Did you enjoy the Coke museum? Ik ook!!
After leaving the Aquarium we headed over to the Coke Museum...
Flaming Bunnies!
MLR found the coke bottle that represents her friends!
What happens when you spill a coke on your computer?
Monkeys found the coke bottle that represents his friends!
I have the parts around my house to build one of these, too.
I'm just saying.
Coca Circus
A cool 3D store display. I don't even mind the clowns!
Coke in pop art:
Even the shelves are held up with Coke cans. My favorites were the alligator and the robot, but the harp is impressive.
Coca Collage
by Steve Penley. From the Coke-a-cola Museum site: "Best known for his iconic portraits, Penley is one of America’s most popular southern artists. His signature painting style incorporates bold color, strong brush strokes and vivid imagery."
Around the globe!
I took way too many pictures of Coke Memorabilia.
Someone make me a coke icon!
Me, too!!
I want to learn Dutch now! At least, I think this is Dutch. Look at the cute little clown guy in the bottom right! He's in several of the ads on this wall.
What language is this?
Took this picture for Raven. :D
The coke vending machines along the back wall were cool.
A little too high up for me to get a good picture, unfortunately.
Also see JoCo's tour of the museum over at his journal.
The Coke-A-Cola Museum is on the same grounds as the aquarium, so we ran across a beautiful courtyard that would have been awesome had it been a sunny day and headed inside the museum. It was a little weird being checked for weapons and other metallic devices. My theory - they wanted to make sure we weren't sporting Pepsi cans.
The employees were all super friendly and helpful, which was cool, but the tour guide for the first portion of the Museum was beyond adorable. She had her speeches down to a pleasant patter and cadence and could rattle them off with complete sincerity. I actually believed she loved the various posters, urns, displays, and memorabilia she was describing. Best of all, she would randomly enunciate words with a higher pitch. (“This urn is the oldest item in our collection, dating all the way back to nineteenTWENtytwo.” With the TWEN becoming almost a squeak fading down to her normal register for the “tytwo.”) Nearly every sentence contained an enunciated syllable. It was adorable and bizarre and out-of-the-blue. Monkeys and I mimicked it the rest of the day.
The guided tour only lasted that one room, which lead to a small theatre airing a longer version of the commercial with the creatures that live inside a coke machine and prep the bottle for delivery when a quarter is dropped in the slot. In addition to the commercial the movie featured interviews with the various creatures as they describe how much they love working for Coke. The voices were actual employees, but the text was completely surreal and awesome in its non-sequiturred glory. Parts of it were even a bit risqué! After the movie our host WISHED us well as we started the self-guided portion of the museum.
We skipped the picture with the polar bear and the wall of employees and Coke-fans sharing their messages of what Coke means to them and went straight to the memorabilia rooms. I *love* Coke. It’s my favorite drink. I would be one of the crazy devoted fans who would decorate a room in Coke memorabilia, so obviously I loved reading the placards about the history of the drink, how the company was formed, and the trends in marketing tactics and memorabilia, etc. I was one of the freaks actually looking closely at the different vending machines and how they changed over time. They also had an operational bottling system, so you could watch the soda being made, bottled, checked for quality, etc. and at the end of the museum you walked out with your very own bottle processed on site! Yes, I read every one of those signs and watched the slightly goofy videos that describe the same things that I read in the signs.
Upstairs they had a Coke in Pop Art/Pop Culture exhibit that was amazing - paintings with Coke logos, mixed media collage, alligators or planes or other sculptures made from Coke cans, and an American Idol couch. There was also a neat collection of postcards and a magnifying glass. The postcards were not about Coke but they all contained some Coke image (signage, vending machines) in them because Coke is just that darn prevalent that if you take a picture of a random street corner you will probably get a Coke sign. Some were really obvious and you didn't need the magnifying glass, but some were trickier to locate. Another exhibit room contained merchandizing tie ins with Olympic pins and torches, athlete/singer/actor endorsement images, etc.
There was a free 4D movie supposedly to discover the secret formula of Coke, but it was just a goofy “the secret formula is that it’s awesome!1!!” movie. Still, the 4D part was fun; the movie captured some beautiful vistas as you followed a coke delivery van/cart/bike/boat around the world, the chairs shook like crazy to tie into events on the screen (like rolling down a bumpy road in a cart), water squirted you in the face whenever water was on the screen, air or fog would blow out at times - it was a lot of fun.
Finally, the tour ended in the tasting room where you could try sodas from around the world - you must be brave to do this. Some are actually pretty good, which makes you sad they don’t sell them here, but several were rather ehh, and one - the Italian drink called Beverly - was downright awful. Every smiling museum employee you passed as you toured the musuem would suggest “try the Beverly” which was a clue that 1) something’s not right with the Beverly and 2) you haven’t gotten the full museum experience if you don’t try it anyway. It was actually a very unifying drink - you may not know the people standing around you in the tasting room, but the “have you tried it?” questions from those you hadn’t and the advice shared by those who had got you talking to everyone around you! The employee who manned the tasting room was impressed with Monkeys for figuring out it was a grapefruit based drink, and he further explained it was made with grapefruit RIND rendering it even bitterer. How did those people invent ravioli? Clearly they have no taste buds. Just like in the Aquarium, the exit is through the gift shop.
We ended up spending two hours at the Coke museum and finishing up just in time for lunch back at the hotel (well, the food court) before getting ready for the concert that night.
Flaming Bunnies!
MLR found the coke bottle that represents her friends!
What happens when you spill a coke on your computer?
Monkeys found the coke bottle that represents his friends!
I have the parts around my house to build one of these, too.
I'm just saying.
Coca Circus
A cool 3D store display. I don't even mind the clowns!
Coke in pop art:
Even the shelves are held up with Coke cans. My favorites were the alligator and the robot, but the harp is impressive.
Coca Collage
by Steve Penley. From the Coke-a-cola Museum site: "Best known for his iconic portraits, Penley is one of America’s most popular southern artists. His signature painting style incorporates bold color, strong brush strokes and vivid imagery."
Around the globe!
I took way too many pictures of Coke Memorabilia.
Someone make me a coke icon!
Me, too!!
I want to learn Dutch now! At least, I think this is Dutch. Look at the cute little clown guy in the bottom right! He's in several of the ads on this wall.
What language is this?
Took this picture for Raven. :D
The coke vending machines along the back wall were cool.
A little too high up for me to get a good picture, unfortunately.
Also see JoCo's tour of the museum over at his journal.
The Coke-A-Cola Museum is on the same grounds as the aquarium, so we ran across a beautiful courtyard that would have been awesome had it been a sunny day and headed inside the museum. It was a little weird being checked for weapons and other metallic devices. My theory - they wanted to make sure we weren't sporting Pepsi cans.
The employees were all super friendly and helpful, which was cool, but the tour guide for the first portion of the Museum was beyond adorable. She had her speeches down to a pleasant patter and cadence and could rattle them off with complete sincerity. I actually believed she loved the various posters, urns, displays, and memorabilia she was describing. Best of all, she would randomly enunciate words with a higher pitch. (“This urn is the oldest item in our collection, dating all the way back to nineteenTWENtytwo.” With the TWEN becoming almost a squeak fading down to her normal register for the “tytwo.”) Nearly every sentence contained an enunciated syllable. It was adorable and bizarre and out-of-the-blue. Monkeys and I mimicked it the rest of the day.
The guided tour only lasted that one room, which lead to a small theatre airing a longer version of the commercial with the creatures that live inside a coke machine and prep the bottle for delivery when a quarter is dropped in the slot. In addition to the commercial the movie featured interviews with the various creatures as they describe how much they love working for Coke. The voices were actual employees, but the text was completely surreal and awesome in its non-sequiturred glory. Parts of it were even a bit risqué! After the movie our host WISHED us well as we started the self-guided portion of the museum.
We skipped the picture with the polar bear and the wall of employees and Coke-fans sharing their messages of what Coke means to them and went straight to the memorabilia rooms. I *love* Coke. It’s my favorite drink. I would be one of the crazy devoted fans who would decorate a room in Coke memorabilia, so obviously I loved reading the placards about the history of the drink, how the company was formed, and the trends in marketing tactics and memorabilia, etc. I was one of the freaks actually looking closely at the different vending machines and how they changed over time. They also had an operational bottling system, so you could watch the soda being made, bottled, checked for quality, etc. and at the end of the museum you walked out with your very own bottle processed on site! Yes, I read every one of those signs and watched the slightly goofy videos that describe the same things that I read in the signs.
Upstairs they had a Coke in Pop Art/Pop Culture exhibit that was amazing - paintings with Coke logos, mixed media collage, alligators or planes or other sculptures made from Coke cans, and an American Idol couch. There was also a neat collection of postcards and a magnifying glass. The postcards were not about Coke but they all contained some Coke image (signage, vending machines) in them because Coke is just that darn prevalent that if you take a picture of a random street corner you will probably get a Coke sign. Some were really obvious and you didn't need the magnifying glass, but some were trickier to locate. Another exhibit room contained merchandizing tie ins with Olympic pins and torches, athlete/singer/actor endorsement images, etc.
There was a free 4D movie supposedly to discover the secret formula of Coke, but it was just a goofy “the secret formula is that it’s awesome!1!!” movie. Still, the 4D part was fun; the movie captured some beautiful vistas as you followed a coke delivery van/cart/bike/boat around the world, the chairs shook like crazy to tie into events on the screen (like rolling down a bumpy road in a cart), water squirted you in the face whenever water was on the screen, air or fog would blow out at times - it was a lot of fun.
Finally, the tour ended in the tasting room where you could try sodas from around the world - you must be brave to do this. Some are actually pretty good, which makes you sad they don’t sell them here, but several were rather ehh, and one - the Italian drink called Beverly - was downright awful. Every smiling museum employee you passed as you toured the musuem would suggest “try the Beverly” which was a clue that 1) something’s not right with the Beverly and 2) you haven’t gotten the full museum experience if you don’t try it anyway. It was actually a very unifying drink - you may not know the people standing around you in the tasting room, but the “have you tried it?” questions from those you hadn’t and the advice shared by those who had got you talking to everyone around you! The employee who manned the tasting room was impressed with Monkeys for figuring out it was a grapefruit based drink, and he further explained it was made with grapefruit RIND rendering it even bitterer. How did those people invent ravioli? Clearly they have no taste buds. Just like in the Aquarium, the exit is through the gift shop.
We ended up spending two hours at the Coke museum and finishing up just in time for lunch back at the hotel (well, the food court) before getting ready for the concert that night.