Unwraps woolly scarf and attempts to defrost all exposed
body parts
I’ve just arrived home from a little jaunt to site of the
1996 Olympic Games and home of the famous peach – Atlanta, Georgia, USA! And my
gawdddd it was COLD!
If you’ve read my previous blog entries you’ll know that my
work now regularly takes me to Dallas, Texas for days at a time, so I’ve
decided now that I’ve seen a lot of the attractions around Dallas that I will
venture out of Texas whenever I can. I’d like to visit new places and lap up
the culture, sights and sounds of cities I’ve never been to before. So this
trip I decided to tick Atlanta off my list!
To make the most of my slip time in Dallas (flight attendant
speak for the amount of time spent on the ground in your destination) I decided
to head to Atlanta almost straight after my flight landed in Dallas. This was a
bit of an ask considering I’d been on the go for almost 24 hours getting to
work and then working the flight over, but hey, that’s what food and caffeine is
for!
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| You know you're in the south when there's a Chick-fil-A outlet at the airport om nom nom |
I arrived in Dallas about 2:30pm on Saturday, got to the
crew hotel at 4pm, left at 4:20pm and boarded my flight for Atlanta from Dallas
Love Field airport (a smaller, closer airport than Dallas Fort Worth, which is
where I’d flown into as crew earlier in the day) at 5:45pm. I slept the entire
one hour forty five to Atlanta, as you can imagine!
I’d done a bit of research before I left and discovered that
there was an airport train that went to downtown in less than twenty minutes.
As a frequent traveller I am a huge fan of cities that have train lines to the
airport. I personally think no airport should be built without a train station
right next to it (or underneath it). It is just so convenient for travellers to
step off the plane and straight onto a train and be at their hotel in no time.
Of course, being a past Olympic Games city, I would expect nothing less than a
train line direct to the airport, but I was pleasantly surprised when the fare
to downtown Atlanta was only $4.50. Considering the length of time to get from
Sydney’s international terminal to the downtown area of Sydney city is the same
as what it was to get from the airport in Atlanta to downtown $4.50 was a
bargain and a half! The fare in Sydney is between $16 and $22 for adults – highway
robbery! I guess maybe the Atlanta airport station is still government owned,
unlike in Sydney!
Anyways, I stayed at the Holiday Inn right near Centennial
Olympic Park, after finding a good deal on Expedia. It was fantastic to crash
into bed after such a long day! I fell asleep instantly.
But of course, as so often happens, partly I think because
of my ridiculous work hours but also because I am still, even after heaps of
trips to new places, like an excited little child when I am somewhere I’ve
never been before, and I was awake at 7am and keen to get up and go and
explore. So…I did.
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| Wrapped up and ready to brave the cold weather! |
First stop was of course Starbucks to completely wake me up
with some coffee, and then I walked about two or three blocks down from my
hotel towards Centennial Olympic Park. This area is a great area to stay in, if
you ever go to Atlanta, as it is super close – I’m talking nothing further than
ten minutes walk away – to many of Georgia’s most popular attractions: World of
Coca Cola, The Georgia Aquarium, Centennial Olympic Park, The College Football
Hall of Fame, the CNN Centre and the Georgia Dome. There are many hotels to
choose from in the area, no matter what budget you are on. I quietly patted
myself on the back for choosing so well!
My first stop, since it was so chilly out – and I was
wearing jeans, a long sleeved top, a cardigan, a trench, socks and shoes,
leather gloves and a huge woolly scarf – I decided would be the World of Coca
Cola. Atlanta is the home of Coca Cola, where it was first sold out of a
pharmacy here in 1886. Today you can visit this monstrous place, a museum of
all things Coke related, for just $16. It was definitely worth the money! Inside
were two stories of exhibits, including Coca Cola advertising from all over the
world, films, Coke in pop culture, the chance to have your photo with the Coca
Cola polar bear, Coca Cola and Christmas plus so much more. My favourite
though, was the area where you could taste Coca Cola products from all over the
globe. Coca Cola doesn’t just make Coke you see – there are infinite numbers of
other flavours of Coke, Fanta, Sprite, root beer and so many other fizzy
drinks! And you could try every single one of them for free. The tasting room
was divided into different regions – so you could taste the Coca Cola products
that are most popular/common in Asia, then the ones that are most popular ni
Africa, Europe, North America and Australia. If you didn’t have a belly ache
before you went into this part of Coca Cola World, you sure did after! But it
was a lot of fun. And as a bonus on the way out you are given a free glass
bottle of Coke to take home.
So that knocked out much of my morning, but it was well
spent! I love lame, super touristy things like that, so you’ll hear a lot about
stuff like that on this blog if you are a regular reader! The more embarrassing
the better I say! It’s a good way to balance out the serious museums and
memorials and landmarks I also enjoy going to when I travel.
Next stop was Centennial Olympic Park, which was just across
the street from World of Coca Cola. I’m a serious Olympic nut, and to date have
visited nine Olympic cities during my travels, often going to the purpose built
Olympic stadiums and taking tours inside, and taking in many of the Olympic sites
left in legacy of each Games. I also find it super interesting to see how a
city has utilised all its new venues and infrastructure after the excitement of
the Olympic Games is all over (for the record, Athens and most of its Olympic
facilities have already gone to rack and ruin and are mostly deserted,
graffited and no longer used, only ten years after the games were held there) This
was part of the reason I wanted to go to Atlanta – to tick another city off my
Olympic bucket list.
To be honest with you all though, dear readers, I was a bit
disappointed in Centennial Olympic Park. This area hosted many outdoor events
for visitors during the Games (no actual sports) and at 21 acres and in the
heart of downtown Atlanta was a great gathering place (and still is today –
many concerts and events are regularly held in the park, such as the Foo
Fighters this time next year). Sadly it was also where a bomb was planted during
the games, which killed two and injured more than one hundred other people.
Although I say I was disappointed, I actually think this was only due to
circumstances – the weather was not very nice the day I visited and the main
feature I’d come to see – undoubtedly the most famous part of the park, the
Fountain of Rings, which apparently sprout water to music four times a day in
the shape of the Olympic rings – were barricaded off for some reason, and I
could not get close to them, let alone take in the display of music and water
that usually happens there. I think it would be much better to visit in summer,
when the sun is shining and the trees are lush and full and the flags that
surround the fountain are flapping colourfully in the breeze. The fountain is
designed for people to cool off in it during the brutal Atlanta summers, and
the pictures I have seen look wonderful. It just wasn’t what I experienced on
my trip. I guess that’s what I get for going in November during an unusually
cold snap of the eastern and southern United States! Lesson learnt.
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| The Gateway of Dreams |
Still, I spent some time wondering around the park and
taking it all in. I snapped a few pics of the Gateway of Dreams Pierre de
Coubertin statue, which was very impressive, took in the statues and a cute
little landscaped area with winding streams and trimmed gardens called the
Quilt of Nations, which honoured each nation that competed in 1996. This ‘quilt’
was followed by four others, which saluted the athletes and their results, the
origins of the Olympic Games, those who were injured and died in the terrorist
bombing and finally a quilt of nature to honour those who dreamt of bringing
the Olympics to Atlanta and made it happen. It was quite peaceful to meander
through the quilts and read all the plaques. Lastly I had a squiz at all the Olympic
pictograms and engraved bricks that made up the park’s pathways. I think it
would definitely be more worth a visit in summer time, and hopefully one day I
will get back and see it in all its glory then.
The rest of my day was spent shopping and eating (at the
Hard Rock Café – I told you I’m lame and tragic!) and looking around the easy
to navigate downtown area of Atlanta (I love me a city with a simple grid
system of roads!). Since I was travelling solo, I didn’t stay out at night,
mostly because I was dead tired (it all catches up with me eventually!) so I
retired to my hotel, had a good sleep and was on a flight back to Dallas at
6:30 the following morning. My adventure was ovah *sad face* but it had been fantastic.
I recommend stopping in Atlanta if ever you do a trip around
the southern states of America. There was still plenty more to see and do there
than what I did, but time and the distance my little legs could walk prevented
me from seeing it all unfortunately. Hopefully one day I can explore it more
thoroughly and enjoy some more of that famous southern hospitality!
I’ve got Georgia on my mind…
Jorgs
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