What a week of tours, tours & more tours! Although I live Uptown, I definitely spent more of my time this week in the French Quarter. Met some great people from all over the country & beyond. Ya know, when I decided to become a tour guide, that decision was primarily based on my love for nola, history, architecture, art, food, music & sharing that passion with others. My goal is always to give my tour guests the nola local’s perspective, because that’s what I want when I travel somewhere else. However, I never really gave much thought to another wonderful perk of guiding tours, which is meeting so many people from so many places. I’ve already had the pleasure of making friends from Canada, Australia, Italy, Germany, England, Brazil, & all over the States! And, thanks to my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/nola.leah, I’ve been able to keep up with many of them long after their visits to nola have ended. I’ve learned so much from them & made great connections for my future travels, which ain’t a bad perk, indeed. Now, before each tour, instead of worrying about how many guests I’ll have in my group & what the weather’s like, I can’t wait to find out where all my guests are from.
Fortunately, we’ve also had some amazing weather for my tours this week…other than Tuesday when it poured for 10 minutes, then cleared up, then poured again, & so on. The rest of the week, it was crystal blue skies, sunny, breezy, & less humid (thank the Lord!). I guided 3 tours in the French Quarter, 2 for the Friends of the Cabildo & 1 private tour w/a fantastic German couple. The Kassners from Hamburg, were referred to me by their son, whom I’d met over the summer while we were both on a tour of Houmas House (which is a wonderful tour, BTW)…now that’s a small world, huh?! I’m completely smitten with the Kassners & already consider them my extended family in Hamburg…can’t wait to visit!
I also tagged along on the second official nola Tastebud tour yesterday afternoon, so that I can begin learning the ropes, before taking on Tastebud tours myself in December. When we have our roast beef po’boys from Johnny’s, weather permitting (which is was), we picnic in Jackson Square. Not only did the group get to enjoy their po’boys in the square, but they were also lucky enough to catch a wedding second line leaving St. Louis Cathedral (the oldest cathedral in North America). The tour was a great success, we’ve already gotten 2 terrific reviews on TripAdvisor after the first tour last week! Looking forward to reading the reviews from this week’s tour.
Now, I must run, hopping on the streetcar in about an hour to meet a friend of my sister’s & her boyfriend in Jackson Square to give them an afternoon tour of the French Quarter. I’ve heard about my sister’s friend & old co-worker for years, so I feel as if I know her, but I’ve never met her. My sister had emailed me weeks ago, just asking for some nola suggestions to pass on to her friend. Of course, I took over from there! And, we’ll be enjoying a cocktail together somewhere in the quarter after the tour…but, where shall we go? Napoleon House for a Pimm’s Cup, French 75 at Arnaud’s restaurant for their signature cocktail, the Sazerac bar at the Roosevelt Hotel, Hermes bar at Antoine’s, or Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta Hotel for a little jazz to accompany our cocktails…choices, choices!
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