Thursday, January 31, 2019

The tour between the States "Atlanta is held,sir, with few casualties"

After the tour of the huge hotels, sports stadiums, and everything that had to do with peach tree(s) in all shapes and we arrived at the Ebenezer Baptist Church and headed right to the front door, figuring that the magnificent edifice had a rule of opening exactly 9:00 am every day.  So we stood there and waited, 9:00, 9:06, 9:10 (tour guides on the phone) 9:15 and then finally at 9:20 the doors opened, with no explanation, and so we dashed up the historic steps:


For about eighty years, the King family preached and serve their community from the pulpit of this edifice.  When you enter, eventually, you will hear the booming voice of MLKjr. preaching the gospel and his message of love.  This eternal treasure also had its sorrow as Mrs. Alberta (Mama [MLK's mother]) King and others were shot by a gunman in the sanctuary of the church in 1974.



With Dr. King's voice still singing in our ears, we crossed the street Auburn Avenue to take in the Peace Plaza , a tribute to Coretta Scott King's love of flowers.


We toured the National Park Visitor Center which followed King's career during the Jim Crow area, and to his greater involvement in civil rights from Birmingham jail to that night in Memphis.  For me, it's Doctor King's final speech in April 1968.  Its just a personal thing, telling me that my work, my tasks in life, my time (our) here is limited......

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. April 3rd 1968, Memphis, Tenn.
Dr. King and Mrs. King are united still in death as in life. And the spirit of their lives remain, just that right now (January 2019) its a little harder to hear it.  But it is there.

The bus was waiting, as we took too long actually reading and sharing our interest in the King exhibits, so a few mea culpas as we plopped into our seats.
After a light banter about we two, the youngest couple (60 and 61) being the last on board.  The tour guide grabbed the mike and announced its was time to head to lunch and tour of ....
This is.......

If you've got a good James Earl Jones impression, you'll know what to do here.
Anyway, we looked for a spot that would give 25 seniors a chance to get the building that where in  dwelt  the mighty                                                                            
And we stepped right into a food court that any medium sized shopping mall would have - 

Inside CNN Studio Tour check-in
The CNN Center also houses an Omni Hotel and features a large atrium food court frequented by local business employees, tourists, event goers from State Farm Arena and Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and conference attendees from the Georgia World Congress Center. CNN's multi-channel output to the world is broadcast on large screens around the center. Studio tours are available and include demonstrations of the technologies such as Chroma key and teleprompters, as well as visits to viewing galleries overlooking the newsrooms and anchors of CNN International, HLN, and CNN en Español.
The atrium escalator that is used to transport visitors on the CNN tour has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest freestanding (supported only at the ends) escalator in the world at 196 feet (60 m) long.[10] It was built for the theme park that once occupied the building, and it is part of the building's structure and could not be removed. MARTA rail service is provided to the CNN Center at the Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center station.

List of stores and restaurants[edited]



What, that's a food court? I searched around and there was not one place selling cheeseburger hot dogs. So our delicacies were Burger KIng and Starbucks.

The atrium escalator that is used to transport visitors on the CNN tour has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest freestanding (supported only at the ends) escalator in the world at 196 feet (60 m) long.[10] It was built for the theme park that once occupied the building, and it is part of the building's structure and could not be removed. Well, I' m sure Ted Turner and Co. made a few bucks on it.

I normally talk about the guided tour and do the oooohs and aaaahs but pretty much take the Johnson Space Center tour one, and remove anything interesting about TV news.  It's one of the tours that ends up in the souvenir shop.   I'd have rather gone back to Burger King.

There were a group of junior high students very excited about something and a CNN representative came down from on high, along with five people walking with him, and all their lanyards clicking together brought the celebrity person.  Consensus amongst the bus group was that 1.  We did not know this man of designer suits, perfect white teeth, and shoes that Trump must have donated to him.  2. The students were giddy as the CNN personality and the walking lanyards approached.  3.The students made an entry point for the celebrity and the walking lanyards told us to please make room, even though we were at least 40 ft away and mostly heading to the door and the bus.  I stopped at the Atlanta Braves shop, and picked up a Boston Braves cap.  They did not have any Milwaukee Braves or even 1974 Hank Aaron 715 homer caps.  That Braves cap was the first baseball cap I ever.  Fear not, as a Mets cap came soon after, and you could spot either caps anytime with yours truly underneath it. Also 
Atlanta, your team had one of the greatest all time baseball, and you don't have any baseball of except cheap t-shirts of the gaudy uniform of the early 1970s Braves:



This gentleman in the Braves #25 is, I believe, a pitcher named Danny Frisella who pitched for the Mets until 1972 when he was traded to the Braves for 2nd baseman Felix Millan and pitcher George Stone. He wore a few other uniforms in the big leagues later before, alas, suddenly hanging up his spikes and glove  when he was killed in a dune buggy accident on Jan 1 1977.  Danny, we hardly knew ye.

All right, the bus is full again and we're going to Coca~Cola! I've been looking forward to this stop because Jackie and I always hit the Coke store at EPCOT at Disney World, and sample a few flavors, because in EPCOT, there is about 10 versions of foreign Coke available to try.The same ones every year. Atlanta has a wider offering of Coke tastes, not only in drink but in the massive store where you can buy anything legal as long as the purchase has the Coke trademark.  But I digress...

In the Atlanta area Coke has two headquarters:

                   Corporate                                                                          Fun Place!




















Upon arrival at the fun place, you are whisked up a set of 50 stair steps, leaving most of our tour at the bottom of the  steps until some employee cranks open an elevator.  Once up the stairs we all were welcomed to the plant by a Mr. Happy Employee telling us what fun we will have looking for the original Coca Cola recipe (which legend says is actually in a bank vault somewhere in Atlanta or its environs) in the displays that will get you involved in the search for the recipe, which the employee (Mr. Happy) has already told you is not there and you won't find it so soothe yourself by having your picture taken with a standing polar bear with a long neck and scarf:

or hit the Coketown samples:


Here was my reason for going.  In the vast history of this bus tour, I have made mention that I am out of drugs and the two lattes from the Starbucks at CNN are long gone and powerless.  But before me are nozzles full of caffeine, caffeine, caffeine, and I dive into the throng of tasters who enjoy free small paper glasses of soda in semi ecstasy. Carnage would have raged about me (The battle of Peachtree in my head! "Save the stimulants, boys! No Yankee is going to take the secret from whatever bank is, uh, still around")

And then I am on the bus, eyes closed, head lolling, my Jackie having pulled me from overdosing on Krest the drink of Outer Mongolia.  And the bus was moving back to the hotel.  I closed my eyes for a few hours months until my left  arm spasmed, and we trudged to our rooms for prepare for dinner.


And even on my Coke high (not all that high), I still wanted to visit the Santa room ("the pause that refreshes"). I still remember those ads as a kid. I had a failed Coke high, how was this new restaurant going to help me keep it together.  It would if Judy (tour guide) and Doug (bus driver extrodinaire) were arguing about which direction the restaraunt was from the hotel.  I voted go north and not stop  until we hit route 84 in Binghamton.  We could roll into Albany a few hours later and hit Cracker Barrel right away.  But no one heard my mumbling, if I was even doing that.  Sometimes with MS you don't know.

Next on the list:http://www.jctkitchen.com/     Stay tuned. Thanks for reading.
Posted by at

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

The Tour Between The States. " Come on, everyone, lots to do!"

My pills are now officially gone.  I even was licking the inside of the holder of where lithium used to be.

No more pills. The spasms have returned, slightly but consistently there. A finger for no reason will flick, and, normally when I am holding something edible and attempting to place said food into my mouth for the sustenance I need, but just a flick of an index finger sends my cereal to my lap, a white drool of milk appears in my chin and is wiped away by me (hand) or Jackie (napkin).

Time to saddle up and hightail it around Atlanta.  But before we head to Georgia's capital, a word about the bus driver Doug.  If you can recall cigarette TV commercials from say, oh, the 1960s to the 1990s you might remember this fella on the right:




Actor Richard Farnsworth on the left, Mr. Marlboro on the right. Take the weary lined face of Richard (minus the hat) and place it on Mr. Cowboy in the other picture.  Old weary cowboy, got his gear and is waiting on someone.  That was our driver Doug, a slim cowboy, who rode a tour bus instead of a red roan, would patiently lean back on the side of whatever side of the bus was cooler when we tourists were touristing  and Doug could relax by leaning on his back on the cooler side of the bus away from the sun.  Wrap around sunglasses, blue jeans.  He didn't say much, but when he did it was loud, and mostly funny.  He had a great relationship with our tour guide Judy.  During the long wait due to the accidents I mentioned earlier, Doug would, if possible, find a Georgia State Trooper and get the info.  He'd bring back what he found out and then hash out the next move with Judy.  He was patient with we mere passengers, even asking the more seasoned travelers for advice on side roads, since many of the couples aboard had kids living in South and having learned the back roads long ago.  We all got where we needed to go,  and we did reach Atlanta while the sun remained percolating in the sky.

After a nice breakfast at the hotel (Thursday Morning,  May 17), we were joined by an Atlanta based tour guide and she presented the history of the "The Big Peach". Here's where you'll not find a large amount of Civil War battlefield remnants.  It's only in recent years that Atlanta has begun to honor the  soldiers of both sides and the battle in depth.  The map below shows the three major scuffles and you can see that the city was in danger of Union occupation.  Union General William T. Sherman put Atlanta under siege until September 2nd, 1864 when the city surrounded Union soldiers and artillery.

But Atlanta got a bit of a head start in the Reconstruction Era as General Sherman had decreed Atlanta was to be used as a military base, and instructed citizens to "hightail" it north or south.  Once the war was over, the citizens could return to a formerly occupied city to rebuild with some basics in place such as hospital.  General Hood of the retreating Confederate Army blew up his military works to give the Union soldiers a fireworks show of magnificent proportions.

And somehow in all this Rhett found Scarlett. All he needed was to yell "Scarlett" and poof! there she was!

Atlanta rose again the in post war years (note the nickname "the ATL"), and we're gonna see it all right after lunch.  But first we have a visit to make.



                                                   Battle of Atlanta, by Kurz and Allison (1888)

and the real thing..


So off we go to tour the city. We're brought around see the mighty mighty new stadiums...



What you see here is Mercedes Benz Stadium, which is a small hint on who the Falcons want at their games.  What those folks got was a 7 wins -9 losses for the just completed 2018 season.

The cost to build and complete the edifice was 1.6 Billion dollars. The following teams/events are annual events.They even gotta"peach" something in there, though it must be a mess after the game for the grounds group to gather up the pulp, skins, and the pits off the floor, hoping to get done before the Chick-fil-A game.

   
Atlanta Falcons (2017 - present)
Atlanta United FC (MLS) (2017–present)
Peach Bowl (NCAA) (2018–present)
Celebration Bowl (NCAA) (2017–present)
SEC Championship Game (NCAA) (2017–present)
Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game (NCAA) 2017–present

But there is one thing that there was unanimous admiration for. The Falcon descends:


Magnificent! The stadium opened in 2017, with the roof (that resembles a flower opening and closing its petals, probably peach tree). They're still working on it, had it working the last time I checked.  

Super Bowl 53 (LIII) will be at the stadium in February 2019.  The Falcons will not be there, alas.

The soccer team (Atlanta United FC) won the professional soccer/North American version of foot ball in December 2018.  I'm not sure if any Falcon players attended this game, but there were more fans in the stadium for Atlanta United championship win (73,019) than any Falcons game.  

All we had time for was a slow drive by for pictures, but fear not, for Atlanta has more Stadiums that you can count with either hand, such as:


This is Georgia State Stadium, also known as Centennial Olympic Park (1996), then as Turner Field 1997) as the home field for the Atlanta Braves baseball team (or, if you are NY Mets fan like me - Hell on Earth) and now home to the Georgia State Panthers.  The Braves now play in the poshy Sun Trust Park, which for which I remain grateful.

All I could think was I don't want to see Centennial/Turner/Georgia field ever again.  

Doug made the twist and turns of the Atlanta's small streets and arrived at a stop with a Catholic church on one side of the street a Baptist church, old but still mighty for when we walked into the voice that welcomed us was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s. And just as in Dallas, the call for a nation's return to its values and creed was silenced, left us just another body to bury.

Still, like the Eternal Flame in Arlington National Cemetery, we are reminded of Edward Kennedy's words in 2008: "the work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."[

More soon!
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)