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Published: October 2nd 2007
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Boadicea statue
down in the french quater Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Update at last. I am not in New Orleans now in fact I left there a week maybe 2 ago but I have been so busy with travelling, talking to people, going out, boozing, walking, buying, sleeping, hiking, shooting, getting driven round etc that I have not had time to update this thing. Add to that, each blog takes roughly 2 hours to do what with typing the entry, loading the pics, sorting them and checking corrections - it takes a lot out of my time to do and I can't do it on the pay internet machines coz it would cost too much and they don't work anyway!! I am on someonme's personal computer and as it takes soo long and I think they don't want me on here for ages, and I gotta check on washing, I think I am gonna write the blogs and put pics up later. Sorry guys!! I got tons of pics and if only you could load them up super fast I would but I can't so...
So now I gotta remember New Orleans. Ok here goes.....
Starts out back in nashville with my accom to New Orleans booked but
no way to get there. Luckily a guy is staying at the hostel that night and is going to New Orleans the next day so I get a lift from him. The drive down was pretty cool, driving through Alabama and Louisiana was quite picturesque with all the green. When you get into the Missasippi area there is a quiant welcome centre decked out in old southern style with free coffee and soft drink! I was impressed. Also on the drive down there was a point after that welcome stop where you just hit walls of bugs that commit suicide on the windscreen. Seriously the screen gets covered in dead bugs. You have to stop regularly to clean them off or else you'd never see where you was going.
Anyway into New Orleans and wow....devastation on the outlaying areas. Whole housing estates still wrecked. You look and you see some houses and you think they are normal and then you look and the windows are put put and its gutted. There are still places with just old stuff piled outside the house. I didn't even see all the areas effected but 2 years on and still alot of fixing
Marie Le Feitt Tomb
The Tomb of the Voodoo queen herself (spelt her name wrong I think) in the outline areas. It is pretty much the topic of the city to. Many a time I overheard a local talking about Katrina and how they were just coming back or how everyone has left. I was surprised however that there was humor from the event. There were a number of joke t-shirts of the event and they were funny to. It was strange coz you didn't see anything like that in say New York but in New Orleans it was a joke. Maybe it was just money making, I don't know.
So first evening was just getting in and exploring. Seeing the french quater and the areas just beyond. Its a really pretty city down where the hub of the action is. Nice little houses with colours and ironwork and the colourful Burbon Street. The outlying areas are a bit run down tho and I have to say it is the place where I felt the most unsafe. You really do not deviate from the main area or else you are in trouble. I was talking to a bar maid one day and she said there was a shotting on her street the night before, stroies of
recognise?
If you have seen 'Easy Rider' you will know where this is ... people form the hostel being held up at gun point, a cop murdered and b4 anyone else could get to him there was 'rest in peace' graffettied over his body. You looked out and you saw and felt danger. I had a close call myself with it one night after being dragged out by a guy working at the hostel and an american guy who decided to re-live his youth through me. I hesitate to go into full details of where they dragged me to but needless to say at one point the guy ran out of gas so we had to go down off the main street to get gas. This old guy started talking to me, he seemed harmless but then when I went to leave - he made a grab for me. Luckily the guy that had dragged me out was a 280 pound nutter who was right there and took care of it while I ran. I ran coz you don't know who is carrying in that city and I was later told the cops sorted that guy out. How does the story end? Well lets say I DIDN'T do what the guys wanted me to
Artic Monkeys gig!!! 1
Shot from the Arctic Monkeys gig I went to. do and I went into a brothel to use the restroom....
New Orleans was crazy. I accidently walked into a gay bookstore one the first night, Burbon street is lined with lap dancing places and such - no I didn't go in. I also meet some cool people along the way. The key people was Helena - a swedish girl who had lived in the USA for a year and I later meet up with further down the line, Melissa - a very funny, loud, alcoholic australian girl who I ended up travelling with for awhile, Brendan - a funny 30 yr old new zealander who I also travelled with and his ex Jenny. Also saw the same australian guys I saw in washington, a funny irish guy and his aussie gf and 2 aussie twins called Nat and Jo who worked at the hostel.
What did I do in New Orleans? I ate gumbo - a really nice spicy suop with rice, I ate a PO Boy a big sandwich that was a only so-so, I did a tour of the cemetries and town and that was ok, I did a ghost tour which was excellent -
Artic Monkeys gig!!! 2
Another shot from the gig first time I ever tipped a guide it was that good. You learn a lot of history, gruesome history of new orleans including some stuff that just blows your mind with how wack things used to be. One of the best stories was a dodctor and woman who had a house and they found he had been experimenting on slaves in the most gruesome ways possible including a guy who had his face skin peeled back and live maggots put on so he was being eaten alive, a girl who had every bone over 6 inches broken and re-set so she walked like a crab/spider and then they discovered over a year later that people had been chined up alive under the floors and had died there. The place was mega haunted and to cut it short - the house is now owned by Nic Cage.
What else did I do? I drank Hurricanes - a potent mix drink that tastes like fruit juice and drank Hand Grenades - a another potent drink that nbo is suposed to have more then 4 of.....
Lastly I will end with this. I saw the Arctic Monkeys, live for $28 which
Orbs
From the ghost tour I did, here is a house of early inhabitants of new orleans where a number of murderers, theieves, psychos, prozzie's and 12 nuns lived.
Can you see the orbs? in UK money is 14 quid. The set lasted over and hour and I could see them clearly, they played all their hits plus a new song. It was kick ass. The only downside is my camera was dying with its battery power so I do have pics of them but not great and none of the rest of that night, which was a big one.
Well got several more blogs to do so better crack on!!
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