Heeeeello New Orleans! July 10.2016
Rainy and stormy welcoming to the city, but hey, it’s a great way to prep ourselves for our final rainy destination —Seattle.
Una bienvenida lluviosa y con tormenta eléctrica pero que carajos, ésto es excelente preparación para nuestro destino final — Seattle.
Parking!
One of our main concerns when entering a new city is finding parking because let’s face it, who wants to leave all of their belongings unattended for one or two full days? Plus, there is no way the plants would make it if they are not in the shade. We might give the idea that we do things differently in terms of schedule and planned activities, but when it comes to making sure we have clothes, camping gear and other personal items the next day, we tend to be a bit more meticulous. Thus, we drove around and found a parking lot that charged a reasonable rate ($20) and did not require valet parking. FYI, most parking lots in the French Quarter require valet parking, which is OK if you do not have all your belongings for the rest of the trip in the car. We parked at Fulton Place Parking Center and it worked out great. After parking there, we grabbed the essentials for the day and next morning, packed them into a couple backpacks, and then ventured into the city on foot.
Una de nuestras preocupaciones al llegar a una ciudad nueva es encontrar parqueadero (aparcamiento) porque siendo sinceros , quién quiere dejar todas sus cosas por ahí por uno o dos días? Además las plantas se me mueren si no están en la sombra. Da la impresión que hacemos las cosas de manera “diferente” en cuanto a horarios y actividades en el itinerario , pero cuando se trata de asegurarse de tener ropa, todo lo de acampar y otros cosas personales para el día siguiente, tendemos a ser un poco más meticulosos. Así que, manejamos alrededor de la ciudad y encontramos parqueadero con tarifa razonable ($ 20 dólares) y no requiere servicio de valet. Por si las moscas, la mayoría de los parqueaderos requieren servicio de valet, que está bien si no tiene todas sus pertenencias para el resto del viaje en el carro . Parqueamos en Fulton Place Parking Center y fue perfecto. Después de parquear ahí, tomamos lo que necesitábamos para el resto del día y la mañana siguiente, y empezamos las aventura hacia la ciudad .
Canal walk and Pokémon hunt
Had so much fun on this walk. We did not plan any specific locations or activities around the city, our visit was more of an on-the-go exploration. Thus our excitement of having our very own private and self paced tour guide with the help of Pokémon Go and its PokéSpots. There are so many things you miss without going on a guided tour. Well, we had a great time exploring the city and taking silly pictures while hunting Pokémon. The fact that the spots you end up visiting are in fact monuments, museums, memorials, and local landmarks is perfectly suitable for a road trip adventure. We learned so much about the area, plus all the sites we visited seem to have the fun, mystique and colorful character you expect from New Orleans, or at least what you hear about the city.
La pasamos genial caminado por el canal. No teniamos ningún sitio específico en mente ni actividades alrededor de la ciudad, nuestra estadía acá fue improvisada y con lo que saliera en el momento. Por eso nos engomamos tanto con el tour privado que teníamos con Pokémon Go y sus PokeSpots. Es difícil no perderse información interesante si no se tiene un guía turístico, pues bueno la pasamos genial explorando la ciudad y tomando fotos locas mientras buscábamos Pokemones. Los PokeSpots que terminas visitando con el juego son de hecho monumentos, museos, monumentos conmemorativos, y lugares locales destacados para ir a explorar en un viaje como el nuestro.Aprendimos bastante del área además que los PokeSpots que visitamos siguiendo el juego -Pokémon Go- tienen ese estilo y carácter místico, alegre y colorido que uno se imagina cuando piensa en Nueva Orleans, o escucha hablar de ésta ciudad.
Café Du Monde for beignets
A must in New Orleans, according to Bryan and based on the continuous flow of people in this location, is: Café Du Monde (1862). An order of beignets and coffee was the perfect kick-off to our tour of the city. This fried pastry tasted like glory (so fluffy!), or maybe we were starving. I guess we will never know. Service was great and fast, plus we got to show our Instax cam off… a couple sitting at another table inquired about it and will probably get one too. We tried not to stay too long so that other people could have access to the table and also to make the best out of our only day in New Orleans.
Algo que no se debe perder uno en Nueva Orleans según Bryan y el flujo continuo de personas en esta sitio es : Café Du Monde (1862 ). Una porción de beignets y café era exactamente lo que necesitábamos para empezar nuestro recorrido por la ciudad. Este postre frito nos supo a gloria , o tal vez estábamos hambrientos , supongo que nunca sabremos. El servicio fue excelente y rápido , además tuvimos el chance de alardear con nuestra cámara Instax … una pareja que estaba sentada en otra mesa no preguntó sobre la cámara y probablemente terminen comprando una también. Tratamos de no quedarnos ahí demasiado tiempo para que otras personas pudieran sentarse y para aprovechar al máximo el único día en Nueva Orleans .
Walking more and more …
We made a quick stop by the LaLaurie Mansion, which is one of the filming locations of our favorite season of AHS : Coven (American Horror Story), but it was closed. Still, I was thrilled that without any planning we ended up visiting things we had seen on the screen before. And once again transporting ourselves to a world where we get to walk and see things that when I was little never thought were doable. I mean, sure, growing up in a place where any location is a filming location is like, yeah been there done that!. But, in my case I started watching AHS with my friends in Colombia and was like yeah that’s cool, nice buildings, but visiting those places never really crossed my mind, mostly because I never intended to live anywhere else, and vacation plans were… let’s say different. There were a couple tours available around the city: like ghost tours and stuff like that, but we only had so much time and did not want to be limited by someone else’s pace.
We walked down Royale Street and needed to grab a bite. We walked around looking for PoBoy, a recommendation from my best friend, Pipe. The restaurant -PereAntoine- had a Shrimp PoBoy and Chicken & Sausage Creole Gumbo. The Shrimp PoBoy was good, but to tell you the truth we both enjoyed the Creole Gumbo way more. It reminded me of rice soup made in Colombia… correction, made at home by my mom.
And then, well New Orleans is not New Orleans without street performers. We spent some time listening and dancing to a very talented band. It was so inviting with many people just dancing to their melodies… some almost wasted and some planning on it, but us.. well our goal was different.
Hotel adventure
Yeah, um we did not have a place to stay that night because again, where is the fun in having everything planned already… what about being surprised? (in a good or not so good way) our family was not thrilled with this, but hey this way they were more intrigued about our next steps. So, we went online before our phones died and checked Airbnb thinking it was going to be cheaper than a hotel,but prices were insane ($150 -$200). So, we checked hotels in the area using the HotelTonight App and booked a cute little hotel in the French Quarter called St. Pierre ($75). It was the perfect spot for our one night stay in the city. Friendly service, great room… some people may say outdated, but I found it to have great character showing the area’s history through its architecture.
- Bryan had been to New Orleans before for his bachelor party so I had some info about the area. I was warned several times about the smell on Bourbon St. which luckily was not there at all -probably because of the rain-. There was only one block that had a strong odor (pee), surprisingly according to Bryan it was mild in comparison to what he experienced the first time.
