Visit to Downtown Atlanta

I went for a visit to downtown Atlanta today and it was an interesting journey. The first stop was Underground Atlanta but it was closed. There were no signs posted as to why, but there were railings blocking all the entrances. So, I walk down Peachtree Street to Woodward Park and wouldn't you know it there was an event going on.

They had a small stage with a loud DJ and he was kicking out the jams. I walked through the crowd past the stage where a long set of tables were set up with food and I was able to happily grab a plate of barbecue chicken, with macaroni salad, rice, a large piece of watermelon, 3 cookies, and a bottle of water.

The event was a motorcycle group sponsoring a giveaway of free food and drinks to the homeless. On the Edgewood Avenue side which was closed off by a couple of police cars, there were 2 huge barrels cut in half containing racks full of chicken being smoked by a couple of big muscular men. There was enough there to feed an army.

The crowd was big but you could see that everyone was being fed and they still had enough to pump out more chicken in huge aluminum pans. One thing about Woodruff Park is there's plenty of shade, so I sat there for a while and watched the show which was mostly people dancing and eating. Then I realized I had to go to the bathroom and there were no bathrooms in sight. So, after eating, I finally moseyed on up the road heading towards the CNN center. I went up Luckie Street towards the giant Ferris Wheel they call Sky-view Atlanta, to where it dead-ends into the Centennial Olympic Park.

The Main Entrance into Centennial Park had the big logo for the Olympics, the 5 colored rings, displayed and there were people taking pictures up against it as a backdrop. It was funny watching people climb up on the rings trying to hold steady while their pictures were being taken. Of course, there were bathrooms there which I found right away. It’s too bad there were none at Woodruff Park. In California, every park had bathrooms. I wonder if it’s something planned to keep the homeless from lingering too long.

Right outside Centennial Olympic Park if you go across Baker Street to the north, you will see the Georgia Aquarium to your left as well as the Coca-Cola Museum on the right and the Civil Rights Museum straight ahead. The line at the Coca-Cola museum was three times as long as the Aquarium and there was no line at all at the Civil Rights Museum, only a couple of people were buying tickets at the box office. It demonstrated a very good reflection of our society’s priorities. Most people would rather see how Coca-Cola invented his drink, some are interested in marine life, but hardly anyone wanted to see the struggles of the civil rights movement under Dr. King.

 

I didn’t go to any of the exhibits or museums. It had been a long day of walking in the hot Atlanta sun and I was ready to go back to the air conditioning and comfort of my room. I fully intend to go back soon and visit each site as well as the CNN center to the south of the Olympic park. Downtown Atlanta has much to offer.