Today has been a special day. We saw Kermit. The real Kermit from our childhoods.
We started the day by driving downtown to the World of Coca-Cola. Coke was invented in 1886 by a pharmacist named Dr John Pemberton. He started out selling it from a soda fountain in his pharmacy in Atlanta. The first year he sold $50 worth of Coke but his expenses were $70.
In 1887 John Pemberton sold the formula to another pharmacist named Asa Candler for $2300. Candler was also a businessman & Coke sales increased dramatically so by the late 1890s, Coke was America's highest selling soft drink.
Candler wanted to concentrate on soda fountain sales even though he was being urged to bottle it. In 1899, 2 attorneys bought the rights to bottle Coke for most of America, for $1.
The exhibtion was interesting because we learned the history of Coke and there were many old Coke products, advertisements & branded goods.
What I found interesting was the fact that the Coca-Cola company only sell the syrup to the bottling companies. The bottlers then add sweeteners & water. A lot was said about Coke being a consistent flavour no matter where in the world you bought it but I don't agree. Diet Coke in Australia tastes a whole lot nicer than Diet Coke in America.
A new exhibtion in there is The Vault. Much is made about the secrecy of the formula & there is rumour that only 2 people know the formula but they only know half each & aren't allowed to travel together. We saw the locked vault where the recipe is kept.
In 1985, the Coca-Cola Company changed the recipe and released the 'new' Coke. While taste tests had shown consumers preferred the taste of the new Coke, they were unprepared for the outrage from the general public. They gave in to pressure & the 'new' Coke was removed from sale after 79 days.
After we had designed our own labels, we entered the tasting room. There were areas for Europe, Asia, North America, Africa etc. Each had several soda fountains containing the drinks Coke makes in each area. There were over 200 different flavours. We tasted a lot but not 200. Most of them were disgusting. Robyn liked a kiwi/mango one & I liked a ginger beer type drink.
Afterwards we couldn't stop burping. There were also Coke Fountains that had their standard drinks in - Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, Fanta etc. When you clicked on one, it showed you all the flavours available in that brand & you could taste them. For example, Diet Coke had versions with lime, strawberry, cherry and orange.
As we left the exhibition, we were given a bottle of Coke.
The Coke tour took a couple if hours & then we went to the Centre for Puppetry Arts. We had read on trip advisor that there was a Muppet exhibition on. When we first arrived, there were young school kids everywhere. Thankfully they were finishing up & we soon had the Muppets all to ourselves. There was some very interesting information about Jim Henson, his vision & how he created The Muppet Show & Movie. He was incredibly gifted.
Best of all were the Muppets. Big Bird was out in the foyer. He is very big. As we went through the door, Kermit was there sitting in his director's chair. Further in was the Swedish Chef, who was Jim's favourite Muppet because he could be outrageous with his language. There was also Dr Teeth and Ernie. There were a couple of the dog Muppets who I don't know very well & the puppet of Jim Henson who occassionally made an appearance as part of a country music group.
Out in the foyer were sketches & photos from various workshops. Some of the Fraggle Rock puppets were there too.
We felt so lucky to have seen the exhibition. But, we will have to go back in a few years time. The centre is building the Jim Henson wing which will house hundreds of the Muppets & other memorabilia. It is due to open in 2014.
After leaving the puppetry centre, we went to the Martin Luther King Jr historical site. This goes for a few blocks & contains a visitors centre, his old childhood home, the church his family attended & worked in, a park & the Freedom Centre.
We went into the visitors centre & walked around the main exhibits in the centre section. A lot if the information was the same that we had heard in Montgomery so we went across to the Freedom Centre. At the back of it is a long Reflecting Pool. It surrounds the tomb of Martin Luther King Jr & his wife. There is also an eternal flame.
It was a very historical, moving & important area.
We finished there about 2pm so drove around a bit to find somewhere to have lunch. We ended up close to the hotel. The suburb we are staying in is called Buckhead. It is a very wealthy area and the residential streets are full of beautiful multi-million dollar mansions.
Around the main business/shopping streets are buck statues. They are all decorated differently & are a bit of fun.
We asked at front desk about catching the train to the baseball tonight. It turned out to be very easy. The game was at the Atlanta Braves homeground called Turner Field. The Braves were playing the Washington Nationals.
The train took us to a major station & then we boarded a bus which took us straight to the stadium.
We got there early to look around the exhibits & stores that are around the main field level. There wasn't as much here as there was at the Brewers field in Milwaukee.
We had good seats - just near the home teams shed. The Braves symbol is an Indian tomahawk and their slogan is 'do the chop'. The crowd all make a chopping motion with their arms when a particular piece of music is played. It looked very effective with everyone right around the stadium doing it. One of the team is retiring this year after 19yrs so there were lots of signs & shirts dedicated to him - Chippy Jones.
The game was much more efficient than other games we have seen. There were far less fouls hit & hardly any team huddles holding up play. It was much shorter without all the palava.
The Braves won 2-1 in the last innings and the crowd went wild.
We found where to get the shuttle from after the game & that was also very efficient. Everybody just got in 4 lines, 2 buses would pull up and fill from the front & back doors. Once they were full they would leave & 2 more buses would pull up.
Back at the station there was a bit of a wait for the train. We were travelling blind as there was no information on the station so we ended up on the wrong train. We just had to go back one station for the right one.
Before we left for the baseball, we had told the man at the front desk the blind in our room wouldn't roll down. It seemed the pulley thing had come off its track. He said he would send someone to fix it while we were out. When we got back it hadn't been fixed. We had the exact same problem yesterday.
I am not a big fan of these hotels where being trendy is more important than functionality. And, we have to pay for WiFi & only one of us can use it. Not impressed.
My wallet arrived this morning - overnight UPS from Miami. Just in time as we drive to Nashville tomorrow & are going to the Grand Ole Opry tomorrow night. I have to show the credit card I booked the tickets with to pick them up. Now I have it.