we arrived in new orleans around 11:30pm. it was crazy people everywhere. wow, we thought, nola is really happening. like a little new york. we are stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 30 minutes. we finally arrive to our hotel after careful andre manuvering through the barracaded streets. the valet tells andre that we can’t park in the front of the hotel. what? andre politely lets him know we are checking in. the valet is not polite and gives him a little bit of a hard time still but andre ignores and meanwhile i’m at the desk checking in. so many people are in the lobby its’ crazy. is this what mardi gras is like, i’m thinking? the guy at the desk says the room we reserved is not available so we’ll have to downsize. the hotel is booked out. we are not happy. ok time to park the car. we go out to speak with the valet and no parking is available. they valet grudgingly gives me directions. andre decides he will park the car. 30 minutes later we are in the hotel room and i get a call from andre. he can’t find a parking spot. he can’t even drive thru the city. everything is barracaded by the police. it is literally a maze at this point which no gps can possibly help. i walk to the car after talking to the bellman who has just complained about our tip being to cheap. well, you didn’t do anything what do you expect, i think to myself but instead i apologize and say something polite and get the directions from him as to another place to park our van securely. he also grudgingly gives us directions. so i finally find andre and we start to drive thru the one ways thru all the barracades and finally we make it to poydras. whew!! not so crazy here. we get to the hotel and i’m now on the phone with hotels.com trying to get a discount since they overbooked the hotel. we pull up to the alternative parking area and the hotel says that they don’t offer it for the sheraton. wtf? i then borrow andre’s phone because i’m still on the phone with hotels.com. i call sheraton and they can’t get the valet on the phone. they say i have to drive back to the hotel. i then explain to them that we can’t do that because the city is barracaded and the valet doesn’t want us to park there. it would be easier to walk. she apologizes and says that’s all she knows to do. great!!!!!
i call tommaso who is in the room. it is 1am now. he goes down to the valet desk and hands the phone over. the valet tries to tell me that the other hotel is booked so he can’t offer anything. i explain to him that they don’t associate with them at all and that if we needed alternative parking why did he suggest it? he says he doesn’t know and that the whole city is full. so that’s that. we are screwed. just then i finally get off the phone with hotels.com. it is now 2am. they have been kind and offered us nice discounts due to all the problems we’ve had. ok one problem solved…next…the van…we have no where to park.
so the valet, javier, sees that we are totally stuck. so he offers to put our van in a private lot around the corner. it is secure enough so we can leave our stuff. hurrah!! a knight in shining armor! but should we trust him? we don’t even know him. well we decided to anyhow. we are tired, we are upset, i have a pounding headache and we just want to be done with it all. so we get in the back of our van while the valet drives it into the garage. javier tells us we might need to duck and just then he yells “duck” his supervisors have just walked up. oh boy, all pretty sketchy, ehh? in the end he’s cool and really helps us out. he parks it gives us the ticket and we take our keys. he even says we can take it out on our own if we have to get away early in the morning. nice!!! it is now 3am. i’m feelin like shit but i go with the boys anyway for a drink. we head out onto the barracaded canal st. a sea of drunks and people just hanging out. it’s complete chaos, people pissin on the streets, people running in a panic at the thought of danger. and what do we do? we go straight into the chaos, bourbon street, and we run into the officers on the horse. they are pushing the crowd out. andre asks what’s going on and they say 4 people have been shot. shit!! we head back out and down a few blocks and right back into the french quarter. we head down another street and we are able to walk thru the streets. we stumble onto a “the chart room”. the bartender is nice. it seems it is after hours but she lets us in and serves us a drink. we tell her our story and she tells us she is sorry for us that we had a terrible time. she assures us things will be better and tells us where to go. we are starting to get excited again. its’ time to go to bed now…6am
ciao ciao,
tracy~
