Every once in a while I deliberately give myself a long layover at an airport so that I can check out a city I've never seen before. This time: Atlanta. I just took the MARTA train into Atlanta with the intention of checking out the Georgia Aquarium which has just opened with great fanfare. Anyway, the aquarium is "sold out", meaning you can only get in if you buy tix online some time in advance. So I was turned away tragically and have been aimlessly wandering the streets for the last few hours.

Atlanta seems like a pretty nice place, but as far as street life goes it seems like a ghost town. I walked all the way from five points to uptown and encountered about 8 human beings and the only thing open is the Starbucks I've now sequesterd myself at. Far from the teeming metropolis of the south i'd been led to belive. Then again, it is xmas break so there aren't any students around. But still, it all seems a little bit sterile on first impression. Time to go find something to eat, then back to the airport, and onward to Mexico...