Centennial Olympic Park
Centennial Olympic Park, one of the most enduring legacies of the 1996 Olympic Games, is a living monument to the city's memories -- both good and bad -- of that seminal event. Conceived as a town square, it represents the heart of the Olympic effort, the site where everyone flocked to celebrate the games. And when the games resumed after the bombing in the park that claimed two lives, it was where people gathered to try to revive the Olympic spirit.A 21-acre swath of green space and bricks, the park was carved out of a blighted downtown area. It was closed after the games and redesigned for permanent use before reopening in 1998. Once again the universal gathering place it was intended to be, it's an oasis of rolling lawns crisscrossed by brick pathways and punctuated by artwork, rock gardens, pools, and fountains. There are usually a few free events each month -- festivals, artists' markets, and concerts and other performances. Call for a complete listing of happenings.If you're visiting the park on your own, and not coming for a specific event, your first stop should be the visitor center on International Boulevard, in the southwest corner of the park, across from the CNN Center. This is where you'll find information about the park. If you bought a $35 commemorative brick in 1996, someone will help you locate it among the nearly 500,000 engraved bricks that were used to pave the plaza and walkways. Even if you didn't buy a brick, it's fun to wander around and read the names and messages (some pretty intriguing) engraved on them.The best part of the park is the fountain in the shape of the five interlocking Olympic Rings. It's the focus of a vast paved plaza bordered by 23 flags honoring all the host countries of the modern Games. If you're here in summer, you and the kids can frolic in the fountain (wear shirts and shoes, please), a good way to cool off in the sizzling Southern heat. Don't be shy-just about everybody in Atlanta has done this at one time or another. If getting drenched is not your thing, you can still enjoy one of the "concerts" put on by the fountains-timed water and light displays accompany seven different songs. The water jets, which normally shoot 12 feet into the air, can reach 35 feet during special effects.Located along the east border are the Quilt Plazas, five plazas of contrasting bricks that tell the story of the Centennial Olympic Games. The best "quilt" is also the most moving. Titled the Quilt of Remembrance, it pays respect to the bombing victims and contains colored marble from five continents. Be sure to read the inscriptions on its borders.Pricey Park Land--If you really, really, really had a good time at Centennial Olympic Park, you can have it all to yourself for a small fee. Though it's a public park, it's also a moneymaker managed by the Georgia World Congress Center, and parts of the park are sometimes rented for various business functions, parties, or other celebrations. There have even been a few weddings. You can rent the entire park for, um, $10,000. Call tel. 404/222-7275 for details.

Alexander Memorial Coliseum
This 10,000-seat stadium -- renovated for the Olympics -- is home to Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets college basketball team. Parking is limited around the stadium; it's easiest to take MARTA.

Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University
Emory University began its antiquities collection in 1875, and this intriguing museum dates to 1919, when it was founded to display the art and artifacts collected by Emory faculty in Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, Sicily, the Sea of Galilee, and the sites of ancient Babylon and Palestine. Today, the museum also maintains collections of ancient art and archaeology from Rome, Central and South America, the Near East, and Mesoamerica; works of the native cultures of North America; art of Asia and Oceania; and some 1,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, a sizable collection of works on paper encompasses illuminated manuscript pages, drawings, and prints from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance to the 20th century.The museum is housed partly in a 1916 beaux-arts building that is on the National Register of Historic Places; postmodernist architect Michael Graves redesigned the interior in 1985. The remainder of the collections occupy a 35,000-square-foot exhibition space (also designed by Graves). The first-floor galleries feature exhibits from the extensive permanent collection -- objects that were part of the daily life of people from five continents as early as the seventh millennium B.C. They include Bronze and Iron Age clay pots, jugs, loom weights, and oil lamps from Palestine; Egyptian mummies, pottery, cosmetic containers, and headrests; Greek and Cypriot pottery, flasks, and statuary; and Mesopotamian pottery, coins, tools, sculpture, and cuneiform tablets inscribed with ancient writing. Also on this level: the Thibadeau Pre-Columbian collection, comprising over 1,300 objects spanning 2,000 years of creativity -- gold jewelry, pottery, and statues, including many ceramic, volcanic stone, greenstone, and gold sculptures from ancient Costa Rica. Allow at least an hour to see the collections.The upper floor is used for changing exhibits ranging in subject matter from Pueblo Indian pottery to Impressionist art. Throughout the museum, 210 plaster casts of ancient architectural elements -- reliefs, friezes, column capitals, and decorative elements from temples and monuments -- adorn hallway and lobby walls.There are many interesting workshops, lectures, films, and gallery tours here; call to find out what's on during your stay. A nice museum shop tempts with a variety of educational books and gifts, as well as jewelry inspired by the collections. The museum's cafe, on the third floor, serves continental breakfast, lunch, coffee, and tea, and is open during regular museum hours.

Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites PERIMETER MALL (HAMMOND DR)
The Holiday Inn Express Atlanta Perimeter Hotel is conveniently located at Atlanta Perimeter Center and the Atlanta Perimeter Mall. This 107-room hotel includes 52 king-bedded rooms, 36 queen/ queens' and 19 suites which include a full kitchen. We offer free wireless high speed Internet service throughout the entire hotel. All rooms feature a microwave, refrigerator, coffee maker, hair dryer, three telephones with two phones offering two-line speaker phones, iron/ ironing board and an ...

InterContinental BUCKHEAD
The InterContinental Buckhead Hotel is an exceptional Atlanta hotel and a standard by which Buckhead Atlanta hotels are measured. Located on Peachtree Road, close to Atlanta®s Buckhead business or shopping, this new Atlanta luxury hotel provides easy access to trendy restaurants, nightlife and shopping at the famous Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza. The 422 elegant guest rooms with pillow top bedding, floor to ceiling windows and marble baths make the hotel a leader among Buckhead hotels and ...

Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta North/Johns Creek
FROM HARTSFILED AIRPORT (ATLANTA) Trip distance: Approximately 42 Miles Trip Time: Approximately 1 hour Leave the airport going NORTH on I-85 to I-285 WEST Take I-285 WEST to Exit 31B HWY 141 NORTH / Peachtree Ind. Blvb. After 3 miles HWY 141 and Peachtree Ind Blvb. split. STAY on 141 WHICH BEARS TO THE LEFT. From the split we are 9 miles NORTH on the right side of HWY 141 Turn RIGHT on EAST JOHNS CROSSING and take an immediate left. ...