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A visit to Atlanta, Georgia – United States of America

December 7th, 2010

I had a chance to visit the United States of America this year, on a business trip.

It was an exciting affair, for a guy who have always been in the region of Asia.


Click Photo to enlarge: View of the Downtown Atlanta overseeing the CNN headquarters, Centennial Olympic Park, Georgia Dome, and Georgia Aquarium.

The city of Atlanta (ATL) is the capital city of the State of Georgia (GA).

Metro Atlanta or the metropolitan area of Atlanta is the ninth largest in the US, inhabited by more than 5.4 million people.

Atlanta contains the world headquarters of such large corporations as The Coca-Cola Company, AT&T Mobility, the Cable News Network (CNN), Delta Air Lines, United Parcel Service (UPS) and Turner Broadcasting.

Atlanta has the country’s fourth-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies and more than 75 percent of Fortune 1000 companies have business operations in the metropolitan area


Click Photo to enlarge: View of the Downtown Atlanta taken from Westin Hotel’s Sun Dial Restaurant.


Click Photo to enlarge: Centennial Olympic Park.

Centennial Olympic Park is a 21 acre (85,000 m²) public park located in downtown Atlanta.

Atlanta played host to the Summer Olympics in 1996.


Click Photo to enlarge: View of buildings from Centennial Olympic Park.

As amazing as hosting the Olympics, the Centennial Olympic Park, like most of the public attractions in Atlanta are made possible by donations.
The estimated $75 million in development costs of the park came entirely from private-sector donations – contributions in the form of commemorative bricks, funds raised by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and local philanthropic foundation grants.


Click Photo to enlarge: One of the many entrances to the Centennial Olympic Park.

Centennial Olympic Park is the largest downtown park in the US developed in the last 25 years.


Click Photo to enlarge: Directions to I-75 and I-85.

There are three major interstate highways converge in Atlanta; I-20 runs east to west across town, while I-75 runs from northwest to southeast, and I-85 runs from northeast to southwest.


Click Photo to enlarge: MARTA station near to the Georgia Dome, Philips Arena, and CNN Center.

The MARTA rail system has a station in the airport terminal, and provides direct service to Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, and Sandy Springs.


Click Photo to enlarge: MARTA train.

Do you know that Atlanta’s airport, the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic?
With such reputation, do expect a thorough scan from the airport officials to gain entry too. 🙂


Click Photo to enlarge: Autopay lane of a highway toll, accepting coins.

The southern section of Georgia 400 (from I-285 to I-85) was the last section to be constructed, and is the only active toll road in Georgia.

Atlanta is mostly encircled by Interstate 285, a beltway locally known as “the Perimeter” which has come to mark the boundary between the interior of the region and its surrounding suburbs.

The I-285 highway is very heavily traveled, and portions of the highway always slow, sometimes to a crawl, during rush hour.

The best transport option available is MARTA, and if you really need to drive, and if it’s rush hour, do try to avoid certain stretch of the I-285, especially the downtown area.


Click Photo to enlarge: Downtown Atlanta highway.

Click Photo to enlarge: View of a open space car park of an outdoor event, the Renaissance festival.

Atlanta is a good destination for vacation, and one thing that I was grateful to have with me then was the Atlanta CityPASS, allowing me to visit six most popular attractions conveniently, and a few without the long queues too.

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