Interesting city with lots to see and do (Atlanta)

Member Name: janeh

Product:	Atlanta
Date:	23/07/01 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact - easy to get around, excellent public transport, Lots to see and do

Disadvantages: Not the safest place in the world, Very hot and muggy

Atlanta doesn’t appear to be a touristy area. Most of the places to visit etc are just as much for the locals as visitors. This meant that it was cheaper than similar cities and more compact and easy to get around. We found most things within walking distance of our hotel – Embassy Suites at Centennial Park. If further away the local transport system MARTA was easy to use and very cheap.

We went in July and temperatures were in the high eighties/low nineties an the humidity was very high. This made walking around a little uncomfortable, but mornings and evenings were quite pleasant.

We went to the Coke factory, where you go on a self tour called “The History of Coca Cola”. You see all the original bottles, logos etc and how the drink was first developed and marketed. Even how it was deemed a necessity for soldiers in World War 1. Very interesting tour ending with you being able to try our all the drinks that Coke manufacturer. Worth visiting.

Centennial Olympic Park is the location of the opening of the 1996 Olympic Games. It is also the place where the bomb went off. It is a large park with dancing fountains in the shape of the Olympic rings, picnic areas, visitors centre and staging for shows. As we went during the Independence Day celebrations, we were treated to entertainment by day and night with food stalls etc. The carnival started and ended here and the massive fireworks display was held here. The park seems to be the centre for most of the entertainment in Atlanta, but even when nothing is going on it is a very pleasant place to stroll or have a picnic etc. The fountains were always full of kids jumping in and out of the dancing water jets.

Underground Atlanta. This is a strange place with shops and restaurants etc, but as the name suggests it is underground. There are some fascinating shops and stall selling all manor of things. There is an old fashioned fifties American diner and a visitors cent
re. Worth visiting if only out of curiosity.

Peachtree Centre is a shopping centre located off the Peachtree Road (the main road in Atlanta). Not very large but worth a visit if combined with other shopping. Peachtree Road is where you can find Macys department store, Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Café amongst others.

For a really nice shopping experience, get on the underground (MARTA) and go to the Lennox Square Mall. This is a very large indoor shopping mall. There are lots of shops, restaurants in very pleasant surroundings. There are a couple of other malls near to Lennox, but we did not have the time to visit them all.

Other places to visit include the Philips Arena which is home to the local baseball or football team. It is also the venue of concerts etc. Philips also use this place to show off their technology by installing hundreds of TV screens all over the building.

Twenty miles of so south of Atlanta is Stone Mountain Park. A huge natural boulder of rock sticking out of the earth and at night lit up by lasers. There is a town along side the mountain with shops, visitor info and restaurants etc.

Next to Centennial Park is the CNN building, here you can go on tours of the news studios and see films etc.

There are a few skyscrapers in the centre of town – nothing to compare with LA or New York but tall non the less. The tallest is the Westin Peachtree Hotel which is a round building which you can go to the top of if you want. It is the most expensive hotel in Atlanta.

As you can see there is plenty to do in Atlanta and if you are into sports, there is always the football, soccer and baseball games to visit as well

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