4am. December 20th. Who in their right mind would be up at this hour? I guess me, but only because it was the cheapest flight time and meant getting the use of an entire extra day there. Eight hours later I found myself in the deep south. Sky was overcast, temperature about 44 degrees F, and light rain. First thing we did was head over to our airbnb. The house we were renting was located in the french quarter, but the surroundings weren't the best. Some buildings had graffiti on them, trash lined the streets in certain places, multiple parked cars looked like they'd been in serious accidents, and the area looked a bit shady. Yet, research was done beforehand on the airbnb so we should've been fine...I hoped.
After we had settled in, we took a mini tour of the house. Nothing majorly exciting other than being able to hold 12 people (eventually). There was however, one item of note. This house had an upper room. To get to that upper room, one had to climb a narrow, rickety, wooden, spiraling, staircase. Every time I set foot on it, I felt like I was going to break it. The perk of arriving early was that you didn't have to sleep up there.
Once settled, we set out on our first adventure. Find food. Since we were in New Orleans, a foodie paradise, we were headed for the good eats. Our first stop was Felix's Restaurant & Oyster Bar. Before we entered a lady approached us and began putting beads around our necks while "welcoming" us to New Orleans. The restaurant people tried to shoe her away and as we were entering she said she needed a donation for the beads. We politely told her no and gave her the beads back. Once inside, the restaurant person told us to ignore those people as all they want to do is swindle us out of our hard earned money. The place didn't seem popping during the lunch our, but I could bet it came to life at night. A quick glance at the menu had my mouth watering. I was going to be in New Orleans for four days, so it wasn't a matter of what I had to try, but what to try first. I settled on the jumbalaya and fried crawfish tails. Of course I had to had some hot sauce to it all and boy was it delish!
Bellies full, we decided to take a tour of the famous Bourbon Street. During the day, Bourbon Street wasn't what you'd expect. Not many people out, not as much excitement, but all the businesses were still open with doormen trying their best to get every passerby inside. We browsed a few stores, and then made a stop at an alley restaurant with a giant jenga game.
By this point, DJ had arrived at our airbnb and we needed a some time to relax, so we headed back. When we returned, for some odd reason, the coded door wasn't opening. Dan heard us coming and kept locking the door the moment we entered the code. What a goober. So now there were 8 of us. During our "down time" we brought back a classic game among our group known as Avalon. Are you a loyal servant of Arthur or a filthy minion of Mordrid? By this point, Tim and Sean had arrived. So now 10 out of the 12 were in the deep south.
After a few hours of "resting" and arguing, we readied up and rolled back out to Bourbon Street. It was a little more lively than the afternoon, but still not what we expected. We were told by a local business owner later in the weekend that it was because of the cold, rainy weather. I didn't mind as much because I'm not a massive crowd type of guy anyways. I loved the old french and creole architecture. The gas lit lamps that hung above the doors and beneath the second floor balconies were a calming site. At certain points, I imagined I was a soldier or a swashbuckler who had just made port and was enjoying my brief break exploring New Orleans.
Eventually we found ourselves in a cozy joint (can't recall the name) where a cover band called The Phunkey Monkeys was performing. For tips, they took suggestions from the audience. My goodness, could they do anything and do it well. They went from a jazz piece, to Baton Rouge and Tennesse Whiskey, to Killing Me Softly, to Nelly. They were really really good.
That wraps up part 1 of my New Orleans adventure. Stay tuned for more.
