Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Georgia Aquarium/World of Coca-Cola

Tuesday, August 7

This morning, we headed straight to the Georgia Aquarium, the only aquarium in America to house whale sharks. As you might guess, we headed straight for these giant fish, the biggest fish on Earth. The whale sharks are housed in a giant tank with wrasse, grouper, sting rays, a hammerhead shark, and a variety of other fish. The whale sharks on display were probably about twenty feet long, dwarfing the 800 lb. groupers swimming nearby. It's entertaining to watch any animal that big, but I wish we could've seen them feeding, or had a view of them from above, as they spent most of their time swimming near the surface. One day, I'd love to dive with these gentle animals. They are sometimes sighted off the Georgia coast.

The Georgia Aquarium is the best aquarium I've visited. The layout makes sense and is attractive and easy to navigate. All of the exhibits are interesting and many offer large viewing windows, allowing continuous perspectives on the animals as they swim about. Some other highlights were the Beluga whales and the otters.

After leaving the aquarium, we headed next door to the World of Coca-Cola. If you like Coke, this is a place with a lot of information about Coke. And a lot of Coke advertisements. And a lot of Coke products. It's extremely, extremely clean and gives the same sort of feeling as Disney World: "Today, you have no problems." Some of the stuff is interesting, but I thought it could've done a better job of showing how Coke is made. I guess the secret formula really is secret. The highlight of the experience was the tasting, where we were able to sample 72 different Coke products from all around the world. My sister and I sampled every one, and by the time I was finished, I felt like throwing a trash can through one of the plate glass windows, I was so jacked up. One thing I noticed, the rest of the world seems to prefer fruity-flavored soft drinks. Also, I noticed that the drink called "Beverly" is probably the worst drink I have ever had. Steer clear of that the next time you are in Italy.

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