TwoHelp Atlanta

Pedestrian on the loose in Atlanta

January 10, 2006 on 10:28 pm | In Uncategorized |

So it turns out that Atlanta is pretty car-oriented. In fact, I found out from a guy I’m working with that many of the newer sidewalks in Atlanta were actually designed as crash zones for cars, not as walkways for people. So my weekend in Atlanta, as a pedestrian in search of a city, was interesting in a I-still-haven’t-found-what-I’m-looking-for sort of way. I feel like I spent a lot of time walking on sidewalks where no one else had walked that day. Or maybe that week. And maybe I was just self-conscious but I felt like everyone else, in their cars, was looking at me like I was crazy. But it was a beautiful weekend and so I spent a lot of time wandering around, trying to find the city of Atlanta, and all I saw, wherever I went, was a nearly deserted city. I’m sure, with a car (and a native Atlantan), I could have found some “hot spots” but instead people directed me to the mall; and it isn’t it just my luck - two very large ones are within walking distance of the hotel I’m staying in. So I kept walking, and found… not much.

Sunday was a bit more interesting. I went to the new Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest aquarium. It opened in November 2005. There I discovered where all the children in the city were. But once I maneuvered my way around all of the strollers it was fabulous. The stars were two young whale sharks, Ralph and Norton.

They were amazing. I’d heard about whale sharks while learning to dive in Thailand, but at the time I was secretly happy that I didn’t see any because they were so big and frankly, I was a bit uncertain about how I would react to one while I was 40 ft underwater for the first time. But now, despite their size (an adult male can grow up to 60 ft. long), I’d really like to see one in the open water! The other bit surprise was the leafy sea dragon… I have never seen anything like it before, nor did I know anything like it even existed. It was like one of the crazy, wonderful, quirky creatures out of “Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” So the good news is, there is one good thing in Atlanta - and all of the local three year olds are in the know. As long as there’s adequate parking for their strollers.