After enjoying a beautiful Southern Wedding and a quick tour of Nashville from my best friend’s younger brother we went back to Georgia to do a little sight-seeing. We stayed with Kyle’s aunt and uncle who live in the Atlanta area and took two full days to explore Atlanta. On our first day of exploration we hung out with Kyle’s cousin Nathan and his girlfriend Rebecca. Together we tromped through this little part of Atlanta and took a tour of CNN Studios and the World of Coca-Cola.
We used the Atlanta City Pass and since I’m an Avon Rep I received an extra $10 off per pass! If you ever visit Atlanta or any of the other affiliated cities I highly recommend the City Pass because you really do save money on common attractions. Our pass included 5 Atlanta attractions. In most cases you get bumped to the front of the line too!
Here we are posing in front of a water feature at the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park. Just a short walk away from CNN Studios and World of Coca-Cola.
Look Ma! I’m at CNN Studios! You see the big red CNN logo when you walk into the building.
At the end of the tour we stopped off at the gift shop and I saw this cool shirt. I’m a journalism major so I got a kick out if it. I ended up bringing home a shot glass with the CNN logo and Atlanta skyline. I like collecting shot glasses from places I visit.
The tour was okay–not very impressive to me. It was Memorial Day and they were broadcasting a live feed of President Obama speaking from Washington D.C. so the news anchor just sat there waiting for her cue to speak. Other people ooed and aahed over the tour guide showing them that weather broadcasters use green screens. The other people seemed very interested about the news room. It was just rows of cubicles with computers and people doing work. Fact checking, writing copy, checking websites and gathering news from affiliates–usual news room activity. I guess if I was not accustomed to this type of activity I would be more impressed. I actually felt bad peering in on these people as they toiled away while we all enjoyed our relaxing day off. I would hate to have crowds of tourists staring down at me as I tried to concentrate on writing copy!
Additionally, the tour guide had a bad attitude. She actually shushed people and stared people down if they were talking amongst themselves. She literally stopped mid-sentence and just stared hard at this couple talking quietly. She was also very rude to people with fidgety children. There are polite ways to ask people to remove their noisy children and nice ways of asking people to cease their discussions.
Anyway, next on our adventure was the World of Coca-Cola!
Rebecca, Nathan, me and Kyle posing in front of a vintage Coca-Cola delivery truck.
Guests are first taken into a room full of Coca-Cola memorabilia, like this giant bottle opener and weird character from a strange film they show guests. If I recall correctly the short film they showed us next was inspired by a Super Bowl commercial. It’s basically a weird long musical commercial for Coca-Cola.
Check out all this Coca-Cola stuff…one man’s junk is Coca-Cola’s treasure…
The best part is the tasting room of course! It is sectioned off into regions Latin America, North America, Asia and Europe. You get a recyclable plastic cup and start tasting away!
This is the selection of Latin America Coca-Cola brands.
This is the legendary “Beverly” Coca-Cola brand from Italy. It is DISGUSTING. But I had to take a sip just to say I tried it! What’s the point in exploring new places if you don’t get the full experience? I can’t even describe the flavor…maybe close to a skunk’s spray. Yea, that bad.
Myself and Kyle tasting some foreign Coca-Cola brands. I don’t remember which one exactly we are trying out in these photos.
We each got to take home one complimentary freshly bottled Coca-Cola!
We walked across Pemberton Place to the Pemberton Cafe–all aptly named after the creator of Coca-Cola, pharmacist Dr. John S. Pemberton. We grabbed a light snack. I tried out a Coca-Cola muffin, it was good and had a chocolatey flavor.
This photo of Kyle was taken the next day when we visited the Georgia Aquarium but I’m including it here since it is Coca-Cola related. This is a statue of Dr. John S. Pemberton.
The World of Coca-Cola was an enjoyable way to spend the hot humid day. I bet this would be like the Disneyland of Coca-Cola stuff to the avid Coca-Cola fan.
Anyone else ever visit either the CNN Atlanta Studios or World of Coca-Cola before? Did you try the Beverly?
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moniqueis 