Atlanta and Parts Thereabouts

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Your Nomad-in-Chief spent a soggy weekend working in Atlanta. I would normally stay downtown (The Glenn or The Ellis) or in Buckhead but as my buisness was near Emory University, I opted to try the Emory Conference Center Hotel.

The room was spacious and the amenities serviceable if not over the top. There was plenty of room to work and the public access Wifi (free) was accessible in my room. Guest Wifi is $9.95 a day. The staff was helpful and friendly. It is also the only Green Seal certified hotel in Atlanta which is great for those of us concerned about eco-friendly travel.

The downside was that the hotel is fairly remote and, at least this weekend, didn’t have much of a crowd. It was almost eerily quiet in the evening. There aren’t restaurants within easy walking distance. It is also under renovation so not all of the facilities are available.

All in all, however, it is worth a look if you need to be in that area.

The dining highlight was the Atlanta Fish Market. This crowd-pleasing old favorite in Buckhead still serves up great fresh fish. The staff was attentive despite the Saturday night crowd.

As it was St. Patty’s weekend (and the St. Pat’s celebration is turning into Irish Chanukah — a full eight nights of green-saturated revelry), the group decided to visit Fado for a pint. Fado was one of the original bars when Buckhead was just a few square blocks of partying and not the mall-encrusted expanse that it is today. The old Fado was torn down and has been replaced by a larger, modern version (this is a chain). The new one lacks the creaky charm of the original and live music, at least on this night, was replaced by deafening techno-Celt spun by a DJ. Maybe I’m getting old but I was underwhelmed.