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Published: January 23rd 2013
We have dropped one car in Salt Lake City and picked another one in Atlanta, with two short flights via Dallas in the middle. Sorry, no plan to drive the Mid-West this time.
First good news, we are done for now with the freezing weather. Atlanta is the headquarter of many huge American corporations...well-known for the Olympics...and CNN, Coca-Cola and the Geaorgia Aquarium! Once safely back on land, we took the local train from the airport to downtown....first look of downtown...well, they have a lot of chain hotels...and not sure they have a lot more to see than this.
Our program was simple....get to the CNN tour before the last one of the day, and next morning be at the gate of the Georgia Aquarium at the opening.
CNN has a one hour tour, and a combine ticket with the aquarium for three of us is just over 100usd, not cheap, not bad either. I was expecting a lot from that visit. Well, Tiffany and Leslie loved it...me, the spoiled kid, thought it was just average. Our guide lack personality...first mixed feeling of the day.
But let be honest,
at the end of the day, my disappointment is entirely due to myself....there is CNN, CNN International and HLN (the sister channel) under the same roof..and in the same one hour visit...I may be an addict of CNN International...on it more than any other channel mainly due to my job....but my interest is getting way lower once we went through the details of HLN. Lesson learnt!
Our hotel provided with an unexpected pretty huge room, so we ended up getting some take-away in...so I really have not much to write about downtown...if it is that they are way too many people in the streets whom I don't really want to meet at night in the same streets.
Next morning, at 9am , we were ready for THE aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium is supposed to be the biggest one in the world. Being a diver, you can understand my mixed feelings for an aquarium....isn't it better to see these great fishes in the wild...for sure...but that's ok for a lucky guy like me, most people will never encounter those great creatures...so yes, an aquarium does have an education purpose too.
In the
States you've got the aquarium at Monterey...and Atlanta one....Atlanta beats Monterey for the mantas and whalesharks...for everything else, I prefer Monterey by far....you start now to understand better the title of this blog!
So let's be clear...what are 4 whalesharks from Thailand and two mantas doing in a big tank....they shouldn't be there...well, please, don't ask me to judge....does a big fish has more right to be in a big tank...than a small fish in a small tank...
So they have these giants...plus few beluga whales....my prefered will maybe remain the little sea dragons....wish I could see one while diving one day. They are easy to spot diving in South Australia, but yes, they do share their territory with aggresive great white...sharks!
Tiffany has never seen neither a manta, nor a whaleshark...and for Leslie, the whalesharks were a first...they know what to llok for down-under there while diving next time!
The aquarium do offer the opportunity to dive in the big tank with the whalesharks and mantas...be ready...it's 325usd++ a dive!! They are mad! Ok, it's garanteed sighting....but I saw my last whalesharks end of November...and I'm currently
on my way to few...mantas and dolphins...garanteed too!
Next, they have this dolphin show...which is more Seaworld meet Disney than Aquarium...another mixed feeling!
We left the aquarium early afternoon. I gave up on paying tickets to Coca-Cola world...and we picked our next car to drive to the West, than later to the South...
I still don't know if I should recommend a visit to Atlanta or not. Sometimes to know, you have to experience...we did...let hit the road again!
Next...a place for every golfer...even behind very closed doors...
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Marie T Smith
non-member comment
Too bad you gave Coca Cola factory a miss...
I lived in Huntsville for a bit and well, I would have to say that I thought that the Coca Cola factory was what made Atlanta worth the visit... PERIOD! LOL I really wish you'd have visited it. I truly was amazed and loved the visit to that ONE place most of all. As for aquariums, we've visited a few, including Monterey, Baltimore, and Chattanooga. We fell absolutely in LOVE with Chattanooga's aquarium. We were quite surprised, too.