Today I had the opportunity to explore Detroit with my friend Maxime and a visiting friend from France. Detroit is really an amazing place -- such interesting architecture, industrial wastelands, and at the same time a thriving underground cultural scene. Today we made a visit to Belle Isle -- a very beautiful island park (the largest in the country, and larger than NYC's Central Park) on the river between Detroit and Canada -- and also made our way to Heidelberg Street -- a living art project begun by local artists in 1986 to resist the urban decay that began with the 1967 race riots in Detroit.

But perhaps what was most fascinating was our stop at the Michigan Central Station, which had sat decaying since the last Amtrack train rolled out in 1988. The picture above (via Wikipedia, more photos here) shows its beautiful architecture, not completely eclipsed by the broken windows and general decay of the property. The entire structure is surrounded by barbed wired fence, though my friend from Detroit told me after we came back that there is a hole that is widely known about on one side of the building. This was evidenced by several folks waving down at us from the buildings top floor -- squatters, perhaps? Potential renovation efforts -- estimated to cost between $80 and $300 million dollars -- have all failed. This is an utter shame. The building is absolutely gorgeous.