Continued from yesterday”¦ From there we went to the Coca-Cola(tm) Museum, located right next door to the Georgia Aquarium. We do not drink Coke, but it is a fascinating global brand name, and branding is something that is important for Eric’s work. So we decided to take a peek. After you buy your ticket, they take you into a room filled with Coca-Cola advertising paraphernalia spanning back to the earliest days of the product. It is a large room and it is crammed full of assorted posters, signs, and trinkets that all say Coca-Cola. Even the ceiling was full. They did a little trivia show, then ushered you into a theater to watch a movie. The movie was starred the little elf-like creatures who work in the coca-cola factory, carefully handcrafting every bottle of coke in a beautiful, lush, mountainous setting. The characters all talk about how much they love working for coca-cola. The propaganda factor was nauseating. We were relieved when they let us into the museum.

The museums really only had two display areas, both relatively small. One outlines the history of coca-cola and the company. Each room represents Continue reading →

Like last time, our last two days in town were spent frantically trying to finish up our respective projects, running a few last minute errands, and saying our goodbyes. Last night we took a red-eye flight from San Diego to Atlanta, Georgia. We arrived in Atlanta at 0630. We had a 10 hour layover in Atlanta. We had no idea what to do with ourselves for so long. We found out there is a train that goes from the airport into downtown. We decided to go into town and walk around and check out Atlanta. We went into the train station and consulted a map. On the map it listed some tourist attractions, including the world’s biggest aquarium. Hmmm, that sounded like a fun way to pass the day. It is one of the rare times we have played tourist in the last 15 months without Kosmos nearby (other was Hong Kong), and ironic that it involves sea life.

The train weaves between being above and below ground. From what we could see, Atlanta is very green in the suburb areas, with lots of inviting looking yards with big trees. The city itself looks much like any city center, a concrete jungle with tall buildings. It is clean, modern, and nice. Neither of us had ever been here, and we weren’t sure what to expect. We guess we didn’t expect it to be so urban. Our mental images of the South are of more historic cities with old plantation style buildings.

The aquarium is only a few blocks from the train stop. We were disappointed to see that it didn’t open for another hour and a half, so we parked ourselves at the Starbucks across the street. We probably should have walked around and checked out the city some more, but we were absolutely exhausted from the red-eye flight. We didn’t feel like walking, especially with our heavy carry on bags. We drank coffee in a desperate effort to stay awake enough to enjoy the aquarium.

The aquarium is quite impressive. As you Continue reading →