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Photo: Mikerussell at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Detroit's riverfront is a 5½-mile (8.8 km) promenade along the Detroit River running from the Ambassador Bridge to Belle Isle, encompassing a multitude of parks, restaurants, retail shops, skyscrapers, and high rise residential areas. The path is located directly on the river and is 62 feet (18¾ m) wide in most places, with separate lanes for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Pavilions, fishing piers, and benches are located at intervals along the path. The east RiverWalk connects various riverfront developments, including Hart Plaza, the Renaissance Center, GM Plaza and Promenade, Tri-Centennial State Park, Stroh River Place, Chene Park, and Gabriel Richard Park.
The Detroit International Riverfront is a tourist attraction and landmark of Detroit, Michigan, extending from the Ambassador Bridge in the west to Belle Isle in the east, for a total of 5.5 miles along the Detroit River. The International Riverfront encompasses a cruise ship passenger terminal and dock, a marina, a multitude of parks, restaurants, retail shops, skyscrapers, and high rise residential areas along with Huntington Place. The Marriott at the Renaissance Center and the Robert's Riverwalk Hotel are also situated along the International Riverfront.
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Mies van der Rohe Historic District, better known as Lafayette Park, is a large park and complex of apartments designed by Mies van der Rohe just east of downtown. With their simplicity, clean proportions, and cladding of tinted glass and aluminum, the apartment buildings of Lafayette Park are classic examples of Mies van der Rohe's International Style.
Located along the riverfront, the park contains the 6,000-seat Aretha Franklin amphitheater where concerts are regularly scheduled every summer. Jazz, Classic Soul and Rhythm and Blues acts are the staples of the season. The park also includes park trails, the Chene Park Fountain, and the Lake Lounge bar. It hosts the Detroit International Jazz Festival every Labor Day weekend.
The largest public market in the United States, the Eastern Market receives about 45,000 visitors every week. The most obvious reason to visit this place is to buy unique foodstuff. One can find almost any type of food here.
Located in one of Detroit's poorest neighborhoods known as Black Bottom, Tyree Guyton founded the Heidelberg Project in 1986. It is an outdoor museum that consists of a two block area with houses that are decorated to look colorful and intriguing. Guyton started the project to take the neighborhood from a hard core inner-city neighborhood to a safe place where visitors are welcomed.
Bordering the city of Hamtramck, Poletown was settled by Polish immigrants in 1871. The community is centered around St. Albertus Catholic Church. The neighborhood experienced an influx of immigrants in the 1920s, but fell on hard times as freeway construction and urban renewal projects destroyed the neighborhood. Today, much of the neighborhood is gone. However, neighboring Hamtramck is home to a large Polish population and is famous on Fat Tuesday for its pączkis (pronounced poonchkis). Despite the neighbourhood being quite ruined, for those of you who like grit, this would be a cool area to hit up. It has falling apart homes, rotting shops, old warehouses, and empty lots.
This historical maritime museum features exhibits such as one of the largest collections of model ships in the world, and the bow anchor of the legendary Edmund Fitzgerald.