Travelogue 1: PR/NOLA

[quidditchgrrl]

I have a vacation hangover today. My throat is scratchy and I'm just feeling slightly sick and wrung out. Maybe I should have gone into work (i.e. a "hair of the dog" way to get back on track)?

Yeah, no. I'll probably stop in tonight to drop off pralines. The Tim-Tams are mine, however. MINE, I SAY.

I uploaded lots of pictures to my MySpace. avidbeader, is it okay if I filch some of your pics?



A full week's vacation in New Orleans, a place I thought I'd never want to visit again.

I had an AWESOME time with my friends and my fandom, because fandom is fucking funny. And so are my friends. So much love.

As nuclearpolymer said, "...the sort of person who is willing to devote time and resources to doing something just for fun is likely to be, in Roald Dahl's terms,'sparky'."

Here are my two of my best friends (and my roomies), redblaze and alissomora:



We had a rocking good time, just hanging out and exploring together. New Orleans, in places, isn't so much rebuilt as swept up. So much is for sale and it seemed to be kind of a shell of its former self (although that might be a function of the time of year). In the north, everything would have been torn down and new developments built. It's kind of nice to see that keeping things as they were is important.

I believe it is a law in New Orleans that every hipster must own a scooter of some sort, or ride a bicycle.

The Sheraton was a middling experience, for what they were charging us. $1.50 "occupancy fee" seemed the height of silliness, and charging $10/day to use the fitness center was outrageous (but I happily paid for the privledge of ogling the rather fit DoD gentlemen who were there earlier last week). alissomora was expecting a package from seviet and they never called to let her know it had arrived.

I ate bread pudding 3 times. How I managed not to slip into a diabetic coma, I'll never know. It was different than any bread pudding I'd had, and it was gooood.

If any of the heads of house decides to raise money for a charity at Terminus/Portus/wherever, I would certainly be interested in promoting it. $1000 for the NOLA Library rebuiliding effort, while every little bit helps, was barely $1 per attendee. Boo.





I got to the Sheraton on Tuesday afternoon, after getting stuck in Memphis for 90 minutes, then taking a $28 cab ride from the airport (the first of many sticker shocks I had this trip). Promptly crashed out until Liss got there with friend in tow. We squeed and hugged and smiled and unpacked, then went to dinner at Zea. Liss had so much trouble with the southern accents - she could NOT understand what people were saying sometimes! Our waitress at Zea had no accent that I could hear, but Liss' face would go completely blank whenever she came by to check on us.

New Orleans is all about eating. I saw ONE Starbucks in the downtown/FQ area - in the lobby of our hotel, with abbreviated hours. There was one Mickey D's and one Wendy's, both of which closed early. I didn't eat from a non-local restaurant once while we were there.

Wednesday, I went to the gym (OMG, that DOD medical conference in the hotel - I saw TWO people I had worked with; luckily I have different hair and am 70# lighter. But let me tell ya: older, fit, toned officers in uniform...*swoon*), then we set out to explore the FQ. I can't emphasize how much I dislike touristy areas. But on a Wednesday morning, the FQ was quiet and easy to navigate. Plus, Liss had never been to NOLA, so it was great to see it through fresh eyes.

Speaking of fresh, NOLA has Lush. *squee* I bought a couple of things for the bath...I like the idea of their stuff more than the stuff itself. But, girly, sparkly bath bombes! I also picked up some pralines at Southern Candymakers. Nummy.

We had lunch in the French Market, where I had a half muffaletta and Liss had Jambalaya. During the hottest part of the day we went back and Liss crashed out to sleep off her jet lag. I mailed Honeybunch's birthday gifts - I brought them down so he would be able to have a "present" from me delivered. We went back out and did more walking around in the evening, ate dinner (tho' I can't remember where) and talked the night away.

It's a sad state of affairs that I had to attempt to manoeuver my camera shots to hide all of the "for sale" signs. There are areas that are still looking a bit rough, though "rough" is pretty much the descriptor for most of NOLA. Being able to explore during the day, in the middle of the week, was great. Very quiet and serene, all around.

Things were super-expensive, as well. I didn’t buy a bottle of pop for less than $2 ANYWHERE. You could catch water at Southern Candymakers for $1.50. But man. Annoying. Going to the corner store was a bit of a wobble - rats and "palmetto bugs". Ew!



I am still in my jammies. I need to shower and work out. I also need to attempt to eat something besides Tim Tams and Diet Coke. Yes.

Comments

[avidbeader.livejournal.com]

Filch away!

I am already hoping that Mr. Bead and I can plan a family vacation to NOLA in the next year or two. I definitely didn't get to see enough of the city.

Heh...my Tim Tams are 2/3 gone already, thanks to Mr. Bead and Little Bead...

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

The cemeteries were really neat; we went to Lafayette No. 1 and then to Greenwood (which is more contemporary).

At least you shouldn't have any trouble tiring Little Bead out, with all the walking! :)

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

Ok, I gotta know - which hotel was better? Cuz I read ... hell, I don't know where ... but someone was saying they liked this place better than the JW and I find that hard to believe. I still want to go back to the JW and steal the bathroom ...

I also heard ... *coughs* ... that ... um ... two certain people who ... uh ... if you'll remember ... creeped me out bigtime ... were there? True?

*ahem* :D

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, HELL NO - this place was NOT better than the JW. It was in a better location, true; was cheaper, true; but we did NOT get great service.

Yep, they were there. Actually, they seem very nice...but yeah, it creeps me out just slightly. :\

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

Better location as in you like NOLA better than Vegas or closer to things to do (because as great as the JW is it's not close to the Strip ... )

I've never been to NOLA (woe) so I can't judge ... someday I'd love to go. It sounds like everyone had fun. :)

I miss the JW ... oh that bathroom ... LOL

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

Better location as in you crossed the street and you were in the French Quarter, near restaurants, attractions, shopping, etc. without needing to take a $35 one-way cab ride.

I will certainly not be disappointed if I never get to NOLA again - but there is a lot of history there.

I know, I miss that bathroom all the time. Especially now that I have Lush bath products...

[longtimegone]

I hate that I didn't see you for more than about 5 minutes, but I am glad you seemed to have a good time! <3

I can't believe they charged for the fitness center. O_O Not that I used it, but that's kind of crazy.

[quidditchgrrl.livejournal.com]

I KNOW! We never get to sit down with each other and chat at these things.

[alissomora.livejournal.com]

I have the names of all the places we ate if you want 'em *g* And no, still no idea what that waitress said when she came by at dessert time! *laughs* I miss you already ♥

[catsperspective.livejournal.com]

My Nana is from Ireland and my Granddad was from England, and when they came to visit me once, they both had a huge problem with the southern accent. Funny, cause they had lived in California for almost 20 years by that point. They never had trouble with my accent though, thank goodness. One day, I took them across the river into Cajun country and they both said it was like the people were speaking a foreign language. LOL!

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your impressions. When I was in NOLA last January for my mom's funeral, I noticed how expensive things were; it's a post-Katrina thing more than a tourist thing (though maybe in the Quarter things are always expensive - I don't know because I've never been a tourist there! ;) The accents aren't southern, BTW - they're specific to New Orleans. I know, I get mine back whenever I tawk wit mah daddy 'n' 'em. What did you think of muffulettas? I love them but not on a regular basis.