An evening in a magical garden

After meeting Karen and seeing her work, we headed to the nearby Atlanta Botanical Garden to see the Garden Lights. This event resembles the holiday lights shows we have seen other places, but because of the artful way the lights are incorporated into the gardens, it was a magical experience.

We got there at dusk and followed the tour as recommended, with our first stop at the Ice Goddess.

She almost looks photoshopped, but I think you get that impression from the way all those lights are clustered. We all agreed we had not seen such an intense display of blue lights before.  We asked a fellow visitor to take a photo of the four of us.

Cindy, Susie, Cheryl and Judi

The designers at this show did not stay with the traditional themes of nutcrackers, elves, and toy trains - there were two of these giant green and red cobras.

And (out of sequence) there was an "edible garden" - this part had row upon row of lighted corn stalks.

This next photo shows the Orchestral Orbs on the Great Lawn. The dark boxes are speakers. The orbs changed colors in time with the music, in a symphonic sequence. The music alternated from classical to rock and jazz seasonal tunes.

Behind the orbs is the Conservatory. It was a cold night, so going into the tropical rain forest environment inside was a very nice way to warm our fingers and toes, but it was also a simply incredible visual delight. The photo below is quite possibly from a different display, but it conveys the way the fiber optics worked in the first area we walked through, where we became part of the display as little points of green light shone down on us.

By the time we got halfway through the garden, Susie was the only one with enough battery power left on her phone to take photos, but I decided not to post all of them  - you'll just have to plan a visit to Atlanta at Christmas to see this event for yourself. This year, the display will be up until January 4th.