Okay folks, so remember how I said I would be in New York for New Year’s? And my friend and I were hoping for a view of the balldrop from our hotel room? Well we got it! And it was AWESOME! New York truly is the coolest city in the world. I’ve been to a lot of cities but New York is by far my favourite. So much so that I will be back there for the Easter long weekend in April! Above is a picture of the crowd that collected in Times Square for the ball drop, as well as a close-up picture of the ball itself! My friend and I spent almost 2 weeks in New York, so there are plenty more photos to share – stay tuned!

Burnt Photo Restored by Anndi Photography

I’d like to take a moment this week to remind everyone that Anndi Photography isn’t all about photography. We also provide photo restoration services, among other things. The image on display this week is of a burnt photograph we recently restored. Restoration prices are by consultation only, but we’ll beat any written quote or ad you’ve received from other companies! So if you’ve got any old, damaged photos you would like to have restored to their former glory, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. If you live in the Lower Mainland (Coquitlam, Burnaby, Surrey, Vancouver, Richmond, etc.) we’ll even come to your house to assess your photo and then return it to you at home with the finished restoration. If you live outside the Lower Mainland, we can still provide restoration services if you are able to send us a high-resolution scan of your damaged photo. So don’t hold off any longer on getting your keepsakes fixed up – contact us today!

My friends and I spent three nights in Atlanta, the first of which we stayed at the Marriott Marquis hotel. I’m a Marriott Rewards member and earned a free night there, and it turned out to be one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever seen! The entrance to the hotel has a giant fountain outside, and water pouring down the windows as you walk into the lobby. There are actually three lobbies. And tons of elevators. And almost 50 floors. We stayed on the 41st floor. The view was amazing. The elevators go up and down so fast, they can’t keep count of what floor they’re passing, and they are designed like glass capsules. The hotel houses three restaurants, one of which we ate dinner at, and was hosting a large conference at the time. Service at Marriott hotels is always exceptional, which is why we choose them everywhere we go. We will be staying at the Marriott Marquis in New York City later this month, and after our stay in Atlanta, I really can’t wait! The Marquis in NYC is one of the top hotels in the world, and is right in the middle of Times Square. My friend and I are hoping to have a view of the New Year’s Eve ball drop!

My friends and I went on the “Inside CNN Studio Tour” and got to take a peak at news in action. You view inside mock studios, as well as real studios, and we watched one of CNN’s broadcasters reporting from Studio 7. Photography wasn’t allowed on much of the tour, but these are some of the photos I did get. It was a really cool experience seeing behind the scenes of one of the most infamous news agencies in the world. I just wish we had been able to take more photos! The CNN Center boasts the world’s longest escalator, which leads up to the giant globe which is the start of the tour. In the globe, you get to have your picture taken at a CNN news desk. There is also a cafeteria in the lobby that has a giant map of the world tiled across the floor, and CNN’s international studios are marked on it.

The World of Coca-Cola was a fun-filled museum about the company and the drinks it produces. Coca-Cola was invented in Atlanta, by a Mr. Pemberton. The Georgia Aquarium and Coke World are both in Pemberton Square, named after the fellow. My friends and I had the chance to take a photo with the iconic Coca-Cola polar bear! There is also a miniature bottling factory in the museum where you can watch bottles of Coke being filled and transported to the other end of the museum, where you get to take one home for free. Bottles and advertising campaigns from all around the world are on display in the museum, but the best part is obviously the tasting room at the end. You are given a cup and you get to go up to 6 different fountain drink dispensers, one from each continent of the world, and taste every drink produced by Coca-Cola globally. There are over 60 different drinks on tap! Plus there’s a whole room devoted to plain old Coke itself, in cherry, vanilla, diet, and regular forms. You can fill and refill your cup as many times as you like, but you’ll probably leave with a stomach ache! The very end of the museum is the awesome gift shop, where they sell every piece of Coca-Cola memorabilia you can even imagine! I packed light so I couldn’t bring too much stuff home with me, or else I might have bought one of everything…

I know I said I would add more photos of Chicago but I decided to skip to Atlanta for now. I might go back to some photos of Chicago later. We visited two main attractions in Atlanta – The World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. These are some of my favourite photos of the latter. I believe it may be the largest aquarium in the U.S., perhaps only outdone by Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium (maybe?). The Georgia Aquarium is home to not one, not two, but FOUR whale sharks in their Ocean Voyager exhibit – my favourite part of the whole aquarium. These guys are HUGE (the largest fish species in the world!), and two of them were brought to Atlanta from Taiwan via special UPS shipping crates on a 747! A whale shark is the heaviest animal UPS has ever transported. The Ocean Voyager exhibit is a massive 6.4 million gallon saltwater tank, which also houses four manta rays! The largest viewing window is 23ft tall, 61ft wide, and 2ft thick, and is the second largest viewing window in a U.S. aquarium. Part of the tank is a “shark tunnel” that you can walk through and see thousands of different fish swimming over your head. The aquarium recently acquired their fourth manta ray, the first male, who is almost 9ft wide and weighs about 265lbs. He was caught off the coast of Florida, while at least one of the female manta rays is from South Africa. These manta rays are the only ones in a U.S. aquarium. The Ocean Voyager exhibit was built by The Home Depot specifically for the whale sharks. If you’re ever in Atlanta, this aquarium is definitely a must-see! Next week, Coca-Cola World!

I know, I know, it’s not called the Sears Tower anymore… but the name just sticks! And it definitely sounds better than the Willis Tower… a.k.a. Skydeck Chicago. We visited the Skydeck, as well as the Field Museum while in Chicago for a day. We also walked around the area surrounding our hotel at night when the city was lit up (photos of that to come). These photos are primarily views from the Skydeck, which is on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower. I’ve included a photo of my shoes as I attempted to step out onto the ledge! Visibility was stated as being 0-5 miles, with very low cloud cover; it was cold and windy (it’s the Windy City!). Luckily, the rain held off until we left the following morning. I don’t want to edit these photos because I like how they represent what the weather was really like. I feel like you can tell it was cold just by looking at them. In the cab from the airport into downtown Chicago, many of the buildings appeared to be endlessly tall, protruding straight into the clouds! Chicago is a very cool city. I love “big cities” and Chicago is one that epitomizes the term. Next week: more photos from Chicago, followed by a few weeks of photos from our final stop in the States – Atlanta, GA.

Okay guys, so I went on a little tour of the U.S.A. with a couple friends and we made three main stops. We actually started by taking the ferry to Vancouver Island, then another ferry to Port Angeles, WA, then a bus which took another ferry into downtown Seattle. Yikes, that’s a lot of ferries… Anyway, Seattle was just a stop over to catch an early flight to Chicago, since it’s much cheaper to fly out from Seatac than YVR. So while we were there, we just visited the Space Needle. Myself and one friend arrived in Seattle around 4pm but we were meeting someone else there who didn’t arrive until 7pm. Not much to do that late, but Seattle lit up looks great from up top!

(P.S. I had to throw in some photos of the ferry ride to Port Angeles… just too beautiful!)

As promised, here are two final shots from the Photo Walk a few weeks ago. One is a really nice rainbow-coloured flare between some of downtown Vancouver’s tall, shiny buildings, created by an eight-point filter on my camera. The other is of Vancouver’s Olympic Torch from the 2010 Winter Games. It is located directly beside the new convention centre we saw previously. Look for photos from Seattle, Chicago, and Atlanta coming up next!

Two more shots from the Coal Harbour photo walk for you this week, and two more to come next Sunday. Next Monday, I will be on Vancouver Island again, from where I will be taking the ferry to Seattle, which should make for some great photos to share (maybe I’ll see a whale!). From there, I will be making a stop in Chicago and then heading to Atlanta for a few days. So lots of cool new photos coming in the next few weeks!