Catching Up

Quite a bit for me to catch up on here in the grand and glorious ATL. Coming from a small town with an annual tractor show (see left--now take that row of tractors and multiply by nine--I'm telling you, it's a big event back home), there seems to be an enormous amount of activities/restaurants/fashions/people of which or whom I've never heard. Por ejemplo, this shopping business?

My first introduction to the divided world of Atlanta was Lenox Square, a veritable ocean of stores such as Nicole Miller, Nine West, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, the Discovery Channel store (my favorite, nerdy but awesome), and a bazillion other high-profile shops featuring everything from shoes to sofas to sweets. (Check out the picture below of one of the entrances to the Mall Level--very ominous steps, either a warning or welcome mat to shoppers.) It was more than slightly astounding to me that here, in the same building, I could purchase anything from decorated tea picks to lanolin oil (from a sheep?) to The Once and Future King to an electric drill. And no, I'm not even mentioning clothes.

Ok, just one clothes-story--I stood at the entrance to Burberry, exceedingly curious as to what makes their clothes so ridiculously expensive. Is it the make? Is it the fabric? Is it all just hype? When I entered the clerk smiled at me kindly, noting my age, garb, gaping jaw and judging me (rightly) less than a paying customer. But why not humor me?

I went to a nice beige jacket and held the tag between my fingers--What? 95 dollars? I can almost afford that! I thought with surprise.

Then I tilted the tag (you see, the black ink on the black tag hadn't completely caught the light) and saw another digit prior to the 95. Oh. I backed away from the jacket carefully.

I'll catch up; it'll take some getting used to. By it I'm referring to the mix of people (everyone from fellow students to big-time business owners to the man in the Rastafarian cap waving the flag around in the park), the traffic, the commerce and all the other ingredients comprising the city atmosphere. I'll catch up, no problem. :)

Back to abbreviated Idiot's Guide to Atlanta