ATLOne

Thanks for joining me, family!
Arriving in Atlanta was a great time! It was around 11:45 and despite hunger I felt great, although a little over dressed! The weather welcomed us warmly and incredibly, certainly the fairest we've had for our current stretch of the tour! The air and city over all is noticeably clearer, fresher and cleaner than that of NY.
"The Marta" is the train and bus system of public transportation and it works interestingly it is a rather modern system in which we had to buy "Breeze Cards" that are analogous to New York City's metro cards but in hard plastic form and you just tap the card on a censor and walk through automatic doors (no antiquated turnstiles). I didn't even have to take it out of my wallet! Exciting stuff that I think NYC could take a few notes on! The only odd or noteworthy pitfall was when I mistook a fifty dollar bill for a five and had to put $30 in for a $16 dollar cars and ended up being bombarded with a cascading change of 14 gold dollar coins reigning on me like I was lucky in Vegas while a man behind me had just begged for change so I shoveled my coins into my pocket like a pirate and went on my way awkwardly jingling!

We took a bus down to Decatur where are first hosts live and there we met the amiable and vivacious Rebecca! She is a student at Emory studying religion and spirituality, she welcomed us into her apartment which she gave us a tour of and it was a place I'd be happy to share with friends in a quiet and clean beautiful community living condominium sort of area. Before she had work we decided to drive into town (In a quirky old van that, to my amusement, had a built in television and VCR in the center console, pictured below!) and get some lunch at a place called The Raging Burrito! The decor was elaborate and fun, we ate outside on a porch full of paintings and plant life! The burrito I ordered was gargantuan and was at least the size of two of my fists, I've enclosed some pictures of our lunch below. We got to know one another while I miraculously gorged myself as politely and cleanly as one can and shortly after our delicious meal, Rebecca had to leave for work for a few hours so Alexa and I set off to enjoy the weather and the city!

Atlanta proved to be a large city with many fluxes in its affluence and cultural background, as well as full of some great parks and sculptures and historic sites, all of which I've documented photographically and shared below, though nothing beats the real thing! We had the eye opening experience of being the minorities in one area and it was strange to feel a snake of discomfort and paranoia and have to combat that and the feeling of being such an outsider. We were heckled occasionally for being white and pressed on, it was something to mull over certainly.

We went to the Olympic Memorial Park where we saw some beautiful statues and rather pretty and massive acres of field and fountains and trails that were mare up of bricks inset with people they were dedicated to; the first time we stopped, I looked down and saw that the two people whose names I was standing atop were from Long Island! I smiled widely. A strange world! We walked a great length to explore and my legs were rather, we stopped at a nice spot called Caribou Cafe where I got an iced coffee and Alexa filled her water bottle and we headed to our last destination before nightfall! Undoubtedly my favorite thing we did was to to Piedmont Park, which had lovely rolling hills and fields and an abundant of arbors spot and trails that borders a large lake! An array of people were jogging, walking their dogs and bringing their children to the several playgrounds that peppered the expanse of the property! I took a multitude of pictures to share with you! As the sun fell, Alexa pointed out a goose and called it a duck, and she scoffed as I corrected her. I kept walking and looked up to see a gander of geese flying in their arrow shape and heard their honk followed by a yelp from Alexa.

Evidently, lady luck was a bulimic taking diuretics as that yelp signified not one but two of the geese had pooped on her! I couldn't help but laugh at her perfectly timed misfortune (we found a place to clean her and heard back Decatur on the Marta)
Rebecca picked us up from the Marta station with her native German friend Vanessa! Her car was loud and precarious but we had a great time and when we went back we met Rebecca's two other house mates, India and Anna, a thespian and an animal behavioralist (in that order). They were just as friendly and inviting as Rebecca and told us about their studies and asks us about ourselves. India is currently rehearsing for five different roles across as many vignettes in a piece called Chekov Watching Chevov, inspired by several of his short stories. She highly recommended all of these stories she was involved in and they are titled the following: "Grisha", "Children", "Home" , "Joy"
and "Misery" and based on what India had to say about them, I look forward to reading them! After talking for a time over water in mason jars, I ended up fixing their broken porch door, a malady that had plagued them for a few weeks! One thing led to another and Alexa set up in their living room and performed a few songs to their shocked enjoyment (pictured below) India and Anna turned reluctantly to their studies and Alexa Rebecca, Vanessa (which all rhyme) and I ended up going to a great Indian food restaurant where there was some loud but good music being played, we ate ( I frugally ordered rice, which was plain bt filling and excellent) and joked about the socially handicapped atmosphere that the loud band we sat adjacent to supplied, and they suggested some music venues we should try to book next tour, which they hoped would be soon as they welcomed us back!
We said goodbye to Vanessa and wished her luck in her travels, and set up our sleeping areas. We fell asleep on some really comfortable couches and felt like we were among friends we had known for years!
I would happily share my living space or resources with any of our new friends if they find themselves in New York, and I wish them good fortune and enjoyable travels and experiences!
Our first day in Atlanta was gorgeous all around,
I hope you all get the opportunity to visit there some day!
According to our talkative and thickly southern accented bus driver, we are officially in Alabama!
Keep Pushing and Pull Through,
-AllOne







































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