Off to Atlanta

Have decided to postpone blog about NY and get on the road.  (I will be returning there in a few days, and will expound then.)

At JFK got a rookie luggage searcher who spotted something in my bag.

Let me backtrack: I planned to check in my bag and packed accordingly eg. shower gel, aerosol mousse, scissors. The guy at check-in had other ideas; 'you'll miss your flight if you do that.'  Hence the dilemma and the delay at security. Managed to keep the scissors, (short, blunt ended) but had to dump the other stuff.

How I've hated all this security checking; shoes off, netbook in tray etc. When you do a multi flight holiday it gets old very quickly (actually from the first flight!) Naturally I boarded with a migraine.

Fortunately the flight to Atlanta was uneventful, and picking up the car from Enterprise went smoothly (a white Ford, 4 door automatic). The Comfort Inn Downtown is definitely low market but the reception was friendly. Lucky for us no ball game was playing at nearby Turner Field so we had the area pretty much to ourselves.

The room had no fridge, occasioning frequent visits to the ice machine so that I could keep my thyroid pills cool.

The 49 bus which stops outside the hotel took us the 4 miles into town. We'd heard much about the Underground Market in Atlanta and were eager to see the sights.

Believe me it aint that great. Many of the stores were closed and it was not bustling with people. In fact the whole area looks as though it's struggling to keep up, if not downright seedy. This was brought home to us when a store owner advised us about which direction to walk when we left his shop. We didn't probe further and took the right turn as he advised.

At Score's sports bar (in the Underground Market) had my first rack of ribs, albeit shared with Kathie. It was enormous, tasty and tender, covered lightly in smoky sauce. 

Rediscovered the fact that the price quoted on the menu is not the price you pay; there is state tax and the tip, in total whacking an extra 21% plus on the bill. Ah well, this is America!

Things picked up on day 2:

"You gotta scrape it ma'am." Words of advice from Atlanta's finest helping me make my breakfast waffle, in true do it yourself style. Police seem to visit this hotel regularly, we're not sure why although on that morning one client woke up to find his car stolen from the parking lot.  The police helping themselves to coffee in the breakfast area advised hotel staff to call 911, (they were already on it) so even more police showed up. The waffle was so so, too much liquid in the mix.

We left them to it, heading into Atlanta for our city tour in a little open sided (?electric) buggy.

Steve our driver/host was articulate, knowledgeable and cute. We learned the history of Atlanta from the 1861 civil war to the rebuilding of the city, much of which seemed to happen circa 1913. Discovered the more well-heeled parts of the city, and how much it all cost, a pattern of information to be repeated in all out future city tours. I ask you, who cares?



The afternoon saw us visiting CNN. What a huge enterprise it is. You enter a large atrium, mall, court type place with eateries, shops and the like. The tour begins when you ascend via the world's tallest free standing escalator: it takes 2 1/2 minutes to reach the top. Turner broadcasting employs 3,400 people. Kathie did a cold read of news from a teleprompter. As expected she didn't miss a beat, and impressed our guide.

We were told that the people who stare at computer screeens all day long scouring for news, have a lot of laser surgeries. No wonder.

There is now a Spanish lanuage CNN. We learned a lot about cameras, watched an anchorwoman doing her stuff. All the employess understand they will be stared at like monkeys in a zoo and learn to ignore it. Indeed the building was planned with tours in mind. Tours began in 1987. There is hotel on site too.

After red beans and rice (which I like very much) we walked across the park where the shooting took place during the 1996 Olympics to Coca Cola. Now I didn't particularly want to go there but it came with the tour package.

Little did I know that so much happiness came out of those bubbles. What have I been missing out on all these years?  Of course it was one big advertising campaign and people lined up and paid inflated prices buying items advertising the product. Not me, but I did avail myself of the free coke (although a week later I have still not drunk it)  and taste tested products from a vareity of countries.

The highlight was the 4D viewing experience at the end, it is truly amazing with rocking seats, mini showers of water and things that seemed to leap off the screeen.

The evening ended up with catfish in a sports bar and a date with my new best friend Rand McMally, plotting the route out of Atlanta and on to Nashville. We also booked the next hotel, making sure our room had a fridge in it.

Sculpture in Atlanta