Today, I was ever so thankful to finally see the train
station when we arrived in New Orleans! The conductor on the train announced
that the train was going to perform a test break and then begin backing up and
the backup part felt like it was taking hours. I felt the need to shower and
freshen up and I was also anxious to feel the weather. It is not hot here but
when I stepped off the train, it didn’t feel cold to me at all. Not near the
chill I was experiencing in Campaign as I was entering the train station. At first,
our plan was to walk to the hotel but Eryn and I both have rather large
suitcases and travel bags so we thought it would be best if we found a ride.
This was our first time using Uber but it was a positive experience and our
drivers name was Jill. She is a New Orleans native. She drove a black Honda Odyssey
so it had plenty of room for us. After we arrived at the hotel, we had to
patiently wait for everyone else to arrive as well. I was nervous that someone
was going to be late and that our room assignments would then be postponed. However,
that was not the case and everything ran very smoothly. When we rode the
elevator up to our room on the second floor, I was surprised at the size of our
room. I think this is the largest hotel that I have ever stayed at. There is a
sea green couch that pulls into a bed with two queen beds on the other side of
the wall. Then there is a sink with a mirror in front and then a mirror on the
side. I am glad about that because while someone is using the shower, another
person can still use the sink. There is also a long side mirror on the wall and
I used that to do my makeup earlier. Eryn said that she wanted to sleep on the
couch bed because she enjoys reading at night and she didn’t want to keep
anyone awake but after she sat on the mattress and felt the springs, we decided
that we would just share a bed and Katie can have the other bed. On our floor,
there is also a courtyard so I am excited to walk out on it and view the city.
The breakfast area of the hotel is also quite large so I am looking forward to
a nice breakfast every morning that we are here. After getting checked into the
hotel, it was time for our first tour. We had to meet in the lobby of the hotel
at five and then Colleen gave us a run down on how the streets work and I am
thankful for that because it helped me to better understand my map and I feel
more comfortable navigating by myself.
After our
quick tour, we all used our jazzy passes to board the street car. This took us
to the French quarter. When we first arrived at the French quarter, I couldn’t
help but notice all the fancy buildings and there was beauty everywhere. However,
I was starving and food was the only thing on my mind. We ate dinner at a
restaurant called the original pierre masperos and it was originally a pirate
place. Our server was super friendly and I was excited to eat there because the
menu looked like it had food on there that I had never tried before. I really
wanted some cheese grits because my family eats grits a lot but it came with
shrimp as a meal so I didn’t order it but I am hoping to have some while I am
here. For dinner, I ordered chicken and waffles and it came with a honey tobacco
sauce. I have never tried chicken and waffles together but it was delicious.
The fried chicken was some of the best fried chicken I have ever tasted. I did
try the honey tobacco sauce but I did not like it so Grace used it as a dipping
sauce for her French fries. Everyone ordered different items so it was nice to
get to sample foods. One girl at my table ordered some bread pudding and it was
the best bread pudding I have ever had. I kept thinking of my mom because that
is her favorite dessert and I know she would have loved it. After dinner was
the ghost tour. Our tour guide took us around to various buildings and told us
the ghost stories. My favorite story was this building that had five white
window coverings but one would never stay up and it is because it is haunted
due to being a building where slaves were beaten. To this day still, they
cannot get the window covering to stay up so they leave it blank. We also
walked to a restaurant called Marians and they had a section of the restaurant
blocked off and they had a table in the back and that is where they serve the
spirits. They also call in priests and they have the area blessed. Our tour
guide also said that occasionally, people can eat in there and that makes the
spirits happy because they have someone to join them. I also like how the tour guide
mentioned that New Orleans is haunted due to their location. They are surrounded
by a body of water and water is associated with higher power and spirits and so
is wind, heat and cold. She said that if you felt any heat or smelled any scent
that smelled familiar to let her know. While she was talking, I kept smelling a
bad BO smell but I just figured that someone needed to shower since we had been
on the train for that long. Overall, even though today was long, I had a lot of
fun and as of right now, I am very ready to crawl in bed for sleep so that I
can feel rested up for the journey ahead tomorrow.
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