaret
has a problem distinguishing between tin and aluminum. – R] and wooden floors and long windows overlooking the street. As it was early – just before 6 pm – we had
no trouble getting seated at a long banquette of tables facing the bar, which
literally ran the entire length of the restaurant. Lindsay, our waiter, explained that Wright was basically a tapas-type
restaurant, and recommended that we start with two selections each, to share,
and then if we were still hungry …
Interesting menu! We chose a beet
and ricotta salad, a paella salad, fried perch and short ribs.
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| Loved the chandelier in the corner! |
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| Me with wine! |
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| Paella! |
First to arrive was the paella, in a very interesting
form! Rather than being a pile or rice
with things in it, we got three smallish crab-cake-like rounds in a red sauce
with aioli on top. Wow! Fabulous – the chorizo and shrimp and
whatever else was all inside the rounds!
Then came the beet salad. The
beets were sliced very thinly and came with the whipped ricotta cheese on top and
an assortment of pistacchios. Again,
WOW! When we had cleaned these two items
up, the perch and short ribs arrived.
Again – just incredible! The
perch was cut into small, long filets and fried, and served on the plate with
an excellent cole slaw. The short ribs
came topped with a pastry crust – amazing presentation (albeit a bit difficult
to serve) and wonderful short ribs! To
be honest, this was one of the best meals we have had in several years. I will never say that there is no good food
in Detroit ever again! What a find!
From the restaurant, it was just a couple of blocks up
Woodward through Grand Circus Park and past the Fillmore and Fox Theatres
to Hockeytown Café. Passing the theatres (which were almost next
to each other) the marquees on both theatres announced weddings taking place
that night! Lots of people in long
dresses heading inside; very fun! Who
knew?
We got to the Café about 7:20 for the 8 pm performance. Fortunately, we only had a few minutes to
wait until the theatre doors opened and we were shown to our seats. We had, truly, the best seats in the
house. Front row aisle in the center
section. Difficulty arose, though, as I
realized that I had no Kleenex … and I always cry at weddings and graduations
and other selected moments. And I knew
that I would cry over Ernie!
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| Beet salad |
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| Perch and Cole slaw |
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| Short ribs with puff pastry topping |
When I was a child, somewhere about 7, I fell in love with
baseball. It was the first sport that I
discovered, and I really loved it. And
Ernie Harwell and George Kell were the Tigers baseball announcers at that time –
and for years, actually. I can remember
every single spring, as we were dealing with snow and sleet and gray weather,
we would suddenly hear Ernie and George’s voices on the radio from sunny, blue
skies and Florida in spring training. That’s
when I knew, without a doubt, that no matter what it was like outside, spring
was finally and at long last on its way.
Then, for a time when I was younger, I suffered from a bit of insomnia –
and all I had to do was put on Tiger baseball on my radio in my room, and voila, those comforting voices would put
me immediately to sleep. To this day,
baseball on the radio has that effect on me.
Something really soothing and wonderful!
The play “Ernie”
was about Ernie’s life and times, and was extremely well done. It was a conversation between Ernie and “the
boy”, talking about various incidents in his life, starting from when he was a
young child, and continuing to “that” night, when the Tigers and the fans were paying
a tribute to him, and he said goodbye. There
were three screens at the back of the stage, and some wonderful old photographs
and footage. Ernie knew Babe Ruth and
interviewed Ty Cobb – a tremendous 42 year career, nicely and neatly summarized
in a 90 minute presentation. My problem
is that it was very nostalgic … and I went through several large napkins. Amazing.
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| New Line tram! |
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| Comerica Park where the Tigers play! |
After it finished, Dave and Sandy treated us to drinks in
the now almost deserted café, and while we were visiting, suddenly there were
fireworks across the street at Tiger Stadium – we had a wonderful view! Turns out that one of the weddings taking
place at the Fox Theatre was for one
of grandchildren of Mike Illich – the late owner of the Tigers as well as the Fox Theatre – the Little Ceasar Pizza magnate!
A great night to be downtown!
Also, fabulous news!
After living together over 20 years, Sandy and Dave have decided to get
married!!!! Something quiet and up north
in early fall. SO happy for them! They make
a wonderful couple!
We left the café after the fireworks were (finally) over,
and Sandy and Dave dropped us off back at our hotel. Really lovely day all around!
More tomorrow!
m
xxx
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