Exploring New Orleans

---

Woke up in a hotel room this morning with a sore head and a very vague recollection of what happened last night. Hannah and I got ready and walked to our other hotel which was literally on the next block. We were all wondering why we all woke up with a sore head but after talking about it and looking at photos, it started to come back. Most of the group decided to have a walk around New Orleans to check it out, Hannah went straight to bed again. We headed past Bourbon Street and into the French-Market Place, looking in different stores for some souvenirs. I bought a few New Orleans t-shirts but Dave and I really wanted a decent necklace from here. We went off and looked in store after store trying to find one we liked that wasn’t too expensive, we didn’t find anything. After browsing around we headed back towards the hotel.

Both Dave and I had been thinking about get a tattoo for ages now and we figured that this seemed quite a place to get it done. There was a tattoo parlor just down the road from our hotel and that’s where we ended up. We looked through the thousands of different tattoo’s we could get. I wanted to get the Southern Cross on my leg but after printing a copy and pressing it against my leg I thought against it, though I still wanted to get a tattoo it wasn’t going to be the Southern Cross. I picked out a few and got them to draw it on my skin to have a look, but they were getting frustrated because I kept changing my mind. Meanwhile Dave was getting one drawn up for his leg, it was going to be quite big so he sat with one of the artists drawing it up. I continued to look around until I found one I liked. I asked them to draw it on my skin but because I had done a few already they wanted me to pay $20, so I did and they drew it on. I liked it, and so did everyone else it seemed so I gave them the nod.

They sat me down with a guy while he got his ink needle gun ready. He seemed to be taking his time, I really wanted him to just get on with it before I changed my mind. But then finally he began the outline on my shoulder. I sat for almost an hour in pain as he drew away on my arm, after he finished he got out his camera, took a photo, then bandaged my arm. I went to see how Dave was going, and stood watching his leg being done. Elaine also got a small tattoo on the back of her neck, but she was in and out before Dave and I had even had a decent look around. They finished up on Dave just as Hannah came down to have a look at what was going on, she thought they looked really good. We soon left to meet the rest of the group and have an old time photo taken. Jon tried to do it a while back without any luck but this time found a decent place to get it done. We were there for a few hours dressing up and getting photos taken. It was only a tiny, tiny place and we were all extremely cramped inside, Hannah began to feel sick and needed to sit down. We were all happy to finally leave and get some fresh air, we’d come by and pick up the photos later.

We went for dinner around the corner and ate more local food, but we were rushed for time as we were going on a ghost tour of New Orleans tonight. We quickly ate our food then made towards a pub where they started the tours, we just made it. We bought tickets, which included a massive cocktail, bought our drinks and begun the tour. In New Orleans you were allowed to drink in the streets so we always took drinks with us. Our tour guide took us around in the dark, stopping at various places to talk about the ghosts. It was quite good, but not very scary really. The tour finished at the same place it started and a few of us decided to play a few games of pool. The rest of the group met up with us again and we left to get our hands read around the corner. As we each had a reading, Hannah suddenly realised she’d left her ring at the hotel we stayed at last night. So Hannah and I rushed back to ask and have a look inside the room but with no luck. We walked back to our hotel and ordered some junk food from a place around the corner. Soon after everyone else arrived back at the hotel and we all went to sleep.

Day 43:
New Orleans
0 MILES TRAVELLED // 8535 TOTAL
French Quarter Suites

---

Photos

New Orleans
Downtown New Orleans backstreet

New Orleans
Backstreets of New Orleans

New Orleans
Freaky haunted street on the ghost tour

New Orleans
Scary haunted house on the ghost tour