"Take Me To The City Beneath The Sea"

Today was the day I have been looking forward to over the last couple of months. I was pretty nervous last night but managed to sleep well and awoke to a feeling of excitement and curiosity. I was the first to arrive at the airport, although I was convinced I'd be late for some reason.

After meeting up with my group we flew to Atlanta for a layover. At the airport we found this great Southwestern food stand called "Moe's." Apparently others knew of this gem judging by the long line. They had some great names for their dishes. My fav was the "Art Vandelay" for all you Seinfeld freaks out there. We then boarded the plane en route to NOLA (an acronym I learned which stands for New Orleans, Louisiana.) On our plane they had XM so I was able to catch the score of the Mets game. They lost....big time.

We arrive in New Orleans and meet our driver Jerry. Jerry had a thick southern accent and a great knowledge of the area. He knew what we were here to do and seemed extremely grateful. We all rode in a 20 passenger van and drove for about 20 minutes, even passing the Superdome where the Saints play. We finally make it to our hotel which you can view here.

When we arrived the woman at the front desk told me also how grateful she was that we were there to help out. She said and I quote "The people of New Orleans are extremely humble right now." It gave me a chill that I can not put into words. I can not wait to get started tomorrow!

Since we arrived at 3pm we all figured we'd do some exploring. We are a block from Bourbon Street so we definitely hit that up. To describe Bourbon Street...well...it's tough. It's about 50+ bars, all with open windows, having live bands of all genres playing as loud as humanly possible. People walk the streets, closed to traffic, with open containers. It's Vegas meets Cancun. Crazy. We also hit up a dueling piano bar and went out to dinner for some good ol' southern cookin'. I had some of the biggest oysters, hush puppies, jambalaya, fried catfish, gumbo, rice and beans.

Although you have to be here to experience it click here to see the pics I took today.

Off to bed now, gotta big day ahead of me tomorrow.