Wednesday, January 4, 2017

First Day in the Beautiful NOLA

            The train ride honestly felt like it lasted a week, so I have to say, at the end of the ride I was so very happy to step off of it. I really didn’t get much sleep and my legs were honestly starting to ache from sitting so long. Someone else mentioned this as well, but I can almost still feel the swaying of the train as if I were still on it. I was basically starving to death at this point and my stomach was growling loud enough for people walking next to me to hear. I was also very happy to hear that the hotel was only about a ten minute Uber ride away, and even after the mini detour, the ride felt short and easy. Our Uber driver was awesome, told us he has lived in New Orleans his whole life, and let us know about a couple restaurant/bars we should check out.
Once we got to our room, I was happy to see how nice it is, but saddened to find out that I could feel the sharp metal springs through the mattress on the pull out couch bed. Needless to say, two of us will be sharing a bed.
The walk to the streetcar was a blur since we were walking pretty quickly but it was neat to see how quick and easy a streetcar ride is. The seats inside are adjustable so you can turn them to have people face each other or whichever direction you’d like.
When we got to the French Quarter, I was reminded quickly of how the street run parallel to each other and how easy it is to navigate. It was interesting to see Jackson Square and Bourbon street so differently than before. It was so much quieter, Bourbon street was cleaner and didn’t smell like feces, and Jackson Square had such few performers compared to last time, but I’m sure this weekend will be busier.

(St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square)

I was honestly looking forward to dinner so much by this point. We went to Pierre Maseru’s on Charter’s street. I love seafood and I know that New Orleans has some of the best. I ordered a crab cake appetizer. They were slightly crispy, with tons of crab, and so much savory flavor. The sauce that came with was creamy, tangy, and delicious! The appetizer portion consisted of two crab cakes and that was definitely plenty of food even with how hungry I was feeling.
After dinner, we walked to the start of the ghost tour. I had been looking forward to this part and found some of the stories very interesting. Others were a bit long with seemingly irrelevant parts and not much about ghosts, but I think the tour guide was knowledgable and very nice. Marie Laveau’s voodoo house was awesome. We walked inside and could immediately smell a good incense scent and I honestly felt a little eerie. It was almost like I was walking through some thick air in some places. I personally was not interesting in buying anything in the shop, but it is definitely cool to look at.


I really liked the story about John Laffitte and how the love of his life had disappeared, so he went back to the place that he was jailed and last saw her, and sat on the stoop and waited for her daily. She never returned, but I thought that was a great start to the ghost tour.
(The stoop)

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