Detroit

Detroit`s history started 300 years ago. It was founded on July 24, 1701 by an adventurous Frenchman Antoine de la Cadillac. He was sailing down the Detroit River in search of a shore. He landed there and named the place Detroid.

Since Cadillac`s times the city has gone through many changes. Nowadays it is one of the ten most populated cities of the States, having approximately one million inhabitants. It lies on the canadian border, in the state of Michigan which is also famous for the Great Lakes (Michigan, Superior, Huron, Erie).

Detroit is known as Mototown or the or the Motor City. The first car or “the horseless carriage” - as the first car was named - made its way down Woodward Avenue in 1896 and it marked the start of a new era. Detroit`s automibile industry has had great significance. Soon Detroit became the world`s automobile capital.

Detroit is also the birthplace of some famous people, such as an actor Tom Selleck and the queen of soul Aretha Franklin. It also claims to have the world`s first concrete road Woodward Avenue, the nation`s first shopping mall - Northland Mall, and history`s first “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sports fans can visit one of the stadiums to see professional sports teams of baseball, football, basketball or ice-hockey playing their leagues. The Detroit Tigers had their new baseball stadium built and it opened in spring 2000. It`s so huge that one feels like a dwarf there. The statues are all around the stadium to remind the name of the team. Even the sign on the nearby church says: “Pray here for the Tigers!”, so fans are asked to keep their fingers crossed for the team. The Detroit Red Wings transform Detroit into a hockey town each year. All the city lives with ice-hockey and people simply love it. You can see signs of Red Wings everywhere, on car windows, on T-shirts, hats and sweatshirts in typical red and white color and the most enthusiastic fans fly their flags in front of their houses.

If you wish to spend some time in Canada, there is nothing easier than that. You can cross the border by choosing the Ambassador Bridge or the Windsor - Detroit Tunnel going under the Detroit River. With 9 million vehicles passing through the tunnel every year, it is the second busiest crossing point between Canada and the U.S.A.