I was so appreciative to get a ride to JFK this morning from Adam! My flight was reletively smooth and I got to watch some interesting things on board, like Professor Pausch's famous lecture and Obama's speech to Ghana's Parliament. It took one step off the airplane for me to remember what heat and humidity feels like, (I didn't realize until then that I had really forgotten since it hasn't been that hot in NYC yet.) I took my time getting to the baggage, taking pictures and buying a tourist NOLA book (due to work and personal stuff, I was too busy to plan much outside of the logistics of the volunteering so I've never felt this unprepared for siteseeing!) By the time I looked for my bag, it had already been removed from the carousel and taken up to ticketing!
Once in New Orleans, I met up with Kim, her parents Maggi & Randy, her brother Adam & his fiance Cassie, Maggi's sister Barbie and my friend Russell. (The rest of our group will arrive sporadically through the week and we will all head home next Sunday.) We got our bags and rental cars and headed to the hotel.
I will admit that I didn't know exactly what to expect in New Orleans, but just the short drive from the airport to our hotel in the French Quarter was quite revealing. So many houses were in such beautiful, exotic, "New Orleans" style, but unfortunately in such a sad state of disrepair. The thing that caught my eye the most was an unbelievable cemetery we passed on the way. I really hope I get to tour it while we are here. On our way to the hotel, one of the streets was blocked off by what looked to be a parade of some sort (based on our sighting of a tuba in the distance.) We later found out that we had correctly guessed that the "parade" was actually a traditional "New Orleans" style funeral. That would have been amazing to see.
The people here are so friendly and warm. Our hotel has great character and a local flair and they hooked us up since we're volunteering for HH with a great rate and free upgrade to an "apartment style" room, complete with a full kitchen that will come in handy as we prepare our lunches to take with us once we start volunteering on Tuesday.
We headed out to explore the French Quarter and ended up in the Bourbon Street/Flea Market/Farmer's Market area and had some wonderful local fair at Magnolia's Grill. I experienced a muffaletta for the first time, (a sandwhich with meats, cheeses & an olive mix). It was good but I don't really like olives so I probably won't get it again but I always enjoy trying the local fair so I'm glad I tried it. We walked around the market and stopped at Margharittaville before heading back to the hotel.
Day one went great, the city is definitely much more interesting than I had even envisioned. And while I am still worried about the heat, I am less nervous now that I'm actually here and more excited to see everything and start volunteering and helping this place out!
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