The Big Easy

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Hello Sinners!

We thought we'd wait a while before we updated you on our adventure as we don't want you to get bored reading about what we've been up to. We're now in Austin, Texas, staying with some of Fiona's family. It has been good just to chill out for a bit before we drive Go West.
Anyway, F left her last mammoth installment at New Orleans.
To say we didn't know what to expect when we arrived in New Orleans is a bit of an understatement. As we were making our way there and told people where we were heading their advice to us was 'Be Careful'. Even the gas station attendants would warn us, but that just made us all the more curious. When we arrived in New Orleans it was packed with tourists, it was the weekend before ML King day, the sun was shining and there seemed little reminder of Katrina and the damage she brought. We managed to find a posh but cheap hotel right in the heart of the French Quarter (note hotels are ridiculously cheap here in the week and ridiculously expensive at the weekends in equal measure) and we set about exploring this old town. As usual we popped into the Visitor Centre to see what was around. Now normally the helper goes on about all the places you should visit but on this occasion the map resembled more like a list of no go areas (even during the day!), her basic advice being 'don't go outside the French Quarter'. Now telling F not to go anywhere/do anything is like a red rag to a bull so off we went exploring into the night to sample the Big Easy nightlife. The food here is different from much of the US with a lot of rice dishes like Gumbo and Jambalaya (though I still can't find one to beat Tesco's!) and big sandwiches like the Po Boys or Muffaletta. Though there are many restaurants they all serve the same. I have to say that the cuisine here didn't suit either of our digestions that well and we coined a new phrase 'Gumbo' to signal the foul wind that it brought!
We took a walk down famous and lively Bourbon Street, the main drag, which basically covers every desire from McDonalds to dodgy Karaoke to Hustler with a bit of Jazz thrown in. There were a lot of Police about and we found out why the next morning. It turns out that the day before we arrived a local woman was shot dead in the French Quarter by some kids who were trying to rob her. She worked in a local bar where a mini shrine developed. The local community seemed quite shocked by the killing and some kids were soon apprehended. We visited the shrine and saw a poster against the violence which had fake blood splattered on it and the slogan 'Somewhere in this City this Blood is Real'. Not exactly what you want to see when you visit but it is important to understand that this city is one of great contrasts with some deep-seated problems.
The next day was Martin Luther King day, a bank holiday essentially set aside to remember the birthday of the Civil Rights leader. There were some parades in the city, but none near to where we were and most of the tourists had gone home. Plus we were bogged down with returning the car to the airport and getting lost/stressed out!
There is so much live music here that you spend most of the daytime in cafe's or sitting on the street listening to a band play and most of the night doing the same in bars. One of the most famous bars here is Pat O'Briens which has dueling pianos and is home to the 'Hurricane', a rum based cocktail that is obligatory in New Orleans (and I did indeed oblige - F). The music was good, though they did play Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' which is a song I never thought I'd hear in the Big Easy!
The next morning was Obama's inauguration, which we watched mainly in the room as there seemed to be nowhere open nearby to watch it. Also it was quite cold outside, not as much as Washington, but cold enough for us Snow birds (That's the term they use here to describe those who head south for the winter sun). It was a bit disappointing not to experience these two historic days with 'locals', though the local Black Panther channel did describe Obama as a 'white man's stooge' so I guess not everyone is happy. No doubt if things don't go well for him people will point to the gaffs as an omen.
We got to see a lot of Jazz performed, mainly by white, balding, maths-teacher types (we even made a point of looking for black musicians! - F). One of the funniest was at this bar run by this drunk English woman, a kind of Ivy Brennan character from Corrie (ask your mother). She was swaying to and fro with the music, stumbling over her introductions and threatened to do a solo number before the band skillfully ushered her off. We got to see some old style jazz performed at a place called Preservation Hall, where bands play as they did in the 20s in a rundown wooden shack (and yes all musicians were black). The best place to experience the music is just walking through the streets. There is always some group rolling up and just doing their thing as the traffic goes past, some are better than others and some you need to keep your distance from as they clearly haven't seen soap and water in a while. It would have been nice to spend some more time here but we had seen all we needed to see. We even ventured out a little on the trams to see weird graveyards, quaint neighbourhoods and crossed the Mississippi on a free river boat. NO and the French Quarter is definitely America's most un-American city, with cobbled streets, creole houses with wrought iron balconies and lots of French street/shop names. F really liked it, and although we were a both too early for world-famous Mardi Gras, the Bourbon street was pretty lively at night with people throwing bead necklaces from the balconies, loud music booming out of the clubs and people drinking all sorts of weird and wonderful concoctions in the street. Although we had many fore-warnings before coming here, we felt fairly safe when walking out of the FQ.
Other weird things in NO: A lot of Geoffrey Archer books in the library (why?), some guy walking out of McDonalds with food and drink asking us for spare change (frigging cheek!)
Anyway since we didn't have a car now we needed to use public transport to get to our next destination - San Antonio Texas. However, the choices in America are pretty bad at the best of times, but in NO they are worse due to Katrina. The best option for us was to catch the Greyhound, which meant getting up a 5am in the morning! It was no mean feat to drag Fiona out of bed this early I can tell you and she was not looking forward to the 12 hour journey it would take to get there. There were a few stops along the way and at one we encountered a border patrol guard (though nowhere near the border?) who asked us all to show our passports. This was unfortunate for two illegals heading back to Mexico and they were quickly put in handcuffs and taken away. There was also an argument on the bus about seating and one onlooker shouted to 'The Lord to take the devil from this woman'. Not the usual abuse you would hear on a bus back home!
We arrived in San Antonio just before sunset and made our way to a cheap-ish hotel where we encountered old socks in the safe and a mouldy coffee bag in the filter! We were in a good location and were able to easily make it down to the the Venice-inspired Riverwalk, full of bars and restaurants along a canal, complete with bridges and boats going past. It was lovely and warm in the evening and we took a stroll along the canal after eating some yummy Mexican food.
The next day was sunny, but a bit colder as we made our way to the Alamo. For those of you like Fiona who haven't actually seen the film, the Alamo is a former Spanish missionary church where Texans fought (and lost) a battle for their independence from Mexico. Basically everyone inside the church was killed in the battle or executed, except for women and children. It was nice to see for a change that the enemy wasn't Britain. Though one thing they have picked up from us Brits is the love of queuing. For some reason at the Alamo, seemingly unnecessary, people just stood in a line and walked around? Anyway we were naughty and broke the line, in part due to my fit of the hiccups. There are certainly a lot of different cultures at play in San Antonio. You stroll along the Riverwalk and it feels like you are in Europe somewhere, but you are surrounded by Mexican restaurants and bars with country music blaring out. Plus there was a Mexican market we visited with lots of cattle skulls, Mexican clothes and trinkets for sale. It has become another of Fiona's favourite places.
On Sunday we headed on back to the Greyhound station to catch a bus to Austin, where we would be picked up and taken to Fiona's cousin Peter's house for a nice lunch with his wife Laura and son Mark and girlfriend Melissa.
Apparently it had been lovely and warm in Austin the past week, but as usual us Brits brought the bad weather with us and for the next two days it did rain. But we certainly have managed to cram a lot in over the last week. We're staying with Mark and he has a lovely house in the hills, where you can hear coyotes howl at night. It is quite eerie, though it only lasts for a minute or two. In Austin we have been on a hike in the Hill Country, fed animals at the local zoo, watched the film Gran Torino at a cinema where you can order food and beer from your seat (v cool) and went to a country place called 'The Broken Spoke' to do a bit of two-step country dancing, all in one day! We've also seen an 80's cover band called the 'Spazmatics', a very un-PC name, watched the Superbowl on TV and eaten a fair bit of Tex-Mex food! The highlight though has to be going to see a live basketball match, which Peter and Laura took us to see. In the US, college sports are big business and Texans take their sports more seriously than most. Their local university American Football stadium has just been upgraded to hold over 90,000 people! They're pretty keen on their basketball too and we went to see the Texas Longhorns play Kansas State on Saturday. It was a really close match, though it did go on a bit, almost three hours with all the Timeouts and overtime. It took a while for the game to get going, but it was worth it as Texas came back to tie in the last moments. But in the US they don't do draws so it went to overtime. We were (quietly) rooting for Kansas as they had virtually no support and played the better, plus being typically British, we liked to see the underdog win. They eventually won, mainly due to their star player, Denis Clemente, who scored a record 44 points in the game. He even managed to score all his free throws, despite the crowd booing and trying to put him off, encouraged as they were by the very byist announcer.
I think I have a great fondness for the South (he's a confederate at heart - F). Its history is much more colourful and gritty than the North. In the North it is all nice and pretty, wrapped up in a nice bow, but down South it is much more real, more dirty. Driving around you also get used to liking Country music. The songs tell much more of a story than the pop ones do and you appreciate it when driving for hours on the open road with a choice of that or the same five 70's rock bands they play over and over. A particular favourite of mine is a song by Joe Nichols called 'Tequila makes her clothes fall off' which reminds me so much of the women back home.
F continues: Anyway, we will be leaving Austin tomorrow (Tuesday 3rd) and probably driving across Texas to New Mexico and then up towards Utah and all the National Parks, including the Grand Ol' Canyon herself. So lots more scenic photos I'm afraid. We've booked another hire car and got it til the end of March (six weeks!) where we'll drop it off at San Francisco - our departing airport!! Gulp - it's not that time already is it?? Ha ha, well, we think we may have bought ourselves some more time out here: although our visas expire mid-April our flights home are for mid-May (we didn't know at the time of booking flights we were going to get the standard six-month visa). We thought we might have to change our flights to come home early (sob sob), however, it transpires we can leave the US in mid-April to go to another country for a month and re-enter mid-May solely for the flight home, meaning we can go visit Canada or Kel and Woody in Brazil for a month before coming home (if budget allows)!!!!
More to follow as and when. Take care folks xxx

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Photos

What the?
Some wedding we gatecrashed in New Orleans by the river. For some reason they had the bagpipes playing though they were all clearly Americans!

Bourbon Street
How many beads do you think we got thrown at us?

Street band
The best thing about New Orleans

Cafe du Monde
There is nothing like Jazz and beignets

Cool rhythms
The National Park Service give free shows and tours on the history of Jazz.

Jazz at Preservation Hall
Oh when the Saints go marchin'....

The Alamo
If you hadn't already guessed

Austin nightlife
Sampling a few cocktails with Mark and Melissa

The Spazmatics
Live in Austin. People were really excited.

Broken Spoke
Showing the locals how it is done!

Watching the game
Peter and Laura with M

Chilling at Mark's
Come on, we had to show some scenery!

Comments

[Daphne Plant]

Gators, crocs and all that Jazz!
Hi you two what a great time you're both having! The Everglades sounds so exciting with all the wonderful wildlife (gators,crocs and beautiful birds - enough to make Crocodile Dundee envious). NO was certainly an experience especially hearing all that live music in the hometown of Jazz! So glad you caught up with F's family in Texas, sounds as though it was great fun. Can't wait for next blog. Take care. Luv you lots. Mum/Daphne xx

[Ukwanni]

Your name for the Cathedral is in need of...
Hello and good day, I just wanted to share one correction with you regard's your pict'x of the "San Antonio Cathedral".... It's actually the San Fernando Catherdral and is the oldest operational cathedral in the U.S. Ciao, Ukwanni www.artofu.biz