In the morning we went back to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Site. Mike had told us that the place we went to last time was run by King´s family and that across the street there was a museum run by the National Park Authorities which was much better. Strange setup. We did not see any indication at the family run museum that there actually was another one nearby.

In my opinion Hélène was much too kind when blogging about the center run by the family the other day. That place was a disgrace to the memory of Dr. King. The exposition was already disappointing 10 years ago. This time it looked like the only maintenance that had been done during the last 10 years had been the regular cleaning.

There was a wall with an overview of every year of his life after 1955. The paper was starting to get yellow and the corners worn in some cases. The boys were very interested and I ended up translating everything for Viktor. It was pretty embarrassing to have to skip two of the most important years, 1963 and 1966, because they were missing(!), as you can see below. Someone must have torn them down and they had not been replaced.

We were very happy that we went back to see the other museum, and the boys got to learn a lot more about Dr. King and the civil rights movement. It was difficult for Iseline to grasp what this was all about, but there was a separate small expo aimed at small children. Iseline was moved and impressed by this little girl:

Our kids have grown up with children of all skin colors around them and I found it very difficult to explain to them what had happened in the not too distant past.

There were many screens set up where videos where shown that documented some part of the struggle. All well made and thought provoking.

It seems so distant today, but racism is still alive all around us, even though it now often takes different forms and shapes than the crude way it was expressed some decades ago. Personally I find the current trends in Europe quite disturbing, with more and more political parties winning votes by playing on people´s fears and subconscious tendency for racism.

The feeling that different races have different values is unfortunately still subconsciously alive in most of us. I remember reading the autobiography of a black man living in South Africa some time ago. In it he tells the story of when he is outside South Africa and boards a flight with a black pilot. He is terrified of the thought that his own life is dependent on a black pilot´s ability to safely fly a plane. His first thought is to get off the plane immediately, but he manages to control himself. The man was Nelson Mandela. Even he had not been left untainted by the racism around him.

The museum was not exceptional, but it was good enough, and it had very powerful stories to tell. What a contrast to the Coca Cola museum!

The so-called 4D movie (Who came up with the idea of calling water splashes and a few blowing fans a new dimension? Don´t marketing people learn that a new dimension must contain infinite copies of all the other dimensions?) at the Coca Cola museum was for me the symbol of how capitalism in no way is the most efficient way to spend a society´s resources. That enormous movie theater with all the bells and whistles and the production of their movie must have cost several decades of MLK center budgets. And they used it to show a movie that was all special effects and no substance. They had no other story to tell than that Coke makes you happy and that they are good at logistics. The kids said flat out that they didn´t like it.

It reminded me of the famous statement Steve Jobs used to get John Sculley to jump from Pepsi to Apple: “Do you want to sell sugar water for the the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?”

Am I drifting again? Sorry.

Outside the museum was this colorful wall:

Next we headed over to the Georgia Aquarium, the world´s largest aquarium measured in volume of water. Outside the entrance Hélène took this beautiful picture showing the Coca Cola museum and parts of downtown Atlanta.

The kids loved the aquarium. Especially impressive was the tunnel under an enormous water tank with no less than 4 whale sharks (the world´s largest fish) swimming around with many, many other species. You could even sign up for swimming in that tank(!) in the evening.

Iseline and a penguin giving each other a stare:

Good bye:

Hello!

The ray and shark(!) touch pool was a winner:

In the evening Hélène brought the kids with her to a specialty shop to get industrial strength mosquito repellent and some other stuff we need for the Amazon. South America is not many days away!

I had been invited by Mike to meet some of his students. We had a great chat for a little over an hour with many good questions from the students. It once again reminded me that I have to get started on writing that book as soon as this trip is over.

In the evening I set a new record on the Chuck Norris charging station:

3 iPods, 1 iPhone, 1 camera battery, 2 external laptop batteries, 2 laptops and 3 iPads all charging at the same time. Still there is one mains outlet and 3 more USB outlets to spare. All this from one outlet on the wall. Are you impressed or are you impressed?

Eirik

—–

We had a good session of home schooling in the morning before we headed out for today´s main event. Since we were going to share an experience with about 70 000 other people we decided to leave the car at home.

Just next to the bus stop Iseline suddenly shouted that she could see the Washington Memorial for mice. She was so enthusiastic about her find that she made me take a picture of her in front of it:

The bus did not arrive on time and we were getting a bit worried. After speaking to a fellow public transport user we got the impression that time tables were not all that important here. The bus goes every 20 minutes and one will show up eventually. Things seem relaxed here in the south.

At last we managed to work our way to downtown Atlanta. The bus followed Peachtree Street. It is the original and main Peachtree Street Atlanta has been built around. Interestingly enough there are 71 streets in Atlanta with Peachtree in the name. Even though Georgia is the peach state, the name has nothing to do with peach, but is a corrupted form for “pitch tree”.

We met Mike at the bus stop in town and walked over to the Georgia Dome. The boys really wanted to see an American sports event while we were here. Originally we wanted to do baseball, but that did not work out. So, we settled for American Football instead. The weird sport where they spend twice as much time standing around as they do playing (no kidding, a one hour match normally lasts at least three hours), where they very seldom use their feet on the “ball” at all, where they don´t use a ball, but a projectile made from pig skin and where everyone tries to kill the guy who has the pig skin thing.

We had invited Mike to join us, in the hope of having access to an American with a wealth of insight and knowledge about the game. We quickly realized that Mike had never been to a game before and did not know the rules at all. Cool, this would be a new cultural experience for all of us. We warmed up with photos next to a mascot thing outside the stadium:

Georgia Dome is most impressive. It was the largest dome structure in the world until the construction of the  millennium done in London. It has a capacity of over 71 000 people for football games. When I bought tickets I discovered that the NFL has a “blackout” rule saying that if a game is not sold out it will not be televised in the local market. Congress passed legislation forcing them to do this in 1973! Previously there was always a blackout. Some things are very important to politicians. It reminds me of the county council meeting in Norway, many years ago, which was moved so the politicians could watch the TV series “Dallas”

Anyway, Mike wanted us all to get the real Amercian football experience, so we acquired some hot dogs, fries and beer:

Since our plan of consulting our American expert did not work out we once again turned to my iPhone´s copy of Wikipedia. I knew some of the rules already and the kids and I quickly got into the game. It was actually fun to watch and we soon roared and booed with the local fans. At one point I asked Mike if he understood why the ball had just been kicked over to the other team. He responded that he hadn´t even noticed the ball being kicked, since he was studying the engineering behind the structure of the stadium. My kind of guy.

In the break between the second and third quarter a giant peanut entered the field. It was the final of the Mr. Planter college scholarship competition. I believe there were 4 contestants with parents. The parents had to wear a huge oversized black plastic hat with a big hole in it. The kids then had 60 seconds to throw, at a distance, small bags of peanuts into the hats, The kid who hit with most peanut bags got a scholarship.

Hopeful kid who wants to go to college hardly visible to the right in the center of the photo. Heartbreaking missed college opportunities can be seen on the ground around the parent with the funny hat.

Supersized check being prepared for handover. The winning kid not even visible on this one.

It was completely bizarre. What a way of handing out scholarships! If this is the way the US selects who gets to go to college the future look bleak indeed for the old superpower.

The noise level during the game was completely out of this world. I regretted deeply that we had not brought ear plugs. It seemed that the only way to cheer on your team was to make as many decibels as possible. No singing, no standing up (even though the guy on the speakers told people to get up, they never did), no yelling names or slogans, no doing the wave. Just uncontrolled, full volume, screaming of the monotonous kind. It seemed the accoustics of the stadium had been fine-tuned to amplify this type of screaming in order to maximize eardrum damage during matches. I got out my iPhone and ran the decibel meter application. It maxed out at 105. I´m sure the noise level was much higher.

The game turned out to be a thriller. The Atlanta Falcons were in the lead from the first touchdown, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came very close to winning. They were at 4th down and one on the one with a score of 27 to 21 with 2 minutes left of the 4th quarter (told you we figured out the rules). The Falcons managed to stop their attempt and the stadium errupted in even more monotonous screaming than before.

Just as we thought we had mastered all aspects of the game it suddenly ended with a minute left on the game clock. Confused, and realizing we might not be experts yet, we left the stadium with a sense of having taken part in a very special clan ritual. It had been an interesting anthropological afternoon.

We had a drink at a hotel bar before we headed home. At the bar Iseline wanted me to listen to some music on her iPod:

It was techno music from my old “Ultra Techno” CD. She knew I would like it and she sure knows how to make a father´s heart melt.

Eirik

—–

Martin Luther King et Coca-Cola

Nous avons commencé la journée par une visite du King Center. Fondé en 1968 par Coretta Scott King, femme de Martin Luther King, le “Centre du King” est le mémorial vivant dédié à la promotion de l’héritage de Martin Luther King, Jr., chef de file du plus grand mouvement non-violent pour la justice, l’égalité et la paix d’Amérique. Eirik et moi l’avions visité il y a 10 ans, et aucune amélioration n’ayant eu lieu, nous avons trouvé l’expo plutôt fatiguée…

Le mouvement des droits civiques a commencé le 1^er décembre 1955, lorsque Rosa Parks, une femme noire, est arrêtée pour avoir violé les lois ségrégationnistes de la ville en refusant de céder sa place à un homme blanc dans un bus à Montgomery, près d’Atlanta. Martin Luther King s’engage en faveur du boycott des bus de la ville. 

ll adhère à la philosophie de désobéissance civile non-violente comme décrite par Henry David Thoreau^[9] et utilisée avec succès en Inde par Gandhi^[10].

Le 14 octobre 1964, Martin Luther King devient le plus jeune lauréat du Prix Nobel de la paix pour avoir mené une résistance non violente dans le but d’éliminer les préjudices raciaux aux États-Unis.

Le 4 avril 1968 à 18 h 01, Martin Luther King est assassiné par un ségrégationniste blanc à Memphis dans le Tennessee.

Changement de décor: nous mettons le cap sur le musée Coca-Cola. Le GPS nous conduit à un endroit où il n’y a pas de musée. Après avoir tourné un moment dans les rues, on abandonne et on se dirige vers l’aquarium. En arrivant là, on découvre que le musée Coca-Cola a emmenagé dans des nouveaux locaux juste à côté de l’aquarium. On remet donc notre visite de l’aquarium à lundi.

En chemin, on traverse le parc olympique qui avait été construit pour les JO d’Atlanta en 1996.

Sur deux cubes en pierre, se trouvent inscrits les noms de tous les athlètes ayant remporté des médailles. On a trouvé l’inscription pour la médaille d’or norvégienne pour le 800m en course à pied remportée par Vebjørn Rodal. (il y en a eu d’autres…)

On arrive finalement au nouveau World of Coca-Cola , où on ne parle que du “bonheur que l’on trouve dans une bouteille de Coca-Cola”.

Tout a commencé en 1886 avec le Dr John Pemberton qui a inventé cette nouvelle boisson. En 1887, Pemberton fait inscrire au registre du commerce la marque Coca-Cola. Quelques mois plus tard, l’entreprise est rachetée pour 2 300 dollars.

Qu’on aime ou qu’on n’aime pas le Coca et le pouvoir de Coca-Cola dans le monde, on ne peut qu’être fasciné par l’ingéniosité de leur marketing et la force symbolique de la marque. La forme de la fameuse bouteille existe depuis 1916. Le fait que la formule du coca est un secret bien gardé contribue aussi au mythe. Nous avons tous appris des choses sur le marketing et la pub.

Vers la sortie, il y avait une salle où l’on pouvait goûter à plus de 60 boissons différentes, toutes des marques de Coca-Cola venant du monde entier.

On a payé nos billets d’entrée 60$ pour tous. Eirik a demandé aux enfants s’ils trouvaient normal de payer pour entrer au musée Coca-Cola mais pas au centre de Martin Luther King. Ils trouvaient cela normal car Coca-Cola montrent un film en 4D et offrent la dégustation de plus de 60 boissons différentes. Ils trouvaient qu’ils en avaient eu pour leur argent…

Nous avons ensuite passé la soirée avec Mike, ami d’Eirik rencontré à Taiwan en 1989. Nous sommes d’abord allés boir un verre au bar Sundial (le cadran solaire) au 73eme etage de l’Hotel Westin Peachtree Plaza en plein centre d’Atlanta.

Les fauteuils du bar sont placés sur une plateforme rotative qui offre une vue imprenable sur toute la ville. Le temps de prendre un verre ici, nous avons fait le tour complet et pu admirer la vue sur Atlanta by night.

On est ensuite allés dîner au restau “Five feet under“, qui propose des spécialités du sud des Etats-Unis: aligator, crabe, coquillages, crevettes, hush puppies (croquettes de mais), poisson-chat, épis de mais… Miam!

Encore une journée bien remplie!

A +

Hélène

Etape de transport vers Atlanta

La matinée a été consacrée à faire les bagages et scanner les derniers livres d’école qui avaient échappé à notre attention lors des préparatifs avant le départ. Maintenant, plus d’excuse pour ne pas faire de sciences naturelles. Même si les enfants ont appris plein de choses dans les musées qu’on a visités, il va falloir suivre le programme de l’école…

Eirik a aussi profité de l’imprimante de Gwen et Bob pour imprimer les réservations d’hôtels et de voitures de location pour les semaines à venir. “Chat échaudé craint l’eau froide”, nous voulons éviter de renouveler l’expérience de l’agence de location de voitures à Atlanta. Et les pays d’Amérique du Sud sont peut-être un peu moins habitués à la “société sans papier”? Mieux vaut prévoir…

En chemin, Eirik a vu ce panneau pour un institut d’amaigrissement qui propose des enveloppements (“film d’amincissement”) et autres méthodes douteuses pour perdre 15 kg en 30 jours. Ca tente quelqu’un?…

Nous avons fait la route pour Atlanta sous une pluie battante, mais sans évènement majeur.

Arrivés à Atlanta, nous avons trouvé notre appartement sans problème, et il répondait tout à fait à nos attentes.

Venant juste de s’installer, personne n’avait envie de ressortir sous la pluie pour aller diner. En bons américains, nous avons donc commandé des plats asiatiques livrés à domicile.

Demain, à nous l’histoire de Martin Luther King et la cuisine du sud des Etats-Unis!

A bientôt

Hélène