Atlanta Day 3 - Conclusion

We spent our last day in Atlanta sleeping in a little, then going out for brunch and wandering around Buckhead. There are some FANCY shops. We spent some time in a 6 floor Restoration Hardware gallery. 

We had the opportunity to fly home during the second half of the AFC Championship. That is an experience I recommend. Most of the plane was watching the game and the muffled reactions became less and less controlled. There was lots of laughter when the screen showed Bill Bellichick  smiling wide. 

We didn't take many pictures on Sunday so here are pictures Lindsay took during the trip. 

 

Atlanta Girls’ Weekend - Day 2

Day 2!

We woke up earlyish and got ourselves organized. I actually worked out for a little bit because biscuits. Mercifully, it was warmer this morning. We went back to the highland bakery for breakfast and were pleased again. After breakfast, we got back on the MARTA and headed into town. We had tickets for the 11am VIP tour at The World of Coke. If you are ever visiting The World of Coke, spend the extra money on the VIP tour. There was so much to see and it was great to have a guided tour. 

After the nearly 2 hour tour, we went to the tasting room and tried a lot of drinks. I has heard about this magical tasting room when visiting DisneyWorld with Girl Scouts in 1998. There was a smaller version in Disney while we were visiting. Some were good, some where disgusting. I wish we had wine tasting cards so we could have kept track of what we liked (not that we would be able to find it). I went through 5 or 6 cups while Mom & Linz were able to keep reusing their original cup. I kept picking some potent drinks I didn't want mixing in. Apparently there is a gag in Atlanta about everyone loving Beverly, a soda from Italy. Always the scientist, I tried it. I don't remember what it tasted like at the beginning but it wasn’t bad, then....the cough syrup after taste kicked in and I reacted as one would expect. Lindsay and I also tried Tab.....GROSS. Why was that a thing for so long?  After ALL the sugar, we grabbed some food then visited the Civil Rights Museum. It was very moving. We bumped into a woman who works for the museum and she told us about how Andrew Young had lobbied to have a museum in the city wheee civil rights started and they decided to put it near Centennial Park instead of in Auburn where MLK grew up and lived. This location would attract more casual visitors that could stand to learn the most from visiting. 

We headed across Centennial Park after the museum and took a ride on the giant ferris wheel at Skyview Atlanta. We went around more times than i would have expected and it was HIGH.  Dinner was Bistro Niko in Buckhead and was amazing.  We returned to our hotel full once again. 

Atlanta Girls’ Weekend - Day 1

 

We arrived on Thursday night and pretty much went straight to bed, so Friday was really our first day. Our hotel is super fancy and comfortable. If you arrive at the right time in the evening, you will be greeted with a glass of prosecco and dancing hotel staff. Breakfast: Highland Bakery Buckhead This is a coffee shop super close to our hotel which was great because it was VERY cold this morning and we left our winter gear in Boston. Mom and I had eggs and bacon with tea. Lindsay had a breakfast sandwich on challah that was HUGE.

 

From breakfast, we got on MARTA (the MARTA?) and went downtown. We took an electric car tour of the city. It was really fun and a great way to get our bearings. We traveled in these 6 seater golf carts (that thankfully were enclosed) for around 90 minutes. We got to see sections of the city we won’t really have time to visit like MLK’s old stomping grounds. There are a lot of neighborhoods that are on their way back up and some that are already being gentrified. We didn't take many pictures but we did take a few of the car itself. 

 

After our tour, we ubered back and forth to Ponce Market. It is a relatively new food market just north of the Historic 4th Ward. It reminded us of the Boston Public Market but it is significantly more spacious and way hipster. We settled on burgers and then ventured over to the dessert hallway. Lindsay & I got cookie dough and Mom got gelato. All of us were very pleased. 

         

 

After lunch, we went back downtown to the Aquarium. I love fish and aquatic animals so I was excited to go to a good aquarium. (The one in boston is disappointing in my opinion). Geoff, our tour guide earlier, told us it is the second largest aquarium in the world.  It is very large (and it wasn't crowded). The aquarium is divided into different sections by type of habitat and there was a clear flow to each exhibit. Today, they opened a new puffin exhibit which we made sure to visit. The large fish tanks were incredible. One tank had 3 whale sharks and at least two really large stingrays, it was like Finding Nemo. Another tank had 3 beluga whales which were gorgeous. 

 

 After the aquarium and some down time at the hotel, we went to Southern Kitchen in Buckhead for dinner. Soooo good. We had biscuits, fried chicken, sweet potato grits, and some chocolate caramel pie for dessert. Going to bed now feeling 300 lbs heavier.