Arrival

Outer

I am sitting in my big blue train seat. With my new black, cover the ear headphones on and streaming my all-time favorite and go to band, Pearl Jam. Over the intercom the conductor comes on and starts to explain the procedures for arrival in New Orleans. I pack all my belongings up into my colorful carryon bag. As I am sitting and waiting for the train to pull into the depot one of the workers comes back into our car and says that we all need to take a seat as she performs the back-up maneuvers. When we finally pull into the depot there is a lot of commotion from all the other passengers ready to escape the train. I being one of them. Coming to the stairs there was an older English couple coming from the other direction. I let them go first of course. They were such a cute old couple. You can tell it was not their first rodeo. As we make our way down the stairs and around the corner the older gentleman stopped and grabbed two large red luggage bags. I helped him with one as he seemed to have difficulty with lifting it. As we walk off the train and into the train depot there was a large crowd. I assume waiting for their departure and luggage. This depot was not like the one we departed from. It was much larger. From where I was standing it seemed to be T-shaped but I did not actually walk down to the other end to find out. There was little shops and places to eat down the middle. The end we came in had rows of chairs for those who were waiting. To the right of me there was a counter for tickets. When our luggage finally came I called for an Uber.

The Uber to the hotel was short and sweet. The Uber driver drove a large white Chevrolet Suburban, with blacked out widows. She was an older lady named Carolyn. She had on jeans and a casual blue t-shirt with what looked like small white flowers on it. She dropped us off at the doors of the hotel and let us out. We ended up being the first ones at the hotel to arrive. We waited for everyone else to arrive and then get our keys to the room we were staying in.

The streets of New Orleans tonight, was wet, dark, and sometimes smelly. It was like other cities, lights, traffic, streets filled with people, shops, bars, and restaurants. Here in NOLA there are street cars. These are big beautiful train cars that follow the tracks. The one we rode on was red that had RTA 2018 down the side. The windows and doors were yellow.

Inner

            Is it really only 2137? As much as today has felt like the longest day ever, it still does not feel like it should be this late. I am sitting in the big white soft bed in this hotel room typing this and watching and listening to the cars drive by on the street below. You can hear the water on the road and see the water against the windows. I feel like I should still be out exploring the city. We did not get to go on our ghost tour tonight because of the rain. Really bummed out about that but good news is that we get to go tomorrow night. Tonight though I have too much adrenaline to want to sit here in the hotel room so early. I feel like I am wasting the time that I am here. I would go out and explore but I know that everyone else is tired and does not want to go back out. I also know better than to go out alone, so I’ll just wait.

            Tonight we did all go as a class to The Original Pierre Maspero’s. I had browsed the menu before coming on the trip and was not sure if I would like anything they had on the menu. I went out of my comfort zone and ordered crab cakes, as well as a grilled chicken blt. The crab cakes were amazing and so was the chicken. We then wanted to go listen to some Jazz music. Unfortunately, after walking to Bourbon St. and getting soaked the Jazz music was not playing at the bar we wanted to go to until later. We then made our way to Café Du Monde and ordered beignets and coffee with chicory. The beignets taste like a funnel cake to me, so I was kind of disappointed. The coffee would have been better with creamer of some kind and sugar maybe. Rain, rain, rain, that is what it has done tonight. I am soaking wet even with an umbrella. At least it is not freezing like it is back at home. I can handle the temperature here with the rain. After Café Du Monde it was time to start our journey back to the hotel. I do not think my navigation through this city will be very good tomorrow. I tried to use my maps on my phone earlier and almost went the wrong way. One of the girls said she uses landmarks. I think I will give that a try. I am usually too busy looking at everything and everyone to actually remember where I am at. I am one of those that would totally walk into a wall because I wanted to take in a few more seconds of something while still walking. I am excited to see what tomorrow brings in the daylight and with no rain. I guess I shall try and sleep.

Chicken BLT

Crab Cake

Beignets and Coffee and Chicory