Sunday, March 26, 2017
Those Mai Tais and the super-comfy bed made for a nice night of sleep and I got up around 9:00 in the morning feeling quite refreshed. Yes, sore from another day of hard walking (for my out-of-shape body), but refreshed nonetheless. I was also feeling a slight sting from a scrape on my left knee and a small cut on my right ankle. The only way I can imagine I would have sustained these small injuries would have been during the very bumpy roller coaster ride. I guess it was rougher than I thought.
My breakfast consisted of the leftover Checker's food (minus one burger which I kept in my bag) and a couple of in-room brewed coffees after which I gathered up the remains of my belongings, did a quick scan and made my way downstairs to check out.
I was given a receipt for my stay and it showed a zero balance as it should but it was only the original booking invoice which was paid for months ago on my BOA Visa. I asked the clerk about the $50 security deposit on my AMEX and he assured me it was taken off. (NOTE: As of this writing, it, along with two other mysterious charges from Hilton for around $12 each are still on the American Express card...we'll see if that corrects itself soon)
The bellman did accept my bag on hold as I told him I was flying out later so I made my way hands-free back to Peachtree and, avoiding the hated Death Escalator altogether, I waked out onto Peachtree Street and made my way down the hill towards the Georgia Aquarium.
At $42 I thought it was a bit steep but it seemed par for the course. Everything seemed expensive here. (Well, except for those Mai Tais, I thought those were a bargain) It turns out though that you got quite a bit for your ticket price.
The aquarium has multiple exhibits through out its huge two story building along with as many 4-D movies as you'd like (4-D movies, like Shreck 4-D and A Bug's Life as Universal and Disney examples are 3-D movies with a rigged-up theater to include scents, water sprays, bubbles and seat motion to the experience) the Ice Age movie I saw even had real falling snow effects. Plus there was a sea lion show, beluga whale feeding and a really good dolphin show.
The awesomely massive aquarium windows and a through the tank see-thru tunnel (even better than Sea World's) were the star attractions for sure. They also contained in those massive aquariums the largest sea creatures other than whales I've yet seen. Sea World may have the fact it's an entire theme park not just an aquarium going for it, but as far as aquariums on their own, this one kicks some butt.
After an entire afternoon at the aquarium I made my way through the nearby Centennial Olympic Park. This is the place where the 1996 Atlanta Olympics were held. I walked over to the CNN Headquarters to check out the studio tour but the sign said the next one wasn't for over another hour so I roamed the huge atrium/food court a bit and checked out (but did not ride) their massive escalator, apparently the longest in the world? What is it with Atlanta and escalators?
It was getting on near 5:00 so I walked back to the Hilton, got my bag and instead of dealing with the Peachtree Death Escalator, I walked down Peachtree Street to the Five Points station. And what did they have there? Another Death Escalator! Fuck.
I made it down, hopped on my train taking me back to the airport and hung out in Concourse D, ate my cold Big Buford that I'd packed away and people-watched 'till my flight time.
The flight back was really quick taking just over an hour and before midnight I was driving home.
Those Mai Tais and the super-comfy bed made for a nice night of sleep and I got up around 9:00 in the morning feeling quite refreshed. Yes, sore from another day of hard walking (for my out-of-shape body), but refreshed nonetheless. I was also feeling a slight sting from a scrape on my left knee and a small cut on my right ankle. The only way I can imagine I would have sustained these small injuries would have been during the very bumpy roller coaster ride. I guess it was rougher than I thought.
My breakfast consisted of the leftover Checker's food (minus one burger which I kept in my bag) and a couple of in-room brewed coffees after which I gathered up the remains of my belongings, did a quick scan and made my way downstairs to check out.
I was given a receipt for my stay and it showed a zero balance as it should but it was only the original booking invoice which was paid for months ago on my BOA Visa. I asked the clerk about the $50 security deposit on my AMEX and he assured me it was taken off. (NOTE: As of this writing, it, along with two other mysterious charges from Hilton for around $12 each are still on the American Express card...we'll see if that corrects itself soon)
The bellman did accept my bag on hold as I told him I was flying out later so I made my way hands-free back to Peachtree and, avoiding the hated Death Escalator altogether, I waked out onto Peachtree Street and made my way down the hill towards the Georgia Aquarium.
At $42 I thought it was a bit steep but it seemed par for the course. Everything seemed expensive here. (Well, except for those Mai Tais, I thought those were a bargain) It turns out though that you got quite a bit for your ticket price.
The aquarium has multiple exhibits through out its huge two story building along with as many 4-D movies as you'd like (4-D movies, like Shreck 4-D and A Bug's Life as Universal and Disney examples are 3-D movies with a rigged-up theater to include scents, water sprays, bubbles and seat motion to the experience) the Ice Age movie I saw even had real falling snow effects. Plus there was a sea lion show, beluga whale feeding and a really good dolphin show.
The awesomely massive aquarium windows and a through the tank see-thru tunnel (even better than Sea World's) were the star attractions for sure. They also contained in those massive aquariums the largest sea creatures other than whales I've yet seen. Sea World may have the fact it's an entire theme park not just an aquarium going for it, but as far as aquariums on their own, this one kicks some butt.
After an entire afternoon at the aquarium I made my way through the nearby Centennial Olympic Park. This is the place where the 1996 Atlanta Olympics were held. I walked over to the CNN Headquarters to check out the studio tour but the sign said the next one wasn't for over another hour so I roamed the huge atrium/food court a bit and checked out (but did not ride) their massive escalator, apparently the longest in the world? What is it with Atlanta and escalators?
It was getting on near 5:00 so I walked back to the Hilton, got my bag and instead of dealing with the Peachtree Death Escalator, I walked down Peachtree Street to the Five Points station. And what did they have there? Another Death Escalator! Fuck.
I made it down, hopped on my train taking me back to the airport and hung out in Concourse D, ate my cold Big Buford that I'd packed away and people-watched 'till my flight time.
The flight back was really quick taking just over an hour and before midnight I was driving home.