Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
Page 2 of 2
The two RV Gypsies in Detroit, Michigan
June 10, 2013

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. 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 Cobo Convention/Exhibition Center and the Joe Louis Arena. The Mariott at the Renaissance Center and the Robert's Riverwalk Hotel are also situated along the International Riverfront.

Detroit Riverfront flag
Detroit Riverfront flag
panorama of the Detroit Riverfront

Below: Detroit Mariott at the Renaissance Center

The Renaissance Center, nicknamed the RenCen, is a group of seven interconnected skyscrapers in Detroit, Michigan, and the tallest building in Michigan since 1977. Located on the Detroit International Riverfront, the entire Renaissance Center complex is owned by General Motors. The central tower is occupied by the Detroit Mariott at the Renaissance Center, the tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere with the largest rooftop restaurant, called Coach Insignia. The complex contains many restaurants, a variety of shops, and the vehicle display known as GM World. GM donated its portion of the plaza and promenade to the Riverfront Conservancy upon completion. A cruise-ship passenger terminal stands on Hart Plaza, adjacent to the Renaissance Center.

Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center

The Detroit Princess is a five story dinner boat, 222 feet long, that cruises the Detroit River on 2 to 3 hour cruises with live entertainment, bountiful buffet meals, dance floors, chandeliers, mahogany trim, brass ceilings and cash bars. Its top speed is 10 knots (11 mph). It weighs 1,430 tons and can hold 1,500 passengers.

Karen Duquette by the Detroit River
The Detroit Princess
The Detroit Princess
The Detroit Princess
Port Detroit
Port Detroit
a barge in Port Detroit

Looking across the Detroit River into Canada

Looking across the Detroit River into Canada
Looking across the Detroit River into Canada

A barge coming down the Detroit River

A barge coming down the Detroit River
A barge coming down the Detroit River
A barge coming down the Detroit River

GM Plaza and Promenade

sign at the GM Plaza and Promenade
Shapes like continents on the ground outside the GM Building

Above & Below: Shapes like continents on the ground outside the GM Building

Shapes like continents on the ground outside the GM Building
Shapes like continents on the ground outside the GM Building
Gm Riverwalk plaque

The GM Building

The Winter Garden was added to the Renaissance Center in 2001, along with retail shops and restaurants.

The GM Building
The Winter Garden in the Gm Building

Paintings inside the GM Building

Standing under an elevated walkway, the shadow of a person walking can be seen.

Paintings inside the GM Building
under an elevated walkway in the GM Building
fancy car inside the GM Building
fancy car inside the GM Building

Mariners' Church of Detroit (Free and Independent) is a church adhering to Anglican liturgical traditions located at 170 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded in 1842 as a special mission to the maritime travelers of the Great Lakes and functioned as a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan until 1992, when the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled it was incorporated as an independent congregation. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Mariners' Church of Detroit

history bookThe Detroit Windsor Tunnel is an underwater highway tunnel connecting Detroit, Michigan in the United States, with Windsor, Ontario in Canada. It was completed in 1930. It is the second busiest crossing between the United States and Canada after the nearby Ambassador Bridge. About 13,000 vehicles use the tunnel each day. The structure is jointly owned by the two cities.

When constructed, it was only the third underwater vehicular tunnel constructed in the United States (after the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City, New Jersey, and downtown Manhattan, New York City, New York and the Posey Tube between Oakland and Alameda, California).

Its creation was prompted by the opening of cross-border rail freight tunnels including the St. Clair Tunnel between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario and the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel between Detroit and Windsor.

The Detroit Windsor Tunnel is 120 feet short of a mile at 5,160 feet. At its lowest point, the two-lane roadway is 75 feet below the river surface.

The tunnel is currently owned by Detroit-Windsor Tunnel LLC, which is a joint-venture between the City of Windsor and the City of Detroit, with each owning 50%. Detroit is considering selling its half of the tunnel to Windsor to form a tunnel authority, although a recent mayoral scandal has put this plan in question.

The Detroit?Н≤╧indsor Tunnel

One Detroit Center is a skyscraper and class-A office building located downtown which overlooks the Detroit Financial District. Rising 619 feet, the 43-story tower is the tallest office building in Michigan, and the second tallest overall in the state behind the central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center, located a few blocks away. Although the Penobscot Building has more floors (45 above-ground floors compared to 43), One Detroit Center's floors are taller, with its roof sitting roughly 60 feet taller than Penobscot's. Its floor area is 1,674,708 square?feet.

One Detroit Center

The outside of the Joe Louis Arena

The outside of the Joe Louis Arena
The outside of the Joe Louis Arena

Below: The Monument to Joe Louis, known also as "The Fist", is a memorial to the boxer at Detroit's Hart Plaza. The sculpture is a 24-foot-long arm with a fisted hand suspended by a 24-foot-high pyramidal framework. It represents the power of his punch both inside and outside the ring. It weighs approximately 8,000 pounds.

The initial arm was modeled in clay at 14 inches in length. With the aid of a computer, a full-scale steel armature, 24 feet in length, was made and wrapped with wire and covered with clay. The final clay model was divided into eight sections and cast in bronze, then assembled. The pyramid structure was fabricated out of steel, and faced with bronze plates. A tribute to Joe Louis is inscribed on the arm.

THE BELOW PHOTO WAS TAKEN OUT THE WINDOW OF A MOVING CAR, DURING A LIGHT RAIN STORM.

The Monument to Joe Louis, known also as "The Fist"
 

MOST OF THE PHOTOS BELOW THIS POINT WERE TAKEN OUT THE WINDOW OF A MOVING CAR DURING A RAIN STORM.

Fly Ball Ferris Wheel is a 50-foot Ferris wheel that features cars shaped like baseballs that can seat up to five passengers and is wheelchair accessible.

Tiger on building of Comerica Park
shown below

Fly Ball Ferris Wheel
Tiger on building of Comerica Park

Comerica Park and the Detroit Tigers Stadium. Doesn't it look like that Tiger is climbing onto that car?

Detroit Tigers Stadium
Detroit Tigers Stadiium
big structure
statue

The Spirit of Detroit is a city monument with a large bronze statue created by Marshall Fredericks and located at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.

It was commissioned in 1955 for a cost of $58,000 (equivalent to $497,071 today), and dedicated in 1958. In its left hand, the large seated figure holds a gilt bronze sphere emanating rays to symbolize God. The people in the figure's right hand are a family group. It is 26-feet tall.

The Spirit of Detroit

A pink Limousine

Elevated People Mover

A pink Limousine in Detroit
Elevated People Mover in Detroit

Fox Theatre

Elm Theatre

Fox Theatre
Elm Theatre
3 buildings
4 buildings
Menu for the two RV Gypsies Adventures in Michigan
June 8 - 13, 2013

You may visit these six sites in any order you choose.
The page you are on is grayed out and cannot be chosen.
There is a link to Point Edward, Ontario, Canada below this sub-menu.

At the Rifle Range

Detroit (2 pages)

Frankenmuth (3 pages)

Campgrounds in Michigan

Port Huron

Saint Clair

look below
go to the next adventure of the two RV GypsiesAFTER you have seen all six sections above,
please continue on to Point Edward, Ontario, Canada

(The two RV Gypsies visited Canada in-between the above Port Huron and Saint Clair sections, because Port Huron and Point Edward are directly across from each other at the Michigan USA/Canada border.)