Atlanta from Up High and Down Low

After Centennial Olympic Park I was hungry, and heard about a restaurant buffet in a nearby hotel that was supposedly good. It was not. However! The hotel redeemed itself by hosting a fabulous overlook of the city that I could explore for only $10.

I had made inquiries while looking for a good place to have dinner that evening. This restaurant has a phenomenal view, as you can see. Sadly, it would not be open that evening, so Pedro and I would have to choose a different restaurant. But the observation deck was open and after I rode the elevator up, I was the only human on the floor.

If you have read Margaret Mitchell’s book Gone With the Wind, it describes a city of Atlanta that is no longer here. A fire in 1864 destroyed most of the historic architecture. But the city still has its appeal.

Finally Pedro was released from conferences and we got to explore a little together. We spotted a couple of churches that we liked, but we did not take the time to look inside.

We were starving and I reported to Pedro that both restaurant ideas I had earlier were not going to work out for us. He spotted a restaurant directly across the street and said, “How about that place?” We walked in to Max Lager’s Wood Fired Grill and were seated immediately. We had an absolutely outstanding southern meal with excellent craft beers to go with it. The service was great, and fun, the seating was comfortable, the food hit spot on. When we left, we noticed a packed crowd at the door, and as we left, we followed a long line down the sidewalk formed of people waiting to get in. Apparently we had showed up with perfect timing.

We were ready to try one more stop before we called it a day, and that would be a nearby bar called Trader Vic’s. I had looked it up prior to the trip and learned that this establishment, though in an unexpectedly pedestrian setting – a Hilton Hotel – is a fun piece of American history. At first we could not find it and a hotel employee helped direct us to the basement below the lobby.

Back in 1934 Vic “The Trader” Bergeron opened a bar that eventually morphed into a Tiki themed fusion bar with an emphasis on rums and specialty international rum drinks. In the 1950s and 1960s, this Tiki style became a fad, and Vic expanded his restaurants and bars to 25 or so, including one in London. Then the popularity waned and locations became uncool and many were closed. This particular location is in the Hilton and was opened in 1976. Though the collection of decor is often stylized and stereotyped and mixes cultures, I enjoyed it for representing a fad from my Grandparents’ time.

The place was very dark inside, which added to the ambiance. I used my photo editing software to lighten it all up for you.

It was a good place to end the night. We were only a block from our hotel and walked home after we finished our drinks.

Pedro would only have a half-day of conference meetings the next day. After that, our time would include more exploration because we had extended the trip by a day in order to see more of Atlanta. I’ll cover our walk to the AirBnb and our visit to the Botanical Gardens next.