For weeks I had been looking forward to last night, when I got the chance to stay at The Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta. The building is a block away from the Georgia Pacific Building, where I last worked when I last held a "real" job, and so as long as I've lived in Georgia I've been curious about what it would be like to be a guest at the hotel. Back in 1998 I did step inside once and was hit with a stuffy "Old South" feel: It didn't seem like I belonged.
Since then, in the course of my work as a travel writer, I've been lucky enough to stay at The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead and The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island and so I know how pampered a person can be made to feel while staying at a Ritz-Carlton. I was prepared to enjoy myself very much at the Atlanta property, but unfortunately on the day of the event I got a horrible flu [that ended up lasting for over a week]. I went anyway, hoping for a second wind.
The hotel has been renovated and now it's all hip and swanky with a welcoming vibe. It's a gorgeous space. Servers brought around plates of appetizers and cocktails. My stomach was too upset to taste anything, but Dean raved about everything he put into his mouth (and he took all that was offered to him). The gorgeous cocktails were inspired by some of the new art pieces in the lobby -- the bartenders actually designed the cocktails to mimic specific pieces of art! One of the artists was at the event and stood sipping the cocktail created to honor of his painting; he said it was a surreal experience.
The lobby bar has been renamed Lumen and while there are many cool things about that bar --the decor, the vibe, the cocktails -- perhaps the coolest thing is the actual physical menu. A server hands it to you and you think, a leather bound menu. Ah, but when opened it lights up. How funky is that!?!
When the group headed up to the Atlanta Grill (the hotel's fine dining restaurant) for dinner I had to go to my guest room as I felt too sick to make it through dinner. I was/am very sad to have missed that meal; Dean reports that it was very good.
It's a drag to be sick, of course, but there may be no better place on earth to cocoon oneself than in a suite at The Ritz-Carlton Atlanta. There was a huge bathtub in which to soak chills away, two bathrooms (so no need to fear wandering too far away from the toilet), comfy sofas and chairs, two flatscreen TVs to offer distractions, and a luxuriously comfortable bed. There's something about crisp clean sheets that minimizes the yuck of feeling sick. I slept for 12 hours and wished I could have recuperated in that bed in that suite all week.
One weird thing: The electrical plug nearest to the bed is hidden behind the bed, so to access it you need to move the bed.
Bottom Line: If you can afford to stay at The Ritz-Carlton Atlanta, do it. (Even if you have to save up for awhile and splurge, it's worth it.)
For more information click here.
Photos courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton.
She then provides coaching while Dean flattens and then begins to shape the blob. After various intervals when the glass is reheated, Dean continues to shape the glass. Petals are formed by tugging on sections of the molten disk:
The glass changes color and stiffens as it cools. The finished product:
Next time we visit the Finger Lakes, our itinerary will for sure include spending a full day at this museum. It's so interesting and there were more displays than we had time to explore. Plus, next time we can try our hand at some other glass art project.
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