We Made It!

Outer Journey

When getting in on the train it was not what I was expecting to see. It didn’t seem like a “city” and run down. Later I realized it is more of the downtown area and French quarters that are more of the “city”. We were able to get off the train, get our luggage, and got an uber “Keith”, the sweetest man ever, to the hotel. We each washed up and changed quick before it was time to head to dinner and do a little site seeing. We walked to the street car and sat next to a lady that had told us a story about her husband being stabbed earlier that morning in Jackson Square that we weren’t paying attention we lost our group and missed our stopped! We got off the street car and tried navigating ourselves to a popular place, figure out where we were, and find our group! Luckily we weren’t too far from them and easily found them. We were able to walk around Jackson square, see Andrew Jacksons statue, the cathedral, and learned some popular restaurants. For dinner we went to the Original Pierre Maspero’s where I had the best crab cakes over a spinach, mushroom, onion, and tomato salad. It was still raining that we rescheduled our ghost tour so had the rest of the night as “free time”. There was a group of us that walked to Bourbon street to see live Jazz at Fitzgerlad’s, they weren’t playing until later so we decided to go to Café Du Monde, then back to the hotel. The girls and I are now showered, face masked, relaxing, typing our blogs and watching American Horror Story the Convent that takes place in New Orleans. 

Inner Journey

When we were pulling into the train station I was surprised to see what New Orleans was looking like. It wasn’t what I was expecting and didn’t seem like it was the city I had built in my head. So then it was even more of a mystery of what to expect and what was to come during our trip. I was excited to get off the train and finally stretch! I was surprised at how warm and the humidity, I’m worried I might not have packed the right clothes. Our uber driver was such a great guy and he had a true New Orleans accent that we joked with him about and he joked with our Illinois Accents. I don’t think I would be able to drive here, there are so many narrow one way streets, people walking out everywhere, people riding bikes, road closings, and little weird turn about. After getting to the hotel we were in a time schedule to get to the street car so I felt rushed and didn’t really take our surroundings in. When we met the lady that had said her husband was stabbed that morning I felt really sorry for her and worried. She was really worried about us walking and I’m not really sure if or what had happened – but if it did I hope for a fast recovery! The food at the restaurant was amazing and I can’t wait to try more of the food here. After dinner it was raining so hard it was hard to take in our surroundings and wanted to get back inside. I’m glad to have a relaxing night in and get ready for our big day tomorrow.