Atlanta, Georgia

We decided to visit Atlanta this time since winter is approaching we wanted to finish it up. So we had a bad experience in taking flights last time so thought of driving from VA to Atlanta. We got up early and somewhere 3:30am on Saturday we started our trip, four adults and one kid hit the i81S highway. Drive was good for 3-4hrs then rain started and when we go further it was pouring heavily. We took one break and continued, had breakfast in Mcd. So it was almost 12:30when we reached Swamy Narayana temple which was our first destination.


Swamy Narayana temple: The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta is the sixth BAPS traditional Hindu stone temple built outside India. It is also the largest Hindu temple of its kind outside of India. Its occupied almost 30acres. The temple is built by Italian marbles and Turkish limestones. The carvings and architecture looks so awesome and wonderful. I admire the beauty of the temple. They have built similar one in NJ and I almost visited 4 times. That temple also lovely and awesome but this looks bigger than that.

As per the update they have NJ's temple suppose to  be biggest one ans they almost acquired 160+ acres.
The canteen food was okay, nothing great but the sweets they sell in their shop was so delicious and I packed many of them. I felt like having sweets in India's decent shops.

World of Coco Cola
Now we thought of visiting World of cococola since it was almost 3:00pm when we start from temple. So we headed to World of Coco cola which is in Baker St. The World of Coca-Cola is a museum showcasing the history of The Coca-Cola Company that contains a host of entertainment areas and attractions, and is located in Atlanta, Georgia at Pemberton Place.The museum was located in a three-story pavilion and its entrance had a huge neon Coca-Cola sign (30 feet high and 26 feet wide). The tour started on the top floor and worked downwards, featuring approximately 1,000 Coca-Cola artifacts presented in chronological order, interactive exhibits such as a replica 1930s soda fountain, video presentations of Coca-Cola advertising over the years, and a 10-minute film called "Every Day of Your Life" about Coke around the world. One can taste more than 100 different varieties of Coke products from South America, North America, Europe and Asia continents. They have 4D show where they say they will reveal the secret formula which is a bluff..
So after the tour we went back to Hotel to check in since we tired whole day. At night we came back to see sky view and had few shots in pub as well.
Next day we checked out and went to Georgia Aquarium.
Georgia Aquarium:
Heard lot about this place, The aquarium is in downtown Atlanta on land donated by The Coca-Cola Company, The Georgia Aquarium contains tens of thousands fish and other sea creatures, representing several hundred species. The aquarium is the only institution outside of Asia housing whale sharks, which are kept in a 6.3-million-U.S.-gallon (24,000 m3) exhibit—the aquarium as a whole was designed around the whale shark exhibit. The aquarium's most famous specimens were four young whale sharks from Taiwan named Ralph, Norton, Alice, and Trixie.
The aquarium's animals are displayed in five galleries: Tropical Diver, Ocean Voyager, Cold Water Quest, River Scout, and Dolphin Tales. Each corresponds to a specific environment.
Next to River Scout is the AT&T Dolphin Tales gallery. This is the aquarium's newest addition (opened in April 2011) and houses the indoor dolphin stadium. The aquarium houses thirteen bottle nose dolphins, though this number fluctuates from time to time. The show lasts about 20 to 30 minutes and includes an informative/educational videos about the dolphins 30 minutes before the show. One should never miss this show. There are many more exhibits happening and I feel we should need whole day to go around to see all of them including 4D shows.
CNN Studio tour:
The CNN Center opened in 1976 as the Omni Complex, which was a development by Cousins Properties. The studio tour is informative to see how the news readers read the news and how the information or news getting from all over the world. What kind of monitors and cameras been used and all.