Joslyn Castle to Detroit - Thursday, October 10, 2019

Up early and down to breakfast followed by a load up of our luggage onto the bus. We then motored a scant two blocks to the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) for a relatively short tour. Our guide sped us through the museum, pointing out some highlights and beautiful works of art, culminating with a stop in the huge gallery holding the Diego Rivera frescoed murals. This work is a stunning site in itself, and when coupled with a lecture explanation of all the panels and the various themes that Rivera was communicating, you come away with a much better understanding of this artist and his times. The DIA encompasses over 650,000 square feet with over 100 galleries and a collection of over 65,000 pieces of art. The scope of the institute is mind boggling. The real treat is that, due to non-stop flights from Detroit, one could fly to detroit, take a cab from the airport to the museum, spend a few hours enjoying and tasting its offerings, and then back to the airport and on to your ultimate destination. A great day trip with non-stops to cities all over the world.

We then lunched at the DIA cafeteria and boarded our bus for our last home of the trip - The Edsel and Elaine Ford home, in Gross Pointe, a mere ten miles from the city. This home, set on over 175 acres along the Lake St. Clare waterfront, is a superb example of Alfred Kahn’s Cotswold cottage architecture and the vision of the Fords. This is a true family home with a subdued scale, especially considering the wealth of the owners. The home is designed to be lived in by a family, this one which had 4 lively and engaged children, all of whom went on to some renown. The grounds are particularly stunning, designed by Jens Jensen, the same landscape architect that is reputed to have lent his design hand to parts of our own Joslyn Castle. After a walk of the grounds and a stop in the gift shop, we loaded up the coach for our final stop of the day.

We headed back into downtown Detroit, along the Detroit River to the Pewabic Ceramics studio.

The building built in 1906, is the home of the world famous Pewabic Pottery works. The name Pewabic is from the northern Michigan copper mine area and was picked by its founder, Mary Chase Perry Stratton. Ms. Perry Stratton became a world famous potter and eventual leader of architectural ceramics use throughout the world. We toured the facility, learning of its history, its workings and the way in which the tiles are created, formed, fired and glazed. There was time for shopping in the retail area and a number of pieces are now in Omaha homes.

At 6:00, we left for our drive to the airport, sorting out of the bags, travails with boarding passes and TSA, quick meals, and finally, at 8:45, our flight leaves for Omaha. We arrive home at 9:40 Omaha time and head home, educated about Detroit, our appetites whetted for another trip to this amazing gem of a City with Architecture, Museums and 300 years of history embedded. It was not what we thought it would be and also more than we though it would be. Well worth a future visit.