Columbus GA: Fountain City Coffee

I stopped by Fountain City Coffee to relax with an espresso. The establishment's name refers to the fact that Columbus is the birthplace of Coca-Cola; they naturally pay homage with Coca-Cola umbrellas outside.

Inside, the atmosphere is quiet, calm, artistic, and slightly eccentric. The back wall is adorned with a giant portrait of Klaus Kinski as Aguirre.

These folks roast their own beans. My double espresso was very smooth and refreshing.

The street outside the coffee house is nice, low-key fun. The historic opera house and part of Columbus State University are in the neighborhood. Columbus seems to have always exhibited the pleasant eccentricities of small towns, ones that are all too often steamrollered out by modernization. This fountain is known as the "Man and Beast fountain." The bottom bowl is for dogs, the middle bowl for horses, and the top bowl for people. Those were easier days when such different creatures could co-exist peacefully...

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