The sky is sunny

We're in the money, the sky is sunny

We're in the money 

Sunday morning. Not too much of a headache which was good considering Saturday night. I showered and got some coffee. I checked my wallet - $7 left. I walked the couple of blocks to the nearest cash machine and tried my card once more. Nothing. A mild panic set in at the thought of being without cash. I looked at the other cards in my wallet & spotted the cash passport card my dear friend Gail had given me as a leaving present. She had actually given me four – one each for the USA, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, loaded with enough money for me to have a few drinks in each country. An idea came to mind. I headed back to George’s and went to the website of the card provider. You could top the cards up online using your regular bank account. Problem solved!

Well, problem not quite solved as it turned out. When Gail had bought the cards they had been registered to her, at her address. You could only top them up online using a bank account registered to the same address. I called Gail up on Skype and explained the whole situation to her. She was my saviour. She topped up the card for me and told me that if I didn’t get the bankcard issue resolved quickly she could top it up again as often as I needed. I thanked her profusely and transferred her some cash. I am fortunate to have such an amazing group of friends helping me with this trip. I headed back to the cash machine and was able to get some dollars. I was back in liquid funds, which meant I would once more be able to purchase my favourite liquid, gin.

Farmhouse

That afternoon George and I visited the Atlanta History Center. The museum is set in massive grounds that contain a mansion house, a family farm and various gardens. It is a great place to spend an afternoon wandering round. The museum had a temporary exhibition of items belonging to Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind. I’ve never read the book or seen the film, something which I think it best not to admit when in Atlanta. I’ve added it to the list of books to read once I am back from my travels.

The sky is sunny

We took in a guided tour of the family farm, which gave us a brief respite from the hot sunny afternoon. The elderly woman conducting the tour asked where everyone was from.  Amongst our tour group there was a middle aged couple from North Carolina (the woman talked a lot, the man appeared mute), a couple of gays (I guessed third date, spending Sunday together having just spent their first Saturday night together) and a rather odd looking family consisting of father, mother, two girls and one boy. The females all had the same sandals on and they were all dressed rather formally. With the exception of a couple from North Carolina, everyone was from Atlanta. It was nice to see the locals learning their own history. I said I was from England. I got a few looks. The tour guide explained she was from Dunfermline before proceeding to give us several interesting facts about her Scottish hometown. She told the gathered crowd about several things to see and do should they ever visit Dunfermline. She eventually got back on track and gave us a good tour of the farmhouse, the outbuildings and the farm.

The traveller's room

During the tour she imparted lots of interesting facts, most of them were probably true although some of them sounded a bit dubious. She explained that it was common in the South for the farmhouses to have a small room on the outside porch with a bed in it that was left unlocked so any passing traveller in need of a place to stay could spend the night. This, she explained, was the likely origin of the infamous southern hospitality. True or not it made for a nice story.

Late afternoon/early evening saw us head to Blake’s. For a Sunday afternoon the place was fairly full. We got a couple of drinks, did the fruit loop and then settled in to a couple of seats by the bar. We people watched for a little while and were then joined by a couple of George’s friends, Dan & Scott. They asked what I had seen and done since my arrival into Atlanta and I filled them in on the details. We stayed for a couple more drinks then headed for some dinner at Joe’s. Blake’s on a Sunday is a good spot to visit for a drink or two.

Scott asked me what plans I had for my final day in Atlanta. George had taken the day off work so would be able to join me. I said that I thought a trip to the Georgia Aquarium or World of Coca-Cola might be fun, see something touristy hoping it would be quieter given the children should have started back at school. Scott said he wished he had known my plans as he had some complimentary tickets for the aquarium that I could have used. I said it was very kind of him to offer anyway. Dinner was great, the southern food and the southern company making a perfect combination.

Colourful display at the aquarium

The following morning I got up to find George in the kitchen having just made a pot of coffee. I helped myself to a cup. He said that he had got a message form Scott who had the day off. He was going to bring us the aquarium tickets and join us for the day if that was ok. I said it was more than ok. While we waited for Scott to arrive I booked my flight from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale. My Florida leads hadn’t materialised in any gay hosts so I booked into a gay resort too. I checked my messages & saw one from Bob saying he would be in Atlanta that afternoon and maybe we could catch up for a drink and another from a friend of Preston, one of my NOLA hosts, saying he was back in Atlanta having been away for the weekend if I was free to meet for dinner. I messaged them both to try to sort out all meeting for dinner.

One of the whale sharks

Scott arrived and we set off downtown to the aquarium. The aquarium, the largest in the world, was stunning. The displays were really well put together and the sea life on display was stunning. Despite it being the first day back at school there were still loads of children running around. I was tempted to push one particularly annoying little brat into the stingray petting pool but apparently that sort of thing is frowned upon. I took lots of photos, getting some amazing shots of the whale sharks in the huge tank that made up the centrepiece of the aquarium. Definitely worth a visit on any trip to Atlanta (even better if there is a kind local with free tickets to join you!). After the aquarium we went for a beer at a bar called Six Feet Under before heading back to George’s ahead of my last night out in Atlanta with George, Bob and some random friend of Preston’s.

“We're in the money, the sky is sunny” 
Lyrics from We’re in the Money from the musical 42nd Street