Fun Fun Fun

So New Orleans was beyond fun and I wish I was still there (with a bucketfull of $100s).

Wednesday night we took off for New Orleans and had a layover in Atlanta, with a 3 hour delay, we didn't arrive at our hotel until 1 AM. First off, the hotel had no hotel sign, and it was on some silly side street, we thought that the Airport Express driver had dropped us off at the wrong place. But no, we walked in and it was just like the photos, it was very cool. I should mention that I took lots of pictures, but I have not taken them to be developed yet. I will gush on more about this hotel later, it deserves it's own special post.

Thursday afternoon we walked around the city and the architecture was amazing, I tried to sneak pictures of all the amazing courtyard gardens and we were shooed out of one by some little old lady as we were snapping away. All of the streets are dirtier and smaller than I had imagined, but with tons of charm and history - most streets still use gas lanterns to light the way at night which makes everything extra spooky at night. Thursday night we decided to go out on a Mississippi River steamboat cruise, which I wouldn't recommend to anyone under the age of 50...or if you have a fascination with riverfront factories and cargo ships. The dixie land jazz was well played, but didn't really do much for us.

We didn't hit Bourbon street until the next night, which I was surprised to learn that it was still jumping, well outside of the Mardi Gras season. Apparently, it is like a mini Mardi Gras every night! Just with less drunks on the street. Weirdly, you can walk around anywhere in New Orleans with an open container of alchohol, as long as it's in a plastic container.

I saw a lot of nudie bars, sex act clubs, male strip clubs...etc... mixed in with the regular bars. In fact, I happened to run into someone who I used to attend the Art Institute with - he was a bouncer at one of nude cabaret clubs. That was a bit strange - but to each their own I guess.

I had lots of beer, danced at all of the bars - I drunk danced to "Play that Funky Music White Boy" about 5 times ) - all of the bars with bands all must have had the same play lists that night, it was played in just about every bar we hit. I was doing fine....until the HAND GRENADE. God only knows what is in it, but I do know that there is plenty of pineapple something or other in it and the plastic neon green cup it comes in will light the way down any dark alley.

The Hand Grenade pretty much ended the night, noone could go on any longer and we all went back to the hotel and slept for the next 15 hrs.

I'll post more when the photos come in...

Hope all of you are doing well! Dobs, I hope your trip is tons of fun!