Live from the Big Easy!

My first trip and post comes to you live from New Orleans!  I'm here for a week-long sales meeting for work, with 650+ of my colleagues from around the world.  Other than the scenes I saw on TV from Hurricane Katrina, and hearing friends and colleagues describe this city as "dirty" and "sleezy," I really don't know much about New Orleans and this "bubble girl" was a bit nervous about coming here...But, day one in the Big Easy was actually not as sleezy as I had expected and was pleasantly surprised and charmed by the "southern hospitality," that is, until I got to Bourbon Street -- more on that later...

My day started at 5:30am in Boston and arrived in NOLA at 2:30pm central time, and my first mission after checking into the Marriott:  Harrah's casino!  I did a paper in business school on Harrah's (got an A on the paper), which is known for its friendly atmosphere and I got to experience that friendliness at their Las Vegas location, so I had to check it out in New Orleans, too.  Sure enough, it lived up to the billing.  Got in a few rounds of my favorite game, "Let It Ride."  Although my wallet didn't make out so well, if I had to lose money, it was still fun playing at a table with friendly dealers and locals, as well as folks from Texas....I made sure to leave with the famous Harrah's "Total Rewards" loyalty card for next time...

Next up was dinner with some of my colleagues and exploring the French Quarter, which is literally around the corner from my hotel on Canal Street.  Most of the tiny streets in the French Quarter were surprisingly empty for a Sunday evening, so it was hard to find a good place to eat, because so many were empty and you didn't know if that was because it's just a quiet Sunday evening or because it isn't a really good place to eat at.  Plus, some of my colleagues don't enjoy seafood, so it was hard to find a place to accomodate everyone's taste.  After a lot of walking, we finally landed at Emeril Lagasse's "NOLA" restaurant.  It's one of the more upscale restaurants in the area and the service was impecable, and the wait staff really pays attention to the details.  While I could have gone for seafood, I was pretty famished after a long travel day, and decided on their Hickory Smoked Duck soaked in whiskey (can't go wrong when they have whiskey as an ingredient!).  The dish did not disappoint, and was delicious!  Would definitely recommend Emeril's NOLA if you're ever down here...However, dinner did end a little awkwardly when I asked the busboy where the ladies room was and he held his arm out and said, "may I?" and I was totally thrown off...I was like, "what!?"  He reiterated with his arm out again to indicate that I needed to put my arm around his, for him to walk me to the ladies room arm-and-arm.  At that point, I needed to pee so badly that I just needed this guy to show me where the ladies room was, so I was like "what the heck, when in New Orleans, just do as New Orleanans..."  And, of course I knew I would get so much grief from my colleagues once I returned to the table and they delivered all the jokes you can imagine after seeing that scene play out....From one colleague, "were you going to the ladies' room or walking down the aisle?"  And, just in case any of you have your heads in the gutter as some of my colleagues did, no, he did not try to go into the ladies room with me.... Anyhow, this was taking "southern hospitality" a bit far...



 

Bead Tossers

After dinner, it was time to venture out for a stroll on the infamous Bourbon Street.  Sure enough, the street lives up to the "sleeze" and corruption that I had heard about.  The street was sticky beneath my shoes and had a stench that my colleague claims to be of urine and vomit, so I was constantly dodging any questionable puddles as I was walking...I'm glad I was with two male colleagues, because I don't think I would have felt safe otherwise.  But, you can't say you've been to New Orleans until you've visited the nightlife on Bourbon Street, so I'm glad to have gotten that checked off.  Though, the whole time I was on Bourbon Street, I was thinking to myself, "why would the company select this place to hold our sales meeting? Surely, no good can come out of this..."  Just glad I didn't see anyone I recognize from work walking out of one of these joints below -- I have never seen so many strip clubs on a single street and it pretty much sums up Bourbon Street:

It was weird when I bumped into a soft-spoken colleague from Japan, who tapped my shoulder to say, "hello," and it was a bit comical to address him as "Imada San, how are you?" and bowing to him as a show of courtesy for his culture in the backdrop of Bourbon Street and all its craziness.....Welcome to America!

So, considering the shadiness on Bourbon Street, going to Harrah's is

actually a pretty wholesome activity for New Orleans.  All and all, I had a very long, but very eventful and successful first day in New Orleans, and hopefully you've enjoyed my first post enough to come back for my next blog.....

It's a busy first day of meetings tomorrow and not sure if I'll have an opportunity to sneak out to play and explore some more, but stay tuned for more later on this week!