Atlanta is a large metropolis located in the westernmost part of Georgia, an area characterized by a severe climate and where the southern flags still proudly wave, to remind that the wounds of the Secession war are not yet completely healed. the main attraction is certainly the World of Coca Cola (worldofcoca-cola.com), the museum of one of the most famous, hailed and hated American symbols in the world.
The museum is located in Downtown, very close to Centennial Park dedicated to the Olympic Games that took place in Atlanta in 1996. Adjacent to the museum is the aquarium with which it shares the immense covered parking lot. The sight of both of them in one day is an excellent combination that is completed without much trouble and that will surely satisfy both big and small. It is better to choose to visit the World of Coca Cola early in the morning. After buying the tickets you must enter a first room where visitors are welcomed to the cry of "Welcome to the Factory of Happiness" and watch the movie "Moments of Happiness" that briefly retraces some highlights in the history of the drink. The rhetoric of the association of Coca Cola with happiness is one of the dominant themes of aggressive brand marketing, and therefore not even the museum can escape this logic.
At the end of the film you can access the large hall overlooked by the various rooms that make up the museum, arranged on two floors.
The gallery "Milestones of Refreshment" retraces through original pieces the entire history of Coca Cola, ever since the pharmacist John Pemberton invented it in 1886 as a remedy for headaches and fatigue. "Vault of the Secret Formula" should be (the conditional is a must) the place where the formula, still secret and extensively imitated, is jealously preserved. "Bottle Works" reproduces the industrial bottling phase of the product, with functioning machinery.
"Life Positively Portrait Wall" aims to show the charitable initiatives conducted by Coca Cola in the world, a clear example of improving the image of a brand that despite everything still arouses mixed feelings. There is no lack of a message to say thank you for what the drink has done for you (actually the messages are almost exclusively American), and an art gallery.
And you can not miss a souvenir photo with Polar Bear, very popular among children, but the real highlight of the museum is reached at the end. In the last room, called not by chance "Taste it", you have the opportunity to taste without limitation all the products that the Coca cola company sells in the world. Not only the variants of Coca Cola mainly destined to the American market (cherry Coca Cola, vanilla Coca Cola, ginger Coca Cola, in a crescendo of sweetness that only a few palates can resist, to get to the limited series), but also all the other soft drinks on sale from Uganda to Japan, passing through Europe.
