AT THE GEORGIA AQUARIUM

Housing thousands of species of marine life in over 10 million gallons of water, the Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the Western Hemisphere. Located across the street from Centennial Olympic Park and right next to World of Coca-Cola, the aquarium is right in the heart of downtown Atlanta. The aquarium was the main reason we took our experimental weekend trip to Atlanta.

The area in between the aquarium and World of Coca-Cola is a lovely park called Pemberton Place...named after the inventor of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company donated the land that the aquarium was built on.

And what is there to see in the aquarium...?

Gorgeous coral formations...

Jelly fish...

But the main attraction of the aquarium is its enormous over 6-million gallon exhibit which amazingly houses four (yes, 4!) whale sharks, a swordfish and multiple giant manta rays. The aquarium is the only institution outside Asia which has whale sharks. And they are HUGE!

How about this swordfish? I'd never seen one in person...

And the manta rays, fascinated by the divers' air bubbles, swam in 360 degrees circles in and around the bubbles...

So much else...from delicate seahorses, some of which hang upside down by their tails...

Hundreds of brilliantly-colored fish in all sizes and shapes...

A rare albino alligator...

And adorable penguins...

A benefit of our weekend trip was our aquarium tickets were included in a package deal at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Atlanta. This Marriott is within easy walking distance to the aquarium, and it is located near many popular restaurants. Check out the hotel's website for package deals which may include tickets to various Atlanta sites.

To read my post about our stay at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, click here.

For more information on the Georgia Aquarium, click on its website here.

Thank you for visiting.

A Great Europe Trip Planner

All photos were taken by me at the Georgia Aquarium in August, 2016. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

ATLANTA STREETCAR: ONLY $1.00 TO RIDE!

On my last post about our quick weekend trip to Atlanta, I gave you a brief tour of Centennial Olympic Park. Since our flight home on Sunday wasn't until late afternoon, we took the opportunity to walk back down to Centennial Olympic Park. It's only a 4-block walk to the park, and the weather on that Sunday morning was perfect.

As we walked through the park I noticed a 2-car tram-like street car stopped right across the street. Our progress through the park led us over to the SkyView Atlanta Ferris Wheel...

so I took the opportunity to walk over to the tram stop to see what it was. I asked a woman who was working there where did the tram traveled to and how much it cost. She said a complete circuit of the tram route took about 30 minutes, and it only cost $1.00 to ride. We had about another hour to fill before we needed to check out of the hotel so we decided to take a ride.  I mean, for $1.00, what did we have to lose, and it would give us a chance to see a little more of Atlanta.

It turns out the Atlanta Streetcar system is about 2.7 miles long and consists of 12 different stops in the heart of downtown Atlanta. It connects the Atlanta visitor from the area of Centennial Park to the Martin Luther King historical area.

The most famous stop on the route is of course the King Historic District stop.  Here across the street from the tram stop are both of the famous Ebenezer Baptist Churches:

The original church where Dr. King preached...

And the new church which was dedicated in 1999...

Within a block or two of these two churches are both Dr. King's birth home and the gravesite of Dr. King and his wife. I am really disappointed in my lack of research regarding this area. I had absolutely no idea that this historic area was so close to the area we were staying in. Well, a good reason for another quick weekend trip to Atlanta.

Thank you for visiting.

A Great Europe Trip Planner

All photos were taken by me during our visit to Atlanta in August, 2016. Unauthorized use is prohibited.