Americans take sports pretty serious, it seems. Football, college football, hockey, baseball and basketball are the most popular sports here and they are watched very often. Many of the bars have TVs and if there is a football game, they are definitely showing it. I’ve got the feeling that you can watch football 24/7 here, if you want to.
I planned to watch all the different local teams at least once during my stay here. This week I was surprised that I can maybe achieve that pretty fast as I got invited to both a Red Wings (hockey) and a Pistons (basketball) game.
On Tuesday my colleagues and I were invited to the Joe Louis Arena to see the Red Wings play. The arena is named after the black Detroit boxer who back in the days beat up Nazi Germany in a fight that became very popular.
They played against the Florida Panthers and unfortunately the Red Wings lost in a game that was still pretty interesting. Especially the atmosphere in the arena was great.…
Driving through the area during the last months I noticed some very interesting buildings. Today I spent some time to drive there again and take some pictures. Most churches back in Europe are from the Middle Ages and have a very similar (and to me rather boring) style. Therefore it is very nice to see a different architecture of religious buildings here.
Yesterday we celebrated Thorsten’s last days in Detroit. Sergio had borrowed the Routan from work for that occasion. Even though that (Chrysler made) car is a bit weird, it served well as a party wagon with its six seats and a lot of space.
First we had some sliders at the Green Dot Stables and afterwards we went to downtown Detroit to play some table tennis.
I had a nice evening and I think it’s too bad that Thorsten is going back so early. It would’ve been fun to have some more overlap time here in Detroit.…
Today I used my free afternoon to drive south to Detroit and go on a photo walk. After parking at “The Z” I went to “The Belt” which is the alley attached to the parking structure. Recently they started to transform this alley into an art gallery. Different artist had created paintings directly on the walls. Today the opening ceremony was held but unfortunately I couldn’t withstand the cold until then.…
So far the food options and also the variety in the U.S. are pretty impressive. This might be due to the large amount of different cultures especially in this area. But there are two dishes I haven’t found yet. One is real Italian pasta and the other one is the good old Döner Kebab.
On my quest for the Italian cuisine I checked out a few places that claimed to serve mediterranean cuisine. That is technically correct but from a European perspective you expect Spanish, Italien, French or Greek cuisine in a mediterranean restaurant. Here you can get everything from the eastern part of the mediterranean sea in these restaurants. There are a few places in Royal Oak that explicitly claim to be Italian and maybe I should check them out soon.
So far I went to two movie theatres in the US. The first was attached to the incredibly large Great Lakes Crossing outlet center and I saw Guardians of the Galaxy. That must have been maybe two month ago on my “look and see” trip and the movie was really good. That was the moment when it stroke me that from now on for the next three years will be in English by default. That’s what I really missed in Germany. The theatre though was rather okay with older chairs and carpet.
Last weekend we went to a different theatre in Troy and saw the superb thriller Gone Girl. I can’t remember the last time when a movie had such a constant tension and left me that puzzled in the end. Also the equipment at the theatre was really good that might be the first cinema where they delivered video “sharper than at home”.
Today it’s time to try out the local Emagine Theatre in Royal Oak and I intend to see Fury.
Yesterday after work, some colleagues and I went a bit north to the small town Romeo. First we had burgers and beer at a nice local bar called “Thee Office”. It was really packed there and interestingly the atmosphere differed quite a bit from the other bars in the urban area.
Afterwards we went to our actual destination, that was just a few blocks away - Tillson Street.
In this street the homeowners put an exceptional effort into their halloween accessories and that’s what made the street famous in the whole region.
During the past two weeks the colors of the trees in Michigan changed dramatically. The fall colors have an incredible amount of saturation that it almost feels unnatural. I thought, I could maybe wait another week or two to take some pictures, but unfortunately this spectacle doesn’t last very long. We are already behind peak fall colors and the foliage in the trees slowly thins out. I just took a few pictures while running through the neighbourhood and today when Thorsten, Vera, Melina and I visited to the Wayne State University campus.
Next year I will be better prepared!…
I’ve been quite busy the last days but everything regarding my move went exceptionally well. I got my rental furniture set up, bought a bed at IKEA, ordered the obligatory vacuum robot, went shopping for groceries and today I finally moved into my apartment.
I used the afternoon to take a walk in Royal Oak to get to know the area. A warm jacket was necessary as fall came pretty quick here and the temperature dropped significantly.
Yesterday some colleagues and I went to the Dally in the Alley, which is a street and art festival in midtown Detroit. It was very crowded and it had an alternative flair with weed smell over the place. About half an hour after we got there, the place had to be evacuated because a transformer on a rooftop blew and firefighters needed to get through. Nevertheless it was a great evening and it was nice to see this part of town, I had not been to yet.
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