Awesome Atlanta

I liked Atlanta straight away. Just driving through the city seeing the different neighbourhoods mixing with the highrises downtown gave a good vibe. When Ailis and Tim (Dave's cousin and her fiancé) took us to Six Feet Under - a hip restaurant overlooking a graveyard, I liked it even more. As the sun was setting over Atlanta we enjoyed a great dinner on the rooftop terrass, which was steaming with good food, people & cool ambiance.

Alex, Dave, Lee, Tim & Ailis

Ailis & Auntie Bridie with the graveyard in the background

Lovely man in a lovely sunset in midtown Atlanta

When we came back to Atlanta a couple of days after that night at the restaurant, we stayed in Ailis & Tim's house (with their absolute adorable Westie called Charlie). We found out then that Atlanta had even more aces up its sleeve. Midtown, where we stayed, is a green and lush area with small houses and cottages surrounded by lots of trees. Apparently you' re not allowed to take down a tree in Atlanta if it's not dead or sick. So almost every house has a huge tree in their garden with branches that stretch over the roof and provide the "yard" and back terrass with nice shade. Ailis and Tim had just bought their house little over a month ago and it was a very cute little wooden cottage, built in the 1920's.

Dave on the front porch.

Tim & Ailis' house and Lee's pickup.

It's hard to believe this is in the middle of Atlanta

One night we had Bridie & Lee over for a cheese & wine tasting

 Atlanta, the city that raised Usher, Julia Roberts, Outkast and of course Margaret Mitchell (who wrote Gone with the wind) has a lot to offer. There's a mountain nearby where one could go hiking or biking, the biggest park with its public swimming pool and botanical gardens is just 5 mins away from the house, there are several local breweries that offers guided tours and tastings, or one could visit the main tourist attractions such as the World of Coca-Cola (Coke's headquarters are here in Atlanta) and Georgia Aquarium. We chose the latter.

Piedmont Park near Tim & Ailis' house

The botanical gardens

Alex in front of Margaret Mitchell's old house

The aquarium is the world's biggest and has amazing species like whalesharks, tigersharks, stingrays, all sorts of frogs and a lot of other big fish that I don't know the name of. Dave and I had a good time there and I couldn't resist in buying a fluffy, little dolphin dressed in a pink hoodie (he later got the name Fin).

Ailis & Tim are getting married next year (just like we are, yeahj!) in the botanical gardens of Atlanta. Maybe and hopefully, we'll get the chance to come back to this cool (but hot) city then...

Having lunch one Saturday in another nice neighbourhood of Atlanta called Virginia Highlands

Thank you Atlanta, hope to see you again!
/Alex