Georgia Aquarium Slideshow

Olympic Centennial Park

One of the things I knew about Atlanta before my trip there was the fact that it was the host for the Centennial Olympics back in 1996. Personally, the game should have been held in Athens, to mark the 100 years since the first modern games were held, but Atlanta managed to pip through on the last bid. Being a sentimental, it should have been in Greece, but hey, I do not make the rules.

So, I was looking forward to some legacy of the games, but all I got was the Centennial Park, which to be honest was a lot smaller than I imagined it would be. It was also the site for the Olympic bombing which killed two people during the games.

It was a nice grass field with a few monuments surrounding it, but in itself, it was nothing special. But the tiles which made up the footway caught my eye. They all have names of donors written on them, which were mainly people of the city. They must have lent their money to the project and had their names immortalised in the park.

There was also a small fountain made up of the five rings of the Olympics located in the centre of the park. I walked by this every morning from my hotel to the Congress Center.

In the evening, the park was transformed somewhat with the lightings wing erected, celebrating winter and Christmas. Unfortunately they don't get much snow in this part of the US, but the brown leaf from the tree contrasted well with the clear blue sky. It was quite a vista actually with the cool breeze that we had during my stay there. Since the weather is in the mild side, a skating rink was erected at the part of the park near the Georgia Aquarium.

More about my Atlanta trip here.

World of Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola was invented by a local Atlanta Pharmacist and Atlanta is proud of that. The company still maintained its headquarters in the City. And the much-talked about secret recipe is purportedly kept in a box inside a vault at the headquarter building in the outskirts of town. Only two people have access to the secret, and each of them only knew half of the formula. Or, that was what the legend said.

In the middle of town, the Company set up a museum. They called it The World of Coca-Cola. Attempt had been made to have similar displays in Las Vegas and Tokyo in the past, but those exhibit were closed due to lack of support. But the chapter here had been going strong.

Even the polar bear was thereThe old delivery methodThe original museum was located in a different part of town and the current purpose-built complex was only opened last year.

The first part of the exhibit was a gentle introduction into the celebrated history of Coca-Cola by way of multimedia presentation and as well as direct introduction. The next part was a mini museum with displays of Coca-Cola memorabilia from throughout the world.

Memorabilia galoreAnd a fair bit of reading as wellThe torches from the recent Olympics on displayNow came the favourite part, the tasting areaEverybody get to carry a bottle homeNext came the trip to the vault - not the real one of course. The final part was the about the product. We were taken through a mini-factory which bottled the drink in a limited edition bottle to be taken home as memento. While waiting for the drinks to be ready, we could also sample 60 plus flavours of Coca-Cola products from around the world. Guaranteed to get you high on sugar by the time you were done. Imagine if I were to take Mu children along with me. It should be a fun ride home .....

I bought some fridge magnet to take home at the exit. The museum was quite fun, since it was not often one get to see it coming from Malaysia and all. Well worth a visit I thought. More on the Atlanta trip here.

Not Done

It was a frustrating evening actually. I had been trying to sort out my visa application for the coming Atlanta trip in December, but the website crashed. The sad thing was, it did not save my applications details, and I ended up having to start from the beginning. I also realised that I needed a few more documents, ass well as new set of photos to be scanned and uploaded.

With me being on call tomorrow, it looked like I had to delay it until Friday at the earliest. So, it won't be ready before this weekend. Sigh!

It was a good thing as well, as it would allow me time to get the other documents in order. I am not getting apprehensive about entering the US with all the stories about the interrogation at the Immigrations. I would think that entering Myanmar might be easier .....

More on my Atlanta trip here.