What It’s Like to Travel to… Atlanta, Georgia
Posted June 8, 2010

We are dying—DYING—to go to Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party and eat a cupcake with peaceonearth. —Sparkitors

Hey Sparklers!! Peaceonearth34 here, reporting from the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This is THE city for music lovers of any sort, but it also has a wide variety of nonmusical activities and things to do. So if you happen to stumble upon Atlanta, here are some of the best places to go.

Best park: Depends on your personality. If you like it a bit quieter, Piedmont Park is perfect for you. If you like to be right in the middle of the city, go to Centennial Olympic Park. Both are beautiful and provide places to exercise and have fun.

Best music: The Atlanta Jazz Festival, which takes place every summer. This festival has the best jazz musicians the city has to offer, including up and coming superstars. But you’d better bring a fan or umbrella, because it gets boiling hot!!

Best museum: The Georgia Aquarium. Does that count as a museum? I hope so, because this place is absolutely amazing. Besides that fact that it’s got the biggest aquarium in the WORLD, it has one of the most diverse series of fish I have ever seen. The best part is the Ocean Voyager Gallery, where you go through the massive tank in an underwater moving tunnel, and finally get to a huge viewing window that is about 30 feet deep!! Plus, they have whale sharks. The Aquarium does a lot for conservation too, so be sure to check out their 4 R program.

Best shopping: Underground Atlanta. My mom claims this place is somewhat “edgy.” But you won’t see a Hot Topic or Aeropostle here. The stores are completely unique, and you can find stuff here you couldn’t find anywhere else. It’s built on the old streets of Atlanta, so the cobblestones that you are walking on were around during the Civil War!

Best food: Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party. Basically, it’s a tea house for nerds. It’s rather small, but it’s still awesome. They sell used books for 50 cents. They have yummy egg salad sandwiches. They have free WiFi. They have cupcakes. And my personal favorite is a small sign that they have inside: “All unattended children will receive a free espresso and a puppy.”

Best outdoor activity: Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Okay, first of all, this place is beautiful!!!!! They have everything from orchids to daffodils. Beyond that, they often have outdoor art exhibits. And even beyond that, the gardens are going through this whole renovation, where they are greening up their operations and adding new garden areas (including an edible garden!).

Have you ever been to Atlanta?