Day 42 - Atlanta

In Atlanta the start of the day was bright and sunny.  The view from our window shows a variety of Midtown buildings from one storey to many more.  Opposite the hotel and looking a little incongruous between the high-rise blocks is the Academy of Medicine dating back to the nineteenth century.

Using the very quiet Marta metro system, I set off for the Downtown area.

Arriving in Downtown one of the first buildings I saw was the Hard Rock Cafe..

The Peachtree Centre was decorated for Christmas:

Adjacent to the centre was a vertigo-inducing high level bridge between two very tall buildings.

At the bottom of Peachtree Street - which runs through the centre of Atlanta - is the Carnegie Monument which celebrates the value of learning and commemorates the University institutions of the state of Georgia.

I headed for the Centennial park created for the 1996 Olympics:

In warmer weather there are fountains which spout  from the five rings but due to unusual frost in Georgia they were switched off today.

Overlooking the park is the Skywheel which provides great views of the city:

 

From the Skywheel I walked through the Olympic park to Pemberton Gardens which is the location for the Georgia Aquarium - the largest in the world - and the World of Coca Cola which commemorates the invention of Coca Cola in Atlanta by John Pemberton in 1886.

The park was decorated for the season:

The World of Coca Cola was full of historic memorabilia and included the opportunity to taste more than a hundred different Coca Cola variants and other drinks made for the Asian, European, North and South American, Indian and African markets and to purchase from a remarkable collection of Coca Cola related items in the shop.

My particular favourite (I didn't actually try them all) was a fiery and very fizzy ginger drink called 'Stoney' Tangawizi which is made for the African market.