Oh. My. God. Why would anyone ever want to go to Detroit? I know why I went there - to tick off Michigan as one of the 50 states. Detroit is, bar none, the most depressing town I have ever visited. On the drive in to town on the Greyhound bus we went passed block after block of boarded-up, abandoned buildings, interrupted occasionally by an unwelcoming grocery-and-liquor store.

Once I got out of the bus and walked through downtown to the hotel it was mid-afternoon on a Friday and the streets were nearly devoid of people and the traffic was very light for a major metropolitan centre. This was the story for my stay.

But I have skipped ahead. Before I got to Detroit I had to leave the Washington DC hostel after a day walking around town and get to the bus station for an 8:20pm which took a full 16 hours to get to Detroit. I managed to get some sleep on the bus but not enough for a full night's sleep. It didn't help that we were given two 50 minute rest stops - one at Pittsburgh and one at Cleveland - where we were all forcibly kicked off the bus. It was nice to stretch my legs but I would rather have got a move on. But that's the way they run it. By the end it hadn't felt like 16 hours, which is a good sign, because it's even longer than a flight from London to LA.

I had a hotel room in Detroit which was a nice luxury. When I arrived after that long bus ride on my first night I slept for ten and a half hours straight. I did some research on the local attractions and ruled out the Henry Ford Museum because it's 10 miles out of town with no easy way of getting there and back on public transportation. So the only thing I wanted to do was the Motown Museum. That was only 3.5 miles from my hotel so I walked it. I wasn't concerned for my safety during the walk because the whole area was just deserted so I didn't have to wonder whether the guy coming towards me was going to jump me. I don't think other people would have seen it the same way as me though.

The museum itself was very interesting, probably more so if you're a big Motown music fan. On the walk back I took a slightly different route to see if I could improve my surroundings and find some signs of life in this dead ol' town. I was amazed with the streets I was passing: beautiful tree-lined avenues of brownstone buildings with lovely painted wooden front porches. And this can be right next to a street of abandoned buildings and industrial wasteland. I did find a slightly better street but with only the faintest hearbeat of activity.

On my second evening, which was a Saturday, I took a trip out at night to see what I could see. I took the elevated train, the Detroit People Mover, which runs counter-clockwise around downtown, and went down to the riverfront. There I found a tiny clump of restaurants and a slight hum of activity, but that was about it. I was looking out the window of the people mover on the way back to the hotel too and although I saw the occasional group on the way somewhere there was no buzz of activity.

Overall the town felt sad to me - the most emotional any town has felt to me. I have no intention to ever return to this city, except to take the tunnel through to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, which I saw across the river and felt like jumping in and swimming over to.

Interesting fact: Detroit is the only US city to face south to Canada.