First impressions of Atlanta and Athens

After arrival in Atlanta (my plane was an hour late - but I won't go into the details this time) Nadia picked me up at the airport and our first objective was to find something to eat. As we were cruising around one of the districts of Atlanta that does not seem to be frequented by many tourist Atlant (you could also call it being lost) I said "Oh look this a really interesting dodgy looking place!" The next thing I know Nadia has turned into the parking lot that was at three in the afternoon packed with - to use a friendly term - 'older' cars.


In front of the famous Daddy D'z BBQ.

The typical southern food ssems to work like this: You crumb and deep fry anything you can lay your hands on and serve it drenched in BBQ sauce. All the incredients taste somewhat the same after this procedure - but eating the grease soaked okras, zuccinis or meatballs leaves you cozily satisfied (your body apparently signals that some primeval urge to consume sugars and fats is satisfied). However, the smoked turkey I had with these other delicacies was really good and once I had scraped of the BBQ sauce the nice smokey flavours of the meat became apparent.

Athens
For Georgian standards Athens seems to be an alternative, if not outright Behemian, place. There are a lot of little funky shops that either sell overpriced clothes, lifestyle kitchen items or funny knick knack.

One sign of the alternative spirit of the town are the colorful bulldogs that decorate the streets.


Even the more traditional sites - such as the old town hall here - have their unconventioal sides.


A big thing for Athens is the invention of this double barreled canon. This device was meant to fire two canon balls linked by a chain. It would "mow down the enemy somewhat as a scythe cuts the wheat" thus deciding the fate of the civil war.


Unfortunately it was hard to synchronize the firing of the barrels and the idea never got past the prototype stage. It is kind of funny to display this just meters away from the campus of a University that houses and engineering department. But the city of Athens is very proud of it and for whatever reason celebrates the double barreled canon as symbol of democratic victories.