We ablute, dress and amble down Woodward a ways, take a right and enter a small palace of pastries named Cannelle, which sells its namesake goodies — small columnar pastries of rum and vanilla with custard centers and carmelized crusts — and rows of other confections for prices ending in weird cents: .32, .61, or other. Ten tables filled with customers and a constant stream of police who leave their parked cruisers. Almost more police than pastries. We hurry a bit ‘cause we’re meeting Paul at the Guardian Building for a three-hour walking tour of the city.

First Guardian Building weird fact: The ceiling is actually painted canvas, glued to a couple inches of plaster.

Paul’s a middle-aged historian and amateur actor who’s written a few books on local history that we see in bookstores about town. He delivers a constant stream of very interesting and interconnected information about every building and room and street we see. David’s brain overloads so he remembers almost none of it. That said, a few anecdotes: Detroit wound up as an important terminus on the Underground Railway, especially after Congress in 1850 passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slave owners to recapture runaway slaves in any state of the union. Since Detroit is across the river from Canada — NOT part of the United States — slaves could be ferried across the river to safety. A number of downtown churches and other buildings lent themselves to the emancipation effort. And, about 85 years later, the river also enabled about 70 percent of America’s bootleg liquor to float drinkers’ boats, so to speak (easy).

Voluble, interesting, bespectacled Paul walks us past the Renaissance Center down by the river — four of its five tall glass buildings will be torn down soon — into the Greek section of the city — small and almost entirely under reconstruction — down a few alleys — some, like Belt Alley, with boutique businesses based on historical use of the space — and past a good number of old, rather lovely limestone or granite commercial buildings that have been converted into apartments, condos, and mixed use spaces. (rent for 2 bedrooms downtown would be $2500 to 3k, he guessed).

With tired dogs, we bid Paul adieu and repair to David Whitney’s lobby. David eyes the small bar for another Negroni but heeds the better angel whispering “no,” and sets to writing the blog before we uber ourselves to Corktown for happy hour and dinner at IMA Izakaya. Trendy. Packed. Like almost everywhere these days, interesting cocktails. A variety of small plates to share. We uber back to our hotel and … packed it in.