I hadn't been to Atlanta since I was probably eleven years old so it's fair to say this was my first proper visit to the city.
I stayed with one of my non-biological siblings and we toured CNN headquarters, home to the world's longest free standing elevator.
As a teacher, I can't stand it when nobody volunteers for something, so when the tour guide asked who wanted to read a short news piece from the TelePrompTer in front of the group, I counted to ten in my head and then my hand shot up. Sadly, CNN did not offer me a job as a newsreader on the spot. Their loss.
The next day we visited the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. We started by touring the small indoor museum before seeing the house where King grew up, Ebenezer Baptist Church where he preached, and his burial site.
Afterwards, we wandered down the street and stumbled upon a street fair where we eagerly got our faces painted! I really wanted a penguin but the guy said he was really good at dinosaurs, so that's what I got.
While my host went to work, I spent the morning people watching in Centennial Park. The park comfortably wove its olympic roots into a relaxing urban space.
I crossed the street to check out the Coca-Cola Museum. The museum is a fabulous example of successful marketing: I hate the overly sweet taste of Coke and pretty much all pop, yet I still paid the admission fee to see a museum of a product I don't like.
Upon entering the museum, there is an old fashioned Coke truck and a few ten foot tall, theme decorated Coke bottles. I was stunned to see one of them portrayed Uzbekistan! (Although I'm really not sure what era this is supposed to be. I assure you Uzbeks do not dress this way today and the only camel I ever saw there was at a tourist trap.)
The museum tells the history of Coke through memorabilia in room after room.
The museum most popular room by far is the tasting room where visitors can sample all of the different kinds of pop Coke makes across the world. Thinking forward to my trip to east Africa later this year, I tried one from Uganda and one from Tanzania. They both tasted like liquified sugar to me and I had to rinse my mouth out with water!
Upon closer examination of this photo of South America's drinks, I really wished I had tried Honduras's Delaware Punch. What on earth does Delaware taste like?!
While in town, I also managed to catch up with two Antarctica friends who hadn't been able to join us in Vegas!
