Travel Diary

Sunday was the New Orleans Saints game. Being in a different time zone, these games start at 12pm out there, if it's a home game. So that was an interesting thing. Getting up early (well, I guess nine or maybe it was eight or something) wasn't a problem. I actually slept pretty well. I think being so tired, I slept a lot more deeply, so I was I was wide awake in the morning, and ready to go. I borrowed a New Orleans Saints shirt and even a belt. I guess I didn't bring a belt for the pants I had, but yeah. I was then well prepared for the game.

We drove to downtown New Orleans, and found a parking garage in a casino, which was interesting. I didn't know they had just regular casinos in Louisiana, but I guess they do. They must have passed a law sometime back, probably a long time back. I'm not up to date on the laws there, but it looks like a very nice casino. I think it was a Harris...Harrahs...Harrods, whatever. Or maybe Caesar’s casino.

Wait. It was Harrah's, and Caesars going to buy the casino soon. That's it

As you get close to the game center, or the stadium, you see a lot more people kind of crowding in. There were people selling beers on the sidewalk, which is good entrepreneurial spirit. They would have a little cooler, and sell beers for about five bucks, which is actually a good price compared to the game. In fact, if you think about it, yeah, you get maybe three beers for what you would pay for one beer at the game.

So that was kind of a cool deal.

Now, once inside the stadium, you got kind of an area where everyone congregated before they went well inside the stadium area. There's an outdoor area where people can hang out, and there's a band playing some country music, and people talking and perhaps some contests, and a lot of people buying food just kind of hanging out and celebrating. And at that point, after a while, you actually kind of funnel and start going into the stadium where you go to your seats.

One nice thing is that people are very friendly at the game and social for the most part. We talked to some ladies, and then we're talking about where they're from, and it was cool to kind of just socialize with people out there. All were total strangers, but people had one big thing in common: they were fans of the team.

Now, our seats were really good as we paid a little extra money for them, but at some point you just start thinking: well, if I'm going to go at all, I might as well go and enjoy it and be able to see it. I mean, being in the nosebleeds is fine, I think, in earlier years. But then you start thinking you just want to be able to actually see what I'm there to see. Otherwise, why go at all?

So our seats were cool because they were right down low. They felt like they were on in the first row. Though I think there was one section in front of us that we couldn't even see. But it definitely felt like you were in the first row or the first section. We were located kind of cornered off the end zone. So when the teams come near you, yeah, it's perfect. When they're far away, then not not as good.

And like most games, there's quite a fair representation of the opposite team. This one was the Bears as the Saints were playing against them this week. And if you think the geography, there's still quite a bit of space for people to actually come down from Illinois for a game, but either they're local Bears fans or they did come down. Still, that was kind of cool.

Despite cheering for different teams, I think people get along better these days. Although, there was one kind of rude fan that was upset after the Bears had scored first, and people in the section were cheering, and he just kind of said, “Enough!” It's like, dude, let people celebrate their team’s success. It was just uncalled for, and a very rude thing to do. Didn't represent, I think, most fans, but just to do that at all is stupid, because that stuff can start fights. Just let people celebrate if their team gets a score.

One of the interesting thing is they don't have good signage for the restrooms, and they don't have a lot of stalls. Some stadiums just go crazy with stalls, but this one's actually kind of limited. I was a little surprised. Some stadiums have these massive troughs or whatever. But this one, it's a little more limited. Though the second time that I needed to use one, I just decided to ask a worker where one was located. And she said to just take a turn right nearby. So it was like right next to us. They just had no signs. So yeah, in the future, that was just handy to know.

It was a pretty close game, but the Saints pulled it off, and I kind of felt bad for the other team. I always feel bad for the losers, especially with a young quarterback trying to do well as a rookie. But yeah, at the end of the day, you kind of want your home team to win or the team you're rooting for. So that was cool. And then the game was over and we headed out of the stadium and funneled with the crowd into town.

I don't really eat at games just because, you know, overpriced beer is one thing, but I kind of draw the line at overpriced food. So the first thing was to stop at the Hard Rock Cafe and get some burgers and fries and whatnot. And it was all pretty good. The waiter actually was quite nice and just reminded me that if you are in a service industry, and you're a nice person, or if you have a good attitude, it goes such a long way, and I think it makes the customers’ day probably makes their day too. So just a good reminder that if you're going to be in the food service industry, have a good attitude.

At that point, we headed along the into the French Quarter. I'd been there before, so it wasn't all new to me. It wasn't wild since it was still early evening, or I guess late afternoon, but it was still light. So you didn't have any real craziness. I went to a place and thought about a beer, but actually I got a cup of wine, which is cool because you can bring it outside and drink along the street. That's a nice little freedom they have there.

We walked along and saw the iconic Bourbon Street shops and buildings. It's just the architecture that that's probably the most impressive thing. When we got to the end of the street, we then came back on a parallel one that was less crowded. They had a lot of shops, a lot of cool places of art artists where they have their galleries. That's just something I wouldn't mind checking out more of in the future. Just to kind of go into each one and talk to people, see what they do. One person even had a shop where they had body-painting paintings, but the women were all kind of hidden. It was like, Where's Waldo for body painting, where we had to locate each beautiful woman in each painting.

After returning to the main area, we went to the primary town square. And I think that's kind of, I guess, the heart of the old city. But it did look very familiar as I was there a year prior. So that was kind of neat, to kind of see the same place once again and even visit the Cafe du Monde, the beignet shop. I'd been there before and I think I liked them better this time. I think it’s just best to eat them right away. Okay, I only ate one then, but the one I ate was really tasty. I saved the others for later and they were okay. But yeah, you got to consume them when they're freshly cooked.

Another cool thing where the riverboats out there. They have those old Mississippi River boats, or the paddlewheel boats. I didn’t go on one, though it would be a fun thing to do sometime. Perhaps it might get a little dull after a while. The boat is the coolest part and if you’re on the boat, it’s hard to get a shot of the boat. So yeah, there’s that.

After that, it was back to the house. As it was Sunday, we watched the evening football game and then crashed. It was my last night there.

Until it wasn’t.