Traveloteacher

Read here about our visit to Atlanta. Atlanta, Georgia

The Antebellum Trail Read more about the Antebellum Trail here .

Augusta, Georgia Care to read about Georgia on my mind ?

As far as we know, things like this happen to other stand-by passengers, but this is the first time it happened to us. The funny thing was that, when checking in, we were told by the airline employees at Atlanta Airport that the flight was overbooked, but we'd probably make it. So we proceeded with the customs and immigration formalities and then lightheartedly talked about this and that while waiting for our names to be called to approach the counter at the gate. There were also other stand-by passengers. You can easily spot them, as they are the only ones who openly show uneasiness before the flight - but not because of the fear of flying. They were called to approach the counter; we weren't. Actually, we were, but only to be told that there were no seats for us. However, we were advised to wait until the boarding was completed. And then, all of a sudden, when I was least expecting it, they informed us they had two seats. It was momentarily decided that Dominik and I were fly...

Antebellum means 'before the war' and in the US it refers to the period before the Civil War, especially in the Southern States. The Antebellum trail begins in Athens and ends in Macon, but the cities of Atlanta and Augusta are also included, maybe even some other, as well. On the one hand, it represents the romantic old south, but on the other, the fact that it was the time and place of slavery and abuse of human rights should never be forgotten. We visited Madison, a quaint little city. In Milledgville we went for a short tour of Lockerly Plantation, which isn't so grand as Belle Meade. In Macon we visited the Indian mounds at the Ocmulgee National Monument and in Eatonton we saw the Rock Eagle Effigy, which is supposed to have been built thousands years ago, but as usual, no one has the faintest idea why and by whom it was built. Another interesting question that can be raised here is: What town did Sherman NOT burn? William Tecumseh Sherman was a Union general who burne...

All the way from Nashville to Chattanooga there are billboards announcing the thrills of Lookout Mountain. We arrived at about 4 p.m. and since it was too late to visit all the attractions, we opted for two out of four. The Incline Railway was the first. It is often called "America's most amazing mile" and with the 72.7% grade of the track near the top of the mountain, it certainly is the steepest passenger railway in the world. There are two cars, very similar to the Zagreb funicular, but with only one track so the cars pass each other in the middle. Amazingly enough, the drivers also switch at this point, but I still haven't figured out why. Maybe only one of the two likes the steepest part of the railway. After the ride in this old-fashioned railway, we headed to Ruby Falls, America's deepest and highest underground waterfall. We were taken into the cave by an elevator, and then walked for about half an hour, admiring all those stalactites and stalagmites that ...

It took us a couple of hours to get from Memphis to Nashville. We had a travel coupon booklet with discounts for hotels, so Zoran picked a hotel near the Titans Stadium, not very far from Downtown Nashville. We arrived early in the evening and upon seeing how totally desolate this area was, we changed our minds. Finally we found a good, cheap room with breakfast at the Drury Hotel in the airport area, which was very close to downtown, and only 8 minutes to Opry Mills, a huge shopping mall, multiplex cinemas and restaurants, where we immediately headed. We wanted to buy swimsuits, since there was a nice indoor pool and a whirlpool at the Drury. But all we could find was one pair of swimsuits - they don't sell swimwear in winter. Opry Mills is a new mall, opened only in 2000. Before that, for many years there stood a theme park, known as Opryland, a hotel, and Grand Ole Opry, that first started as a radio show back in 1925 and where country music artists have performed over the years...