A big blog for a big city.
Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, is America’s 9th largest city with a population of 5.8M people. There is much more here to see than we anticipated but then we don’t expect to be able to see everything here in the USA. Accordingly this post is a bit larger than usual but no where near as big as it could have been. Centennial Olympic Park, built in the downtown area for the 1996 Olympics, encompasses the massive Georgia Aquarium, Coca Cola HQ and the Dr Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.
Somehow we heard of a “CityPass” that gave us access to a range of places at a discount price. The package we bought allowed into 4 locations (the Aquarium, Coke HQ, Civil Rights Centre and Fernbank Museum). Before I get into those first 3 places I’ll start off with the Fernbank Museum.
(The first 3 pics are of the trip from Asheville to Atlanta, the next 3 are the journey to Fernbank Museum.) As soon as we drove into the carpark of the Fernbank Museum we knew we’d enjoy this. We only wished we had our lovely Joy with us knowing how much she loves dinosaurs. Fernbank Museum does have more than just dinosaurs but these prehistoric critters are the main feature. The centre atrium is jaw dropping when you enter from the third floor looking eye to eye with a the largest land creature to ever walk the earth. You can enjoy the remainder of this gallery without my ramblings except for the last two pics. The GPS picture displays the chaos of freeway flyovers, cloverleafs and interchanges we have to contend with. Fortunately the traffic this evening wasn’t too heavy.
Atlanta played an important part in both the Civil War and the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Atlanta History Center chronicles the city’s past and is dedicated to the African-American leader’s life and times. There are numerous reasons I have few pics from inside here. Darkness, flash not allowed, crowds but really the reason is that it is so shocking and so sombre that taking photos seems to trivialise the events and actions within this hall. Without even today’s political correctness it is hard to justify the inhumane treatment of African-Americans. Sadly, on this day (the first anniversary of the Charlottesville riots) while not entirely over not all Americans see their fellow citizens as equals. I end this gallery with a few pics we took on the way home. The last 4 for Stuey. I think the stadium is called Turner Field. It is the home of the Atlanta Braves MBL team.
Atlanta is also a transportation hub, not just for railway but it’s international airport has been the world’s busiest (by passenger numbers) since 1998. We are convinced this is correct because every time we drove into the CBD we’d count the planes taking off as they flew over the freeway in front of us. More than once we counted 6 – 8 planes taking off in well under 2 minutes often side by side from parallel runways. Another way in which Atlanta has influenced the world is through a black sugar loaded drink known worldwide as Coca Cola. Until you take a look through this self-promoting museum you really can’t appreciate the depth to which ‘Coke’ has infiltrated and become part of our lives even if you aren’t a Coke drinker. But before I start the Coke commentary the first 6 pix were taken by Shane as we drove into the city. We both fell in love with the two cows in the first two photo’s. I’m sure I’ve seen this at home too.
Anyway go through the ‘World of Coca Cola’ pictures and enjoy. In particular note the last two. Shane as her secret second life, ‘The Coke Addict’ followed by a neat memento available in the shop. Two bejewelled Coke purses. The one on the left as you can see is only $2800 US. The one on the right and those out of shot below it were similarly priced.
Finally to wrap up Atlanta I have the easiest to write about but the hardest to edit photos from the Georgia Aquarium. With 3 immense whale sharks you’d think that was it but they have a terrific seal show and an even better (and wetter as we found out) dolphin show. You can pay extra for special tours like dive in the main tank or with the Beluga Whales. It was a great day though we both rate it a very close second to Osaka Aquarium in Japan.
So that’s it from Atlanta. I am still two cities behind but I’ll catch up soon. Shane is trying to put together a gallery of city scapes and sunsets for the blog which I will publish with some figures from our trip so far. Hopefully this data that I want to post will include costs, mileage, accommodation fuel etc so that if anyone is inspired to try this you’ll have an idea on what to expect. I might also list some of the shocks and surprises that we found in the differences between Australia and the USA.
Keep your eyes on this blog for more. Our next stop is Chatanooga and do we have a great place to show you.
Cheers for now.
Garry & Shane