the aquarium
Mom came in for a visit this weekend. I had five days' notice, which isn't bad for my family.
Saturday afternoon, we wandered around Glenwood Park (Charles Brewer's baby) for a bit looking for a bite to eat. The coffee shop, Perk, doesn't really have sandwiches, so they sent us over to the wine bar, Vino Libro. The food menu is small, but the house salad was very tasty (with quail eggs!) and Mom liked her shrimp sandwich. Their wine menu is unsurprisingly bewildering to a wine philistine like myself, but the Bordeaux the owner(?) suggested was very good. Must go back.
Slice will be opening there soon; we stopped in and talked to Marshall, the owner, who I know from the Slice in Midtown where I host trivia (on Wednesdays - you need to show up, dammit!).
The whole complex is amazingly cool. The homes are huge on these tiny lots, which I usually hate, but they've pulled it off in a way those hastily, shoddily built suburban subdivisions with pastoral names couldn't -- and wouldn't -- dream of. Anybody got $750K I can have? Actually, I'll settle for the $177,000 they're asking for a 1/1 condo buried somewhere in the complex.
We had dinner at Benedetti's with her brother and s-i-l (my aunt and uncle). Yummy, as always.
On Sunday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium.
I will never go again unless it's in the middle of the day on a weekday with good weather and after I've eaten. Seriously. Parking sucked my balls. It took 20 minutes to park. We ended up in the second deck around the corner (a block and a half away) on the roof. For $10. Thank God the weather was good. And the cafe was downright terrible. I paid $3.50 for an overheated hot dog on a stale bun - I could have gotten a hot, tasty foot-long at Turner Field for the same price. The small fountain drink was $2.25. The fries were cold. And you're not allowed to leave the cafe with food. So don't try to eat there during lunch time, because you won't find a seat. At 4:00, we got the very last table, way out in the dark (seriously) near the Ocean Voyages or whatever.
You'd think an attraction expecting and geared for large crowds would be better able to deal with them. I shudder to think what parking will be like once the new World of Coca-Cola is built next door.
But the exhibits themselves were really cool. Mom got to stand within a foot of a penguin, so her life is nearly complete (all she needs now is a grandchild that doesn't have four legs and fur). I've started to post pictures over here.
It was worth the $25 per ticket, but the aggravation surrounding it all will make sure I spend another $25 somewhere else first. Take that, Nemo! Deepo!
Saturday afternoon, we wandered around Glenwood Park (Charles Brewer's baby) for a bit looking for a bite to eat. The coffee shop, Perk, doesn't really have sandwiches, so they sent us over to the wine bar, Vino Libro. The food menu is small, but the house salad was very tasty (with quail eggs!) and Mom liked her shrimp sandwich. Their wine menu is unsurprisingly bewildering to a wine philistine like myself, but the Bordeaux the owner(?) suggested was very good. Must go back.
Slice will be opening there soon; we stopped in and talked to Marshall, the owner, who I know from the Slice in Midtown where I host trivia (on Wednesdays - you need to show up, dammit!).
The whole complex is amazingly cool. The homes are huge on these tiny lots, which I usually hate, but they've pulled it off in a way those hastily, shoddily built suburban subdivisions with pastoral names couldn't -- and wouldn't -- dream of. Anybody got $750K I can have? Actually, I'll settle for the $177,000 they're asking for a 1/1 condo buried somewhere in the complex.
We had dinner at Benedetti's with her brother and s-i-l (my aunt and uncle). Yummy, as always.
On Sunday, we went to the Georgia Aquarium.
I will never go again unless it's in the middle of the day on a weekday with good weather and after I've eaten. Seriously. Parking sucked my balls. It took 20 minutes to park. We ended up in the second deck around the corner (a block and a half away) on the roof. For $10. Thank God the weather was good. And the cafe was downright terrible. I paid $3.50 for an overheated hot dog on a stale bun - I could have gotten a hot, tasty foot-long at Turner Field for the same price. The small fountain drink was $2.25. The fries were cold. And you're not allowed to leave the cafe with food. So don't try to eat there during lunch time, because you won't find a seat. At 4:00, we got the very last table, way out in the dark (seriously) near the Ocean Voyages or whatever.
You'd think an attraction expecting and geared for large crowds would be better able to deal with them. I shudder to think what parking will be like once the new World of Coca-Cola is built next door.
But the exhibits themselves were really cool. Mom got to stand within a foot of a penguin, so her life is nearly complete (all she needs now is a grandchild that doesn't have four legs and fur). I've started to post pictures over here.
It was worth the $25 per ticket, but the aggravation surrounding it all will make sure I spend another $25 somewhere else first. Take that, Nemo! Deepo!