Bluebelle1

Flew from Nashville to Dallas-Fort Worth airport. This airport is enormous, like a city within a city and serves both Dallas and Fort Worth metroplexes. I had to catch two buses just to get out of the airport and to the train station. The hostel was just a big house with four dorm rooms. Luckily I was let inside by one of the guests, as the owner wasn't even around - it was very laid back! That night traveled by local train to Fort Worth Stockyards district to check out the night life. First thing I saw walking down the main drag was a man leading a dog. The dog had a little saddle on it with a cat perched on top for the ride. Ontop of the cat was a rat! This was an amazing ... read more

Austin is the live music captial of the US and you are meant to be able to see/hear anything here. Wandered around the kitchy costume shops and vintage clothes shops in the SoCo district. One shop 'Allen Boots' was literally lined floor to ceiling with every kind of eccentric, attention-grabbing boot you could image. Unfortunately people were pretty touchy about taking pics of their merchandise. Also denim everything and anything encrusted with rhinestones and studs was out in full force. I picked up a pair of jeans which weighed a tonne. Later on I went to the Broken Spoke Texas honkytonk. Unfortunately it was an older crowd doing the two-step polka. No rockabilly here! Moved on to the Continental Club which had a 'Howling Wolf' tribute night which was amazing. The next day I checked out ... read more

Chuffed with my decision to take the Amtrak train to New Orleans instead of the Grey hound. The train was very comfortable, with its own restaurant car and I didn't encounter a single jailbird - lol. Seems that everyone has their own protable laptop or tablet these days and folks (I'm becoming Americanized!) were watching TV shows and movies on their own devices. Something like that would be good for my next trip (oh yeah and a phone that actually works overseas!). When we neared New Orleans it looked like they must've had some flooding as the river had jumped its banks and was going crazy. Everyone was taking photos. "Holy Catfish!', said the lady behind me. In this part of the world I guess catfish and crawfish really are holier than cows! New Orleans was ... read more

Trying to find my way from the Greyhound bus terminal to my hostel I was befriended by a guy returning from tour in Afghanistan, who proudly informed my that St Louis is now the #1 crime capital in the US (beating New Orleans at #2). Hmmm .. Finally found thehostel which was more like a run-down, rickety boarding house. No-one there to book me in (how surprising), so not a good sign of the reliability of this place. Someone finally turned up and showed me my bed. The girls' dorm was completely empty except for me which felt a bit creepy in this old place. A young guy who said he did maintenance work there offered to show me around the nearby pubs/live music venues in the Soulard district where the hostel was located. Around this ... read more

DAY 3 - The mercury is still going crazy with the expected top being 33 C today. Last night I had to wet my singlet top twice and sleep in it otherwise would have burnt up. Went to St Isaac's Cathedral and climbed the colonnade to see the views of St P from the top. This was worth it, although the skyline always seems to be a bit hazy, not sure whether this is pollution or not. Next visited the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood just to view the outside which is pretty impressive. I am a bit over paying the entrance fee for every attraction so now am just picking and choosing. As with all the attractions there were heaps of big tourist buses already clogging the road around the church. The tour ... read more