Atlanta, Georgia

Even though I was born and raised in Southern California, and that I now live in ČR, I still consider Atlanta home.  Back in 1996, right before the Centennial Olympic Games, I went to Atlanta for a two-week vacation and never left.  I stayed there for 13 years before moving to Euroland.  

 
Atlanta is the capital and largest city in Georgia.  Georgia was the 4th of the original 13 colonies.  The metro Atlanta is the 9th most populated in the USA, with around 5.4 million people.  Over 5 million people - that's more than than half the population of ČR and more than the entire population of Slovakia.  Atlanta is also the unofficial capital of the South.

The Peach State

Before European settlers arrived in north Georgia, the area was inhabited by Creek and Cherokee Indians.  Atlanta was founded in 1847.  It was originally called Terminus because it was at the intersection of two railroad lines.  It was later renamed Marthasville in honor of the daughter of a former governor.

During the Civil War, Georgia fought for the Confederacy.  In 1864, the Union Army, under the command of General Sherman, laid a 4-month siege of the city known as the Battle of Atlanta.  After Atlanta surrendered, Sherman ordered the civilian population to evacuate and then burned the city to the ground.  Only churches and hospitals were spared.

The city rose from the ashes in a big way.  Today, the Atlanta economy is diverse and is the 6th largest in the country, as well as, the 15th largest in the world.


If you're not used to Atlanta then getting around can be interesting.  Peachtree Street is the city's main street.  People joke that half of the streets are named "Peachtree something or other".  There are 71 streets in Atlanta that have "Peachtree" in the name including: Peachtree Road, Peachtree Lane, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Plaza, Peachtree Memorial Drive, North Peachtree Road, Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, and the list goes on and on. 

I love Atlanta!  I've always thought that it is a great place to live but never really thought of it as a tourist destination.  Even though it is home to the world's busiest airport. 


For people who have never been to Atlanta there really is a lot to see such as the Georgia Aquarium (the largest in the world), Stone Mountain, the Cyclorama, the Atlanta History Center, World of Coca-Cola, the Fernbank Museum, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, the High Museum of Art, the Fabulous Fox Theater, the Woodruff Arts Center, CNN, the Margaret Mitchell House, Piedmont Park, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Centennial Olympic Park, Six Flags Over Georgia, Turner Field, Oakland Cemetery, Kennesaw Mountain, and the list goes on and on.  So maybe, it's more of a tourist city then I thought.

Steven is trying to be the perfect host and tour guide like he was when Claudia and Norbert visited Atlanta earlier this year.  The difference being that I don't need to go visit the Governor's Mansion or check out Phipps Plaza.  I'm all about just relaxing and hanging out with my best friend.  So far we've took a tour of the Oakland Cemetery which I had never done before and we've got a bit of shopping planned for later.  The only thing that I absolutely have to do is visit Georgia State University to pick up a notarized copy of my transcripts and then take them to the courthouse for an apostille in order to renew my Czech work permit next year.

Here's a short video I found out on YouTube that talks about a few of the Atlanta highlights.