Atlanta and Savannah

We spent the majority of last week in Atlanta, staying with friends while we waited for our housing in Savannah to become available. I had never been to Atlanta, so it was definitely interesting to me to see another large city.

One of the first things we saw as we drove into town was a giant peach. It sat atop a tower, and apparently there are quite a few across the town. Peaches are a big deal in Atlanta (not really that much of a surprise), and there are apparently quite a few streets named Peachtree as well.

We did not really visit a lot of the tourist traps (like the Coke Museum), but did see quite a few things. It was interesting to see what buildings had been used for the Olympics in 1996, and the torch platform is still there to this day. Our friend Audrey gave us a brief driving tour of the city, and the downtown as well. The city definitely seems like it would be interesting to explore over time, but honestly it was just nice to hang out with friends from college.

One of the places we did visit while there was the Cyclorama. They don't allow pictures to be taken in there, but it was still a very interesting place. They are a museum to the Civil War in general, but specifically to the Battle of Atlanta in 1864. They have a lot of maps and historical pictures from the battle, but their crown jewel is the 3-story mural depicting the battle. The mural is on the rounded walls of a theatre that was built specifically to show the battle. There is seating inside the room, which rotates in time with a narrator telling the story as well.

After leaving Atlanta, we stayed for one night in a hotel on Hilton Head Island. When I looked at the map to book the hotel, it appeared to be pretty close to where we wanted to be. Whoops. It was not terribly far, but we must have passed at least half a dozen hotels with the same group along the way.

We didn't explore the Island too much, simply because we wanted to get situated at our new apartment on Friday. We're planning to head back there sometime while we are here.

After getting situated in Savannah, we did some exploring this weekend, and I'm hoping to have that written up in the next couple of days. The city is extremely interesting, and we're really enjoying it so far.