Georgia Aquarium

The harsh fact is that most cities around the world (and especially ones in the United States) are pretty generic. There are only a few that have unique features to separate them from the countless other cities you'd find anywhere.

For example, New Orleans is very distinctive with its architecture, history and cuisine. New York is obviously famous for its energy, nightlife and famous landmarks.

But when you get to cities like Dallas, Denver and Atlanta, you start to wonder if there's some amazing secret local culture that you're just missing out on because you're a tourist. Then you come to realize that their local gems (a great breakfast joint, a children's museum, a hip new mixologist bar, a beautiful park) are all pretty standard from city to city. It becomes readily apparent when you look at the postcards they sell at the airport shops, and there's nothing really that noteworthy on any of them aside from a nondescript skyline.

So while I originally put Atlanta on this list, I will say that it does have one redeeming feature - the Georgia Aquarium! Now, I'm definitely not a rookie when it comes to Aquariums. I've been to my fare share including, ones in Chicago, Houston and even Bangkok. And despite those others being pretty standard, the Georgia Aquarium is hands down the best one of them all!

For $35.95/adult, tickets here are definitely not cheap. Thankfully, I'm still 2.5 years old and didn't have to pay $29.95 for a children's ticket. But if there were ever an aquarium worth that steep price, this one would be it.

Why is it so great you ask?

Reason #1

It's HUGE. Not just the physical footprint of the facility, which is pretty large. But the exhibits are all massive. When it opened in 2005, it had the title of the World's Largest Aquarium.

You're not looking at a small glass tank embedded in a wall made to look like a rock cave. You're just looking at a massive glass wall, as if you were looking at a cross section of the Great Barrier Reef. And it's not just huge because I'm a 39" toddler. Adults would also find it incredibly massive as well.

Reason #2
There are TONS of fish. I've been to the zoo several times and whenever you look at the sea lion exhibit or the walrus exhibit, it's a massive tank with 2 or 3 animals who like to hide in the dark corners at the far end of the tank, so you can barely see them at all.

The Georgia Aquarium must have read my mind, because all their exhibits are FILLED with fish. The Georgia Aquarium contains between 100,000 and 120,000 fish and other sea creatures, representing more than five hundred species.

It's hard to believe that so many fish could co-exist in a single (albeit massive) tank. There was never a time you'd look at an empty space. Every view had a ton of colorful fish that captivated my wide (for an Asian girl) eyes.

Reason #3
They have amazing fish that you simply don't get to see at other aquariums. Every aquarium has sting rays, clown fish, a sea turtle and a few small reef sharks.

But the Georgia Aquarium's notable specimens include four young whale sharks, four beluga whales, eleven bottlenose dolphins, and four manta rays. I mean, seriously, when's the last time you saw a real life Whale Shark?

Reason #4

Great glass tunnels. I've seen these glass tunnels before in Bangkok and other aquariums, but because of Reasons #1, #2 and #3 above, these glass tunnels were a lot better than most. While I didn't get to see this particular sawfish in the tunnel, I did see it swimming around in another tank, so I can verify it exists.

There were also several "tunnels" aside from the main one. There was a smaller on in the River section where you could see beneath the freshwater bottom feeder. Not a remarkable exhibit in and of itself, but just wanted to highlight the fact that the Aquarium went to such lengths for what would otherwise be a "basic" exhibit.


Reason #5
The live Dolphin Show was pretty wonderful. I will say that there are parts of the show that I found scary (dark, thunder sounds, fake lightning). In fact, there were times during the 20 minute show where I got scared and asked my father to take me outside, but he kept my focus on the dolphins.

Overall the show was pretty good. My father didn't really care for the plot of the show, but the dolphin tricks were amazing for my 2.5 year old tastes. And oh, by the way, I love dolphins now.

Set It But Don't Forget It

There's a concept I picked up from other frequent flyers called "gardening your reservations." Basically, it means that you make your travel booking way in advance, but constantly check up on it every so often to make sure things are still as they should be.

Of course, it should seem logical that once (a) you make your booking on an airline for a future departure date/time and (b) even choose your seat assignment, that (c) you should reasonably expect that it will stay the same for your actual departure. However, the reality is very much different.

With flight schedule adjustments, equipment changes and other random acts of airline nonsense, the booking you made in January for a trip in May could be at risk. This exact situation happened to us and since it involved my father, madness inevitably ensued.

• Evening January 29 - My father books 4 tickets for a non-stop United flight from Newark to Atlanta - United 4140 departing May 9 at 9:10AM from EWR.
• February-April - Nothing.
• Afternoon May 8 - My family is all packed ready for our 7AM car pickup the next morning.
• Middle of the night 2AM May 9 - My father receives a text message from United that Flight 4140 to ATL (departing in less 7 hours) was cancelled.

Fortunately, my parents were up at that late hour because they (and their friend John Mark) had just attended a $240,000 charity fundraiser that my father was coordinating. So immediately, my father jumped online to see what his options were.

So after immediately checking online at 2:30AM, he discovered that United had cancelled all Atlanta flights from Newark on Friday and auto-rebooked us for the Saturday afternoon flight (thereby wasting 67% of our Atlanta weekend trip). Refusing to accept that fate, my father called the United Premier phone line and got a hold of a live agent at 2:35AM to help us find better solutions.

My father knew Delta had its airline hub in Atlanta and figured there were multiple Delta non-stop flights from the New York area, even if United was no longer an option. My father knew that United must get us to our destination even if it meant that United had to pay for our flights on another carrier (i.e., Delta). However, in his haste (and non-soberness) he made Mistake #1.

But imagine if my parents had just gone to bed at a normal time on the night of May 8th, then they would have woken up at 6AM to find their 9AM flight was cancelled with just a few hours left to scramble for alternatives!

Mistake #1

Agent: "I see you're already rebooked on the next available flight."

Father: "That's not going to work for us, we have things on Friday that we need to be in Atlanta for. I see there is an 8:30AM Delta flight from JFK that is still available. Can you put us on that flight?"

Agent: "Let me see what I can do."

(long hold)

Agent: "OK, I was able to confirm you onto that flight, please note you must check in at Delta..."

Father: "Yup, got it. Thanks."

Mistake #2

By now, it was closer to 4AM and they had a car scheduled to pick them up at 7AM. Figuring that it should only take about 35-45 minutes to drive to JFK from our Flatiron apartment, they went to bed to get a few hours of sleep.

The Morning Of

The following morning, we all got into our car at 7AM. Unfortunately, just getting crosstown from our apartment to the Midtown Tunnel took about 30 minutes. Boarding was starting at 8:00AM, but we still had the long way from Queens all the way to JFK Airport. Unfortunately, there was actually some moderate traffic in the morning.

The car ride over, my father was on the phone with United trying to see if there were later flights he could get on, but unfortunately, by 7:45AM, everything was fully booked and there were no other flight options left that entire weekend. We got to Terminal 4 curbside at exactly 7:55AM, and my father told our friend John Mark to run ahead and hold the plane while my parents got me out of the car seat and into the stroller.

Because we had arrived late, the Delta check-in kiosks were no longer accepting passengers for the 8:30AM flight. The other option was to wait in line for a desk agent, but my father decided we should just go to the security line and try to check in on his smart phone. Unfortunately, the time for online check in had passed, but fortunately, we saw John Mark still waiting in line. He explained the situation and we were ushered up front to meet him and eventually made it to the front of the security line.

TSA Security

Of course, we were then further delayed at TSA security, because (a) something on my car seat set off the alarm and (b) my mother had packed creams (over 3oz) from the Dead Sea as gifts for John Mark's family. We sent John Mark ahead of us to try to hold the flight, while my father waited for them to re-scan the luggage. Then my mother ended up getting delayed further as she needed a "female assist" to pat her down.

Realizing that the toddler in the stroller would take longer to walk with, my father took me and went ahead to try to catch up to John Mark. Of course, to make this experience all the more interesting, our departure gate was B41, all the way at the very far end of the hallway.

So John Mark was up ahead, my father and I were running towards the hallway, and my mother was still held up at TSA security.

Sweating profusely, my father was running with one hand on his rollerbag and the other hand guiding my stroller. As it turns out, you can't really guide a $40 umbrella stroller in a straight line with just one hand, so we were swerving back and forth like drunken sailors. My father kept trying to call my mother to make sure she made it through and was running, but she wasn't picking up. Meanwhile, any attempts to call John Mark were futile because my father had his phone (which had the boarding passes on it).

We finally made it to B41 where John Mark was anxiously waiting and semi-fighting with the gate agent. The gate agent actually gave away our seats to a standby couple, so we were left with "whatever we could find." Meanwhile, my mother finally showed up as well and we all got on board.

We had to gate check our bags and stroller and then took our seats. I sat with my mother at the very back of the plane. John Mark and my father were separated a few rows up front. Fortunately, we had just made it!

Mistakes
Perhaps it wasn't clear, but the major mistakes my father made were as follows:

1. Delta has several flights from LGA Airport leaving every hour for Atlanta. LGA Airport is significantly closer to Manhattan than JFK. They still would have had to go through Manhattan crosstown traffic to get to the Midtown tunnel, but it would have saved them 20 minutes had my father asked for LGA-ATL instead of JFK-ATL.

2. The 7AM pickup time left NO room for error. Holiday weekends should have tipped off my father that there may be a lot of cars trying to leave Manhattan early Friday morning. Had we chosen a 630AM pick up (especially since our flight change was from 9AM to 8:30AM), we would have had more time to get to the airport.

Lessons LearnedA. Constantly "garden" your reservations and set your text/email alerts so you're updated real time.
B. Have your airlines on speed-dial or programmed into your phones.
C. Wake up earlier if it means having a stress-free ride to the airport.
D. Know your rights. United was able to put us on a Delta flight to get us to our destination. We were also able to get United mileage credit for our original route. Just call them and ask for "Original Routing Credit."

New Orleans Easter Parades

Some of you readers (those older than 3 years of age) may know about Bourbon Street. The few blocks in the French Quarter part of New Orleans is home to some of the craziness that makes NOLA a hub for drunken debauchery.

Of course, I still had a few years to go before I'm legally allowed to drink, but I decided to take my parents there anyway so I can check this off my list.

However, Sunday mornings on Bourbon Street are very different from Saturday nights there. Especially Easter Sunday morning.

As we mentioned in prior posts, the big reason we came down to New Orleans this Easter weekend was to check out the parades they have. Did you know there are actually THREE different Easter parades in New Orleans?

10AM - The Historic French Quarter Easter Parade
1PM - The Chris Owens Easter Parade
4PM - The Gay Easter Parade

I wasn't sure if I were dressed appropriately for any of the parades, so I told my father I needed to go shopping. Get used to hearing that, Dad!

Since we didn't go wild the night before, we made it to the first parade just as the cars were lining up to start the procession through the French Quarter. This was clearly the older crowd's parade where grandmothers would dress up in their Sunday's best including big fancy hats. They'd ride on top of convertibles and horse drawn carriages handing out candy and small toys to the children watching from the sidewalks.

We were standing next to a middle-aged man wearing tuxedo with coat tails and a top hat. He looked like the Mad Hatter, and (if you asked me) he acted the part as well. First he would throw out beads, plastic toys and candy to the nearby children. Not totally out of place given the setting. But my father took mine away as my parents came to realize he was a bit mentally unstable.

When the parade started, he would run up to the grandmothers in the cars and try to pry the candy and toys from their hands instead of letting them toss it out to the children on the sidewalk. When the grandmothers withdrew their offering from the strange 45 year old man, he would expressively pout in frustration and disappointment. We then quickly moved to another location on Bourbon Street. But since I was an adorable 2 year old (and not a creepy older man), the grandmothers were actually quite generous with their gifts to me!

But that old person's parade soon ended and we weren't going to stand in the street for another few hours waiting for the 1PM Chris Owens parade to start. So we went off to get some lunch at Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar on Iberville Street (exactly where the 1PM parade was scheduled to start from).

After a tasty lunch, we walked up to Bourbon Street where we saw the festivities getting prepared. We scored some great seats just a block away from the beginning of the procession and took advantage of some great photo opportunities.

   

It was around 2PM when we decided to make our way back to the W New Orleans and to pack for our 5PM flight home. There was still the 4PM Gay Easter Parade later on that afternoon, but something tells me it really wouldn't be appropriate for 2 year olds like me.

Overall, this was the first Easter parade I've been to (we spent Easter 2012 in Bermuda and Easter 2013 in Argentina), so I don't have much to compare it to, but I definitely had a great time in New Orleans and even picked up a few new toys as well!

New Orleans Delicacies - Part 2

The other day, I was going through our first full day of eating in New Orleans. However, we only had a few days and a decent sized hit list of things we wanted to try before we went back home.

1. Beignet - DONE
2. BBQ'd Oysters
3. Oysters Rockefeller
4. Crawfish Po'Boy
5. Seafood Gumbo - DONE
6. Muffaletta - DONE

So on Saturday, we wanted to knock out a few more on our list, so we went to a local favorite, Acme Oyster House on 724 Iberville Street.

Acme is one of several oyster bars/restaurants even on the same city block. However, there's a clear reason why Acme has a 30-45 min line at lunchtime while the others sit empty. It's that much better. When we arrived at 1PM, we knew we'd be in for a wait. The line was decently long but it was well organized. Had I been old enough to sit at the bar, my parents and I could have gotten in earlier, but apparently toddlers needed to be seated at the tables - which had a longer wait time. But after being patient (and my mother running into Duane Reade to pick up some snacks to tide me over), we were soon inside and seated at a corner plastic tablecloth table.

 

By now, it was closer to 1:45PM and of course, my father was starving. Before even seeing the menu, he threw in an order - half dozen raw oysters and half dozen grilled. The raw oysters were very large and meaty, as you'd expect from gulf oysters. Fresh was an understatement. The grilled oysters, however, stole the show. Similar to the ones we had in Memphis, TN, these Acme Chargrilled Oysters were absolutely amazing. They were hot and savory, seasoned with garlic and oregano and covered with just the right amount of romano cheese. And best of all, since Louisiana was home of Tobasco, we got to sample a Smokey Chipotle Tobasco flavor that we'd never seen before. AMAZING.

Since we were already there, we ordered a few more items to knock off our list, including a Crawfish Po'Boy, but my father was underwhelmed with that one. The crawfish were just so battered and fried, you couldn't really taste anything else - similar to his experience trying Rocky Mountain Oysters in Denver. Not a great use of $11.

That evening, we decided to have some more modern cuisine based on my father's colleague's recommendation. It wasn't authentic New Orleans food, but it was excellent seafood. However, I'll save that for another post.

Continuing on our Eating Scavenger Hunt, we were still missing the famous Oysters Rockefeller. According to legend (and Wikipedia), Oysters Rockefeller was created at the New Orleans restaurant Antoine's (the country's oldest family-run restaurant). The dish was created in 1899 and named after John D. Rockefeller, the richest American at the time, for the intense richness of the sauce.

It would have been nice to actually try Oysters Rockefeller at Antoine's, but we weren't dressed appropriately in between Easter Parades. So instead we went to Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar (across the street from Acme). We could have gone back to Acme, but wanted to try out the #2 on the street for comparison purposes.

Since we arrived at 11:45AM, we had no line to get into Felix's. Unlike its competitor across the street, the decor was much cleaner and less like you were eating at a dive bar. It looked like a nicer diner and was a lot larger than you'd expect after you went around the corner to the second seating area.

We were greeted and given menus where my mother instantly saw "Louisiana Alligator" on the menu! Despite my father's interest in sampling some 'gator, we stuck with our original plan to have some more oysters.

We ordered the same items as we did at Acme the day before (half dozen raw, and half dozen chargrilled). But we also ordered half dozen Oysters Rockefeller. The raw ones were comparable (not sure how much you can differentiate on that dish), but the chargrilled ones were quite varied from Acme's. Our serving came out and seemed slightly less cooked than the ones we had before.

Obviously, you can eat oysters raw, so it wasn't "undercooked" per say, but just more rare than we wanted. The flavor was also more muted than at Acme. While my mother initially said she preferred Felix's, after a few more bites, she changed her mind and went back to Acme. But again, it wasn't that they were bad at all. They were delicious, but just not as amazing as the place across the street.

Then came the Oysters Rockefeller. For those of you who don't know, there's actually a secret recipe at the original Antoine's. But most places can mimic it enough to get it close using a mixture of spinach, garlic and other breadcrumbs. While they sounded like they'd be good, we didn't actually care for them all that much. Had we chosen again, we would have doubled up on the chargrilled oysters...

...and an extra serving of the delicious Bread Budding! My father has been a long time fan of bread pudding, ever since my grandparents took him to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse where they had an amazing bread pudding dessert. So when we saw it on the menu, he had to order it for me to try for my very first time. And he was right. It was DELICIOUS!

New Orleans Delicacies - Part 1

Little known fact about me. Despite being only 2.5 years old, I'm quite a ferocious eater. That doesn't mean I like eating every weird thing my parents put on my plate, but I probably have a bit more adventurous palate than most American-Israel children, thanks to my parents.

So when we were down in New Orleans for the weekend, my mother and father definitely wanted to try out all the local cuisine they could get their grubby hands on.

Their checklist:
1. Beignet
2. BBQ'd Oysters
3. Oysters Rockefeller
4. Crawfish Po'Boy
5. Seafood Gumbo
6. Muffaletta

After having their first meal at Emeril Lagasse's NOLA on Friday, my anal Asian father plotted out our meals for the rest of the weekend to make sure his entire list was taken care of by the time we were flying back on Sunday afternoon.

Our first opportunity was Linner - a quick in between snack/meal between Lunch and Dinner. So around 4PM, we were heading back to the hotel to rest up a bit and my father's stomach started growling. He wasn't sure he'd made it to dinnertime, so we were given a recommendation by a tipsy Tourism office guide who said we should skip the touristy Cafe DuMonde and go to Cafe Beignet on Royal Street instead. Given the long lines at Cafe DuMonde, we were happy to get seated and eating right away.

If you've never heard of a beignet, it's kind of like fried dough but in a nicer shape. It's quite tasty and goes well with coffee, but given it's fried and covered with powdered sugar, it can be tough to eat more than one. My father didn't have that much trouble though.

Later on that evening, we had scheduled to go on a "Ghost Tour" with a local shop (super touristy, I know, I know!) at 7PM, so we wanted to get an actual meal around 5:30. Based on some TripAdvisor recommendations, we found Napoleon House just down the street from our 7PM meeting point. What Napoleon House lacked in polish, it made up for in authentic "charm" as my real estate agent grandmother would say. As you can see, the venue was "classic" on both the exterior and interior.

My father had a Muffaletta sandwich (an Italian sub sandwich with olive tapanade) with a small side of red beans and rice. My mother had a seafood gumbo. Both were decent, but nothing really to blog about.

The next day, we returned to the French Quarter to do more sight seeing.

Lunch at NOLA

I think my mother and I have a new favorite American city. New Orleans is just such a unique place to visit for so many reasons. The romantic architecture of the French Quarter, the ease of pedestrian tourism, the culinary delicacies of the Creole/Cajun restaurants, and (my personal favorite) the ghost stories!

We were there for Easter weekend, so our trip was to get a great seat for the Easter parades they have in the French Quarter on Sunday.

But since we had the time, we flew down early Friday morning and were able to have a late lunch at NOLA (Chef Emeril Lagasse's restaurant). While it wasn't as highly sought after as Cochon, we had a great first introduction to New Orleans cuisine.

Since we were able to check in at 11AM at the Westin on Canal Street, we enjoyed a nice 10 minute walk to NOLA located on 534 St. Louis Street. The perfectly sunny April Friday was exactly what we needed after a long cold winter up in NYC. As we walked, we'd often pass by horse drawn carriages, which I couldn't help but observe from the sidewalk. I'm aware that Manhattan has these same carriages up in Central Park, but I hate being a tourist in my own city, so we don't venture up that way too often. When we're in another city, however, we can let our tourist flag fly.

The restaurant was quite nice though not overwhelmingly so. We weren't dressed very formally, but even being a 2.5 year old, I didn't feel out of place at all. The wait staff was quite accommodating to me, even giving me a cup with a straw for my beverage of choice - ice water. My father, of course, had a Sazerac (the official cocktail of New Orleans made with an Herbsaint-lined glass, some Peychaud’s Bitters and Sazerac Rye Whiskey, then finished with simple syrup and a lemon twist). To me, it just looked like an iced tea, but whatever floats his boat.

 

Our meals came out and they were delicious. My parents split an appetizer of Gulf Shrimp Remoulade. My mother ordered a Duck Confit pizza and my father had a Garlic Crusted Drum (fish).

 

The service was super friendly and on par with some of the nicer restaurants we've enjoyed all around the world. The staff is well trained, though you could see their hometown urban roots coming through as well. The server we had made some great recommendations which I always appreciate more than the "Do you like chicken? Then you should order the chicken" type of suggestions that befall many inexperienced waiters.

While we had a great (albeit pricey) lunch at NOLA, I wouldn't call it a MUST TRY place in New Orleans the way I would about other restaurants I've heard about. But if you do happen to be around the area and wanted to stop in, you'd be making a wise choice!