Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I, World of Coca-Cola Part II.

 Today we finish up our tour of the World of Coca-Cola here in Atlanta, Georgia.  Last week, I left you with us visiting the awesome polar bear in residence.  He was such a hoot and so friendly!  We all had a blast playing with him – and I think he took a great liking to Jean.  I also think with enough soft whispers in his little polar bear ear, Jean might have been able to take him back home with her.  Then again, that would be a hard one to explain to Customs… you think?

After we finished with the polar bear, we went to explore a 4-D Theater.   The title of the film was The Search for the Secret Formula.  You got these really neat glasses to wear while watching the film.  Now remember we said 4-D. Thankfully, we went with Bill and Jean and got in the line of the non-moving section seats.  That was a most excellent move because let me tell you something, once you watch something in 4-D you will be astonished.  The seats moved and rocked like you wouldn’t believe to the
movie.  At one time, water was lightly sprayed on the audience.  And with the glasses on watching the movie, people were ducking and dodging the things coming from the film.  You can’t miss this movie – you have to watch it and experience the 4-D effects.  Way to go World of Coca-Cola for this awesome show.

After the film, we were thirsty.  The bottles of free coke they gave us at the beginning of the tour were starting to wear off.  And hey, this was the best of time.  Now we were going to the Taste It part of the tour – something my mom couldn’t wait to try.  They had freestyle drink machines set up all over this room with over 100 different Coca-Cola drinks from all over the world.  You could taste as many as you wanted from anywhere – Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America.  Some of the drinks were:

• Beverly. Introduced in Italy in 1969, Beverly is a non-alcoholic aperitif that is typically consumed before meals. Because of its distinctive taste, it is one of our most popular, must-try drinks.  This was a high consensus in our group of no thank you.
• Bibo Candy Pine-Nut. This African favorite is part of a fruit-flavored line of drinks. Bibo Pine-Nut tastes of pineapple and coconut.  This one wasn’t too bad.  Daddy really liked it.
• Fanta Pineapple. This sparkling beverage from Greece imparts a sweet and juicy pineapple taste. The pineapple (commonly known to Grecians as “ananás”) is quite a treat for Europeans, often imported from tropical regions.  This one was mom’s favorite.
• Guaraná Kuat. Introduced in Brazil in 1997, the beverage was named after an Amazonian Indian sun god. Guaraná Kuat (pronounced “Kwatch”) tastes of fruity guaraná berries, similar to ginger ale with a mild berry twist.  Um… no.

So you see this was just a few of the different flavors from around the world that you could try.  Some tasted fantastic while others were like how do they drink this?  Afterwards, on the way out of the tour going into the store, you got a souvenir glass bottle of coke.

Now, the Coca-Cola store.  Some peeps – cough cough – had way too much fun in the store.  Bill was trying to find a good hat to wear for those cold snowy days and nights in Canada.  What do you think about this one my friends?

Do you think it would keep him warm?

Of all the hats to choose, this one was his favorite.  I kind of dig the polar look and the nose on this hat though.  I think it brings character – a fun aspect if you will.

On the other paw, all of the kids in the neighborhood would be screaming for cover when they see daddy outside.  Look at the get up he went with – shaking my head.  These two.  What will we do with them?

So my friends, that concludes the tour of the World of Coca-Cola.  Did you have fun?  Did you learn anything (other than Jim and Bill are crazy?) that you didn’t know?

Stay tuned for next week to find out where these crazy peeps went to eat… and the GPS hang out that had everyone laughing.

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day. World of Coca-Cola Part I.

Today, we are continuing our tour that we went on at the World of Coca-Cola right here in Atlanta, Georgia.  The next part of our tour goes into the Miles of Refreshment of the building.  This part of the tour highlights the creation of the original formula and how it might have looked stirring it up in the bowl.  Cool huh?

Although all of the tour is interesting, this part was really awesome to my everyone.  Just wait until you see some of these pics.

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This tour even had a replica of an old soda fountain and what it might have looked like serving Coca-Cola.  Can you imagine pulling up your chair to the bar and ordering a real Coca-Cola back in the day?   I just hope that the guy serving the Coke loosens up a bit – he’s kind of cold in this picture.  Snorts with piggy laughter.  

But at last, this soda fountain dates back to the 1880’s and is said to be one of the oldest artifacts here at the World of Coca-Cola.

This is a 1939 Chevrolet delivery truck from where – can you guess it?  Did you say Buenos Aires, Argentina?  You would be right.  And did you know that this delivery truck is so big that the attraction had to be built around it to fit in the attraction.  But I think it adds a lot.

I think personally these old trucks had flare.  Have you seen the newer trucks out there – they are red.  I kind of like the yellow.  What do you think?  Do you like the long red trucks or do you think we need the yellow one?

Squeals – you gotta check this out my friends.  This part of the tour also housed the sofa from the show American Idol.  Have you ever watched American Idol and seen the red couch that everyone sits on while they are being interviewed after singing their songs?

Guess who saddled up to the sofa and just had to get their picture taken?  You guessed it – mom/dad.  Aren’t those two just crazy?  And that couch was hilarious.  Once you sat in it, it sucked you up to the floor.  I guess it’s had too many butts on it from American Idol – it seemed broken… well so says daddy.  And mom – snorts – she needed assistance getting up off the sofa.  Thank goodness Bill was close by. Mom was worried for a few minutes that they would have to call the Jaws of Life out to the World of Coca-Cola to get her off of the sofa – snorts with piggy laughter.  That’s my mommy!.

In this gallery, there are over 1,000 artifacts.  Here are some more for you to look at:  Olympic Torches from all over the World and the different Coca-Cola drink machines.

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After this part of the tour, you then go on a short tour of the bottling process.  It shows you exactly how everything is all packaged up nicely and delivered to stores around the world.  But one of our favorite parts came after this.  It was where we got to meet the Polar Bear – oh my!  Now this was great fun my friends.  Look at these pics!  Can you tell that everyone had a snort of a great time?  And that my friends is where we are going to end this week.  Join us again next week for the finish of the World of Coca-Cola tour and find out where everyone went to dinner – you don’t want to miss that… food porn!

 

Travels in the South

Welcome back my friends to another edition of Travels in the South.  We have been talking about our visit with our great friends Bill and Jean from Canadian Cats.  If you have missed the previous editions, please check them out here:  Red Lobster; Fogo de Chao; Stately Oaks; Spa Day.

Have you been having fun enjoying our visit together?  We had so much fun visiting and we hope that fun is showing through our weekly postings.  Today, we are going to share a tour that we went on at the World of Coca-Cola right here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Can you believe that mom/dad grew up here in the south and had never been to this facility and tour?  Shakes piggy head.  It takes visitors to visit all of our local places.  So funny!

And check out the picture to the left of the entrance to the World of Coca-Cola.  That’s a giant top of a coke bottle that is on the outside.  we thought that was totally cool.

After the tickets were purchases, mom and Jean kind of got side-tracked.  They saw one of the trash
receptacles that I do believe Jean wanted to take home with her to put in her garden.  Snorts with piggy laughter.  It is kind of neat huh?

Now with the admission of the facility, you really do get a lot of “bonuses”.  For instance, as soon as  you pay admission and go into the waiting room for the tour, you get free coke (diet, regular, sprite or coke zero).

Now that is so totally cool.  These freebies were in aluminum type bottles – even more neat.

Once the tour starts, you enter into the ‘loft’ area of the building.  This houses history items of Coca-Cola throughout the ages.  Funny story – while we were waiting for the young man to begin his speech in the loft area, Jean opened her free coke – you know the ones we got when coming on the tour.  Unfortunately when she opened her bottle, it spewed all over a man in front of us.  Lowers head – we were so embarrassed.  Of course, we all apologized profusely and began talking to the man and his family.  They were visiting all the way from Saudi Arabia – can you believe that?

Do you recognize some of these older advertisements with Coke?  There are signs in the loft area from all over the world that advertises Coke.  Some we had seen and some we had no idea about.  It was so totally cool to see these.

And do you remember the advertising with the Coca-Cola polar bear?  Do you know the history of the bear?  The polar bear first debuted in a Coca‑Cola advertisement in France in 1922.

And you ask yourself – why a polar bear?  It was to let people know that even if the weather was cool outside, coke was still the right choice in their drinking delight.  Did you know that?

After a short speech from a Coca-Cola associate in the loft, then you go into one of the theaters where you see a short movie on Moments of Happiness.  After this movie, it’s on to the Vault of the Secret Formula.  Bring it on my friends – we are here to find it.  I’m leaving you today with some assorted pictures from the vault.  And then next week, I will continue with the tour.

Hope you enjoyed it my friends!