New Orleans: Day 1 (Sunday)

The morning was a little chilly, and still raining; but it slowly warmed to about 70 degrees. we went outside for a bit, took in the New Orleans atmosphere, the rainy day, and eventually Bourbon St. to CVS where I picked up some hot chocolate. 'S' picked up some water. On the way to pay, we looked at the Mardi gras souvenirs, but decided to see what the many stores were offering before we picked up anything. We then decided to get takeout breakfast before we went back to the hotel. I had a takeout breakfast at IHOP (The pancakes were very good, and Very fluffy) With turkey Links, the thick meal lasted all three days. Here I want to give the Crowne Plaza credit. I went to the restaurant in the hotel and asked them for syrup, since my fluffy pancakes sucked up the remaining I had left. The server asked me to wait a minute, and went into the kitchen. what she came back with, wasn't a tablespoon of syrub; but an entire container! I was very impressed with them for that. We went back to our room, got warmed up, and decide to visit Bourbon St, which began at the corner of our hotel. We had to walk around a big sanitation truck and a police car. It was then that I was told about the Bourbon Street car attack on the 1st of the year. I DID notice as I walked Bourbon St, that metal barriers were erected at the end of each block to prevent another mobile atack. As I had nerver been there, it was nice to see all the Mardi Gras decoration in the various stores, and hear a lot of live jazz. The rest of the day was spent watching television, laughing, and napping (WE we STILL tired).

While this hotel is my favorite chain, this one was my least one place to stay at. I do believe that other rooms were MUCH bigger than the one we stayed in; but it was THE SMALLEST hotel room I've ever seen! The bed WAS a comfortable queen size, but it took up most of the room. There was only a two or three inch gap between the bed and the wall. The room's temperature was not dictated by the hotel, or us manually; but by the sun coming into the room. Our Temperature ranged from the 60's to the 90's in the room. We had to leave the door open to cool the room down. My next complaint was the windows. Not only were they at least 30 years old (which is why the temperature varied so much), but they also need to be cleaned of all the grime on it.