Ben was craving for Asian food after more than a week of western food. So, he decided to drive to a nearby Indian restaurant for dinner.

Driving in Altanta is not easy. The road is very wide. Six to seven lanes on each direction is quite the norm.

We started our meal with complimentary papadam and green chili chutney. The chutney was very spicy and sour.

Ben ordered a Chicken Vindaloo Thali. Thali is equivalent to combo; i.e. it came with rice, naan, a side vegetable, dal, yogurt and another tomato sauce and a gulap.

The Chicken Vindaloo was very sour and spicy. The vegetable was woody. (more…)

When we visited the Atlanta History Center, we were given tickets to the Margaret Mitchell House.

Margaret Mitchell is the author of the novel “Gone With The Wind”. I have never watch this movie legend and after I visited the Margaret Mitchell House, I made it a point to watch the movie. It’s a movie about the survivor of women during the American Civil War.

The staircase that Margaret Mitchell walked. We were told that she loved to rub the lion head for lucky charm.

We joined a guided tour who was led by a wonderful story teller. This is what we learned from her:

• Margaret Mitchell had 2 husbands; her 2nd husband, John was the best man of her first husband. In fact, at a point of time, she was dating both of them at the same time.
• Margaret Mitchell loved to dance.
• Margaret Mitchell was a Pulitzer Prize winner for the novel “Gone With The Wind”.
• Margaret Mitchell was a journalist for the Atlanta Journal.
• Margaret Mitchell was also known as Peggy.
• Margaret Mitchell was only 4 feet 11 inches tall.
• Margaret Mitchell wrote “Gone With The Wind” while she was house bound recovering from a foot injury.
• Margaret Mitchell lived from 1900 to 1949; she died of an automobile accident. (more…)

With the rain pouring, we had to go somewhere indoor. We decided to go for the Inside CNN Studio Tour.

The parkade was across the CNN building. There is no covered crossing for visitors. Parking was USD10.

The above is the longest free standing escalator which connects 8 floors.

The Inside CNN Studio Tour is covered in the Atlanta city pass. The tour is 55 minutes long and tour commences every 10 minutes.

The tour is not handicapped friendly as we need to walk a lot of stairs. No bathroom break during the tour. (more…)

We slept in and woke up at 9AM. The weather forecasted a thunder shower day.

Ben brought me to OK Cafe for a late breakfast. OK Cafe is a all day cafe.

During regular peak hours, there will be a long wait for a table. Since we came before the lunch crowd, there was no wait.

We decided to wait for 15 minutes to order from the lunch menu instead. We shared a thick chocolate milk shake while waiting. The server was so sweet that she served it in two glasses knowing we were going to share it. (more…)

Ben brought me to Mary Mac’s Tea Room for an early dinner. It’s just 4PM.

Mary Mac’s Tea Room serves authentic southern meal. It was officially named “Atlanta’s Dining Room” recently by the State of Georgia.

As it was still early for dinner, the restaurant was relatively quiet.

Ben had buttermilk while I had sweet tea for our drink.

Complimentary bread basket includes butter roll, corn bread and cinnamon buns. (more…)

The Atlanta History Center has a section on The Turning Point of the American Civil War.

Atlanta was the turning point of the American Civil War. The Atlanta Civil War started on 22 July 1864 and Atlanta lost it’s battle in September 1864. After which General Sherman ordered the town to be burnt down. Atlanta is referred to a phoenix as it rises from ashes.

There are more than 1400 original Union and Confederate artifacts, photographs, videos, etc in the DuBose Gallery.

More civil war exhibits. (more…)

The Metropolitan Frontiers has exhibits from Indian settlements to the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement.

The exhibits explore Atlanta’s story through rare objects, photographys, antique clothing, videos and hands-on displays. This is from the Rural Region exhibits.

Atlanta was originally called Terminus, because it lays at the end of the rail line. In 1843, it’s name was changed to Marthasville in honor of Martha Lumpkin, the daughter of then governor George Lumpkin.

The railroad stop then changed to “Atlanta”, possibly a feminine version of “Atlantic”, part of the railroad name. Another theory is it came from the middle name of Martha Lumpkin, “Atalanta”.

Nevertheless, the name Atlanta was officially adopted in 1845.

An antique automobile in the Transportation Center.

(more…)

We started day 3 with breakfast at the Waffle House. Unfortunately, Ben forgot to put back the memory card into the camera after downloading the previous day’s photo into his notebook. So, no photos for breakfast. After breakfast, we returned to the hotel to get the memory card.

Our first stop was the Atlanta History Center. The Atlanta History Center includes exhibits of historic houses, historic gardens, the American Civil War, Metropolitan frontiers, Centennial Olympic Games Museum, Bobby Jones, etc.

There are two farm house tour; Swan House and Smith Family Farm. We signed up for the Smith Family Farm tour because the Swan House was closed for renovation.

We came across a white hibiscus on the way to the Smith Family Farm. Hibiscus is the national flower of Malaysia but i don’t remember seeing a white one before.

Smith Family Farm tour begin on this front porch. It depicts the mid-nineteeth century way of life of an upper middle class family judging by the size of the house and the number of glass window pane it has. The glass window pane was taxed annually during that era. There is no photography permitted inside the house. (more…)

Ben decided to watch a baseball game at the Turner Field. It is something he wanted to do for a long time.

There are many parking lots near the stadium. The nearer to the stadium, the more expensive the parking fee. I remembered our parking fee was USD10. We saw some nearer parking lot fee was listed as USD15. There were some tailgating parties taking place in the parking lots.

Turner Field is the home of the Braves. We caught the last game of the season between Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals. (more…)

After the visit to the World of Coca Cola, we strolled over to the Centenial Olympic Park which is located on the south side of the World of Coca Cola and Georgia Aquarium.

The Centenial Olypmpic Park was built on a run down part of the town for visitors to the 1996 Centenial Olympic Games held in Atlanta. Now, it serves as a gathering spot for residents.

The layout of the 21 acres park; the largest downtown park developed in country in 25 years. The cost for this project was entirely from private sector donations in the form of commemorative bricks as seen on the above photo.

The statue of Pierre de Coubertin, father of the modern Olympic movement in the Centenial Olympic Park. (more…)