The Foreign Lands

So the main focus of this blog is to inform people that do not live in and around the city of Detroit, that Detroit is not as bad of a place that it is made out to be.

For as violent Detroit is made out to be, people might be surprised to find out that New York out ranks Detroit in the amount of crime and that the crime in Detroit is slowly going down, but this is not really the topic I wanted to touch on today.

The real topic I wanted to focus on is Canada. Yes, I know that this is a blog about Detroit, but you cannot understand Detroit without looking at Canada. Detroit is seperated from Canada by the Detroit River.

For roughly $4.00 each way, you can cross over to and from Windsor either by crossing the Ambassador Bridge, or taking the Detroit Windsor Tunnel. As I was growing up, all you needed tto bring was your birth certificate and a photo ID to prove you were a citizen. As of June 1st of this year, you need to have a Passport, Travel Card, or Enhanced Drivers License.

Now those who grow up in Detroit love this fact. The drinking and gambling age in Ontario is 19 as opposed to 21 here in the States. Because of this, and the fact that you can get more for the Canaidan Dollar than the US (Not as much so these past few years where you have seen the USD/CDN excahnge rate dip to an even 1 for 1, but I remember the exchange rate being $1.55/per USD) you have seen teenagers go over to Canada to drink and party.

Some might view this as a bad thing. Fair enough, everybody has a right to their opinion, but take this into account. When you are over there you are using a different currency sytem, and having to convert US measurements in to metric. It is a bit different when you are charged for gas by the liter and not by the gallon. (Sidenote: You think our gas prices were bad last summer, you should have seen theirs. Think a dollar more per gallon.)

Also we share the fireworks. Canada Day lands on July 1st and out Independence Day is of course a week before. Well a week before we have the International Freedom Festival Fireworks on the River celebrating two countries freedoms.

Now how's that for adding some culture into Detroiters lives?