Day 24

I jumped out of bed at 8:30 and went for a 42 minute run to Peidmont Park. I ran east along Piedmont Avenue, did one lap around the park and then ran back heading west on Juniper Avenue. The view of the city were amazing and the sky was one of the bluest I have ever seen.

After breakie, it was back to the pool for some more swimming, chilling and sunning.

We checked out at 12:00 and got back on to 75S, heading towards Savannah.

We stopped in Macon along the way and decided to go local for lunch as opposed to another sub or fast food meal. What a good call! We drove into the town and came across a place called Roly Poly that had one of the best Pesto Chicken wraps I have ever tasted. And it even came with a free cookie - what a bargain! I then went next door to Faye's for a coffee. Unfortunately, the espresso machine was broken so I had to settle for a frozen coffee instead. The place was really interesting and the girl that worked there told me that it used to be a house. The kitchen was converted to the counter / ordering area while the sitting room and dining room where now places to chill and drink your coffee. One room had big leather chairs and couches, while the other had tables. All of the tables had an old fashioned kettle on them for decoration and the walls were covered with pictures of jazz legends.

We left Macon and drove onto 16E, arriving in Macon at about 5:30. I had found a place for only $42.99 for the night. When I looked at the map it seemed close to the center but unfortunately it was more than seven miles away.

We chilled, had some wi-fi time and then showered up to go into town. We wanted to go for a bite and a beer but since we had to drive we were going to be taking it easy tonight. I saw a place called Creole Red in a guide book that looked pretty interesting - very cheap, very authentic creole dishes.

We drove in, parked up and gandered around for a bit. We decided to stop and have a quick drink before the meal so we went in to a place called the Mercury Lounge. It had a jukebox playing country and Elvis tunes very loudly, a wall painted with the picture of the Rat Pack standing outside The Sands and leopard skin bar stools. We ordered a drink and a serving of nachos that turned out to be huuuge and some of the best nachos that either of us had ever tasted.

We then went in search of Creole Red but discovered that it had been converted to a pub called The Rail Pub. No bother - it was a great place. It had a very cool bar with all sorts of paraphernalia hanging on the wall, a jukebox and a dart board. Plus when we arrived, The Jesus & Marychain were playing followed by Pixies and AC DC. I thought that it would be impossible to shift Paulo. We each had two Coronas and then decided to move on.

Our next stop was a bar called Stogies that had a walk-in humidor with a decent size selection of cigars.

From there we strolled around for a while before stopping into Jen's And Friends so that I could have a nightcap - the very last cold Corona in the whole bar! Everyone that we met and talked to in the bars were so friendly and really, really nice. The kind of folk who would do anything for you.

We are moving on to Orlando tomorrow but Savannah is a great place and I would love to come back some day.

Day 23

The Ghost City - Atlanta By Day

We were up early again today in an effort to get the flock outta dodge. We stayed in a Travelodge last night off 75S, about 10 miles from the center of Atlanta and it was dodgy. In fact it was so dodgy, we took our laptops with us to the baseball game last night.

I had managed to find a nice place - The Baymont Inn just off 75 only a few blocks from center city, so we drove up there around 10:00. we couldn't check in but were assured that there would be a room available for us. We left our bags in reception and went for a stroll.

We walked all around the center of the city and were surprised by two things. One - how few people there were in the center of the city. There was virtually no one walking around. It was like a ghost city. Two - how friendly the people who were in town really are. Everyone said hello to us and if we showed the least bit of confusion, we were asked if we needed any help. What a difference from the Northeast!

We made our way over to Underground Atlanta, which is a shopping center built along and on top of the oldest streets in the city. It's quite tacky as there aren't any nice shops and I can't believe that they chose to build it over the most historic part of town.

Feeling unimpressed and a bit pecky, we got the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) to the north part of the city to check out the Lenox Center, which is another large shopping mall. We were trying to escape the heat and Paulo had some bits to sort out, so it seemed like the logical place to go.

We strolled around, had lunch and I even bought some clothes that I probably don't need but wanted anyway.

I left Paulo behind to go back to the hotel to check in. Then it was straight to the pool for a shwim and a few rays. I spent an hour poolside and was totally chilled out for doing so.

We both spent some wi-fi quality time and then got back on the MARTA to go to Buckhead.

Odds And Sods - Atlanta By Night

I wanted to go to Buckhead because several people that I know have been to Atlanta and recommended it. Apparently it is the 'party place' in the city. Well, we were both extremely disappointed by what we saw - roadworks everywhere and not a decent bar / restaurant in sight. We walked for ages and finally stopped a local yokel to find out what the stary was. He told us that there used to be a lot of bars in the area but they had all been bought and torn down to build massive hotels and offices. what we couldn't figure out was why they needed so many hotels when there was virtually nobody around.

We strolled on and in atypical fashion settled on an Irish pub called Fado (the good old days) for a few scoops. I had a lovely chicken salad and a few pints of Newcastle Brown Ale, while Paulo opted for Boddingtons Ale.

There was a band playing called Turnstyle and they were absolutely brutal. After listening to them slaughter Just Like Heaven, Wonderwall, Come On Eileen and I think a cover of For Tomorrow we decided that they sounded like a 45 record that was being played at 78.

Moving swiftly along we walked back to the MARTA and once again got slapped with the bitterness of switching trains and long delays between services. When our train finally did arrive it was full of the biggest bunch of odds and sods you could possibly imagine. Total weirdos and fruitcakes. We both did our best to look straight ahead and avoid ALL eye contact at any cost. Even the walk back to the hotel was weird. All the odd-bods come out at night and they all try to talk to you in a totally incomprehensive southern drunken drawl. We were delighted to lock our door and close the curtains on a good but very strange day in Atlanta.

Day 22 (Part One)

Traveling around the States and staying in cheap hotels is eventually going to bring about some bitterness and last night it hit us. There was a bunch of 'homies' staying in the few rooms around us and they made a lot of noise until very late into the night. Rather than poke my head out and risk any altercations, I opted for the makeshift ear plugs and stuffed a bit of toilet roll into each ear. It wasn't perfect but I was able to fall asleep, which is more than Paulo could do.

We were straight up this morning and out the door as we had an important round of mini-golf to play. We started the game with threatening skies at Leatherman Golf Center. The course was deceiving because there were lots of par 2s that took us each 3 or 4 strokes to sink. I had a hole-in-one on way to a round of 53, which beat Paulo by two strokes. The first dollar of the competition exchanged hands and I took a 99 to 101 lead in the competition. But since Paulo kept score and marked a 2 for my hole-in-one, I questioned the final score. I have asked for a review to be carried out and the findings are still pending.

After the round of golf, we paused for a few minutes to reflect on the almighty power of the Rod of God.

Then it was straight over to IHOP for some breakie and several cups of sweet, blick coffee.

There was still a bit of a drive ahead of us to reach Atlanta so we didn't hang about North Carolina for very long. We drove on 85S all the way into Atlanta and made it there by 5:00. I had found a Travelodge that was only a few miles from Turner Field on Route 75. We checked in, changed our clothes and left for the ball game as quickly as we could.

Day 22 (Part Two)

The Boston Red Sox vs The Atlanta Braves

Paulo has been gagging to see the Sox since we arrived in the States. It was especially bad when we were in Boston and couldn't afford tickets because the Yankees were in town. It has been a dream of his to see the Sox in Fenway and it broke his heart to have to miss out on getting a ticket. So, I organised tickets for the Braves game because, having looked at their schedule, it was the only place we figured that we could cross paths with them.

We arrived at Turner field about two hours before the game to take in some of the atmosphere and watch the pre-game activities. We grabbed a bite to eat and settled into things with a beer.

We watched batting practice from the outfield terrace and then slowly walked around (and up) to our seats. They only cost us 15 bucks and were in the 'nosebleed' section but we didn't care. We were just happy to be there. And the views of the city were great as well.

The Sox destroyed the Braves 11-0 in what was a bit like a home run derby. Tavarez pitched a good game (for once) and Papi, Manny, JD Drew, Coco Crisp and Eric Hinske all went deep.

Between halves in the ninth inning, we strolled down to an outfield seat just above the wall in right field for a different perspective. Most people had left and we didn't have any hassle taking the seats.

It was a brilliant night and Paulo got to tick off one of his big to-do things for the trip.

Here are some snaps I took during the evening around the stadium: