We didn’t actually go to the Mountaintop but we did go to the Martin Luther King district. However, we did find out that President Carter and us have something in common.
On Saturday we took the train to the King Memorial station and then it was a 10 minute walk to the King Centre (http://www.thekingcenter.org/ and http://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm). The old Ebenezer Baptist Church is sill there, but we couldn’t go in as it is still being renovated. There was a tour of his birth house which was free so we got our tickets. It was a 15 minute tour, although the house was quite large, especially for the 1930’s and had three bedrooms upstairs and several rooms downstairs.
It was just past noon on January 15, 1929, a son was born to the Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr., in an upstairs bedroom of 501 Auburn Avenue, in Atlanta, Georgia.
We visited the King Centre and saw the displays, but it was quite limited in the information it provided. Both MLK and Mrs K are buried in the grounds of the centre and you could see the tombs and take some photo’s – so we did. I did quite well – I only bought one book there on his writings.
We walked back into the centre of Atlanta which was about two miles and there was not much traffic or people around. Downtown is deserted at the weekend – and not a Starbucks in sight! We went to Underground Atlanta, which is a place that has shops and restaurants but its underground. Linda must still be suffering with her cough as she didn’t buy anything or even go in many shops.
We then got the train back to the Lennox Centre – and wandered around the shops. We found another centre – and there was a Starbucks – so we stopped for a coffee. Linda was getting bored with all these shops and wanted to go back to the hotel “so I can check my farm” she said.
The complimentary transport picked us up and dropped us back at the hotel. The driver was quite talkative although he was complaining about foreign policy and that the Government shouldn’t be spending money abroad but at home. Typical American – the world stops at the US borders.
It was a bit of a disaster today – no managers special, so we had to go out for dinner and spend money. We went to Landmark Diner and ordered garlic bread – although it should have said ‘garlic loaf’ as it was not just one slice! They gave you a Greek salad for free – and this was enormous. In fact we were virtually full up before the main course had arrived. I had blackened grouper fish and Linda had chicken with cheese – it was very nice but the portions were too big and we couldn’t eat it all.
We then came back to the hotel and I did some reading, whilst Linda focused on making sure her crops and animals were ok in Farmville.
On Sunday we had breakfast and then sat and listened to the church service on the TV. It is raining so without a car it is difficult to go out anyway. The good news is we are picking up a car at 2pm. Breakfast is mainly bagels with cream cheese or jam, there is a chef who cooks omelette for you and plenty of juice and tea. Linda likes to have the fresh waffles with maple syrup and plenty of tea – the only problem is I then have to find lots of restrooms for her as what goes in normally comes out!
The Baptist preacher on the TV was quite interesting preaching on Grace and Pauls book to Titus and had three points to his sermon. About midday we decided to go out, it was still raining but we got the chauffer to drop us off at the Lennox centre as we can get the train from there to the airport We wandered around in the dry and then got the train. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the airport but that was fine – plenty of time to watch Top Gear on my Ipod.
We picked the car up – its a Chevrolet Equinox automatic in white. It took a few minutes to remember which side of the road to drive and then we were off.
President Carter, 39th President of US is from Georgia. His family were Peanut Farmers and he has a Presidential Library (http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/ in town and it was on the way back to the hotel – so we stopped. It cost $8 to get in, but it was actually worth it. The exhibition took you through his life from a young lad to his time in the Navy, to being President and then life after. He was President from 1977-198 and was replaced by Ronald Regan. He was involved in the Egyptian-Israeli talks at Camp David in 1978 and subsequently won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
There was a copy of the Oval Office that you could look at, although you weren’t allowed to sit in the official chair. The Carters have spent one week a year for the last 25 years working for Habitat for Humanity, which builds houses in third world countries, the same organisation we worked for in Thailand after the Tsunami.
The car I have is very nice to drive, plenty of room and seems to head towards Starbucks on a regular basis. On arriving back at the hotel – Linda hogged the computer doing her farm. We went out for dinner and the portions were a bit smaller tonight, Linda had chicken with jacket potato and I had a T-bone. It as going so well – and then Linda saw the cheesecake – and of course had to have a bit!
It was back to hotel for Linda to harvest her crops she had planted earlier on Farmville!!
You can see our photos at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett/Atlanta09