New Orleans

---

After Memphis our next (and final) stop in the USA was New Orleans. Our timing was almost ideal as we arrived once the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac was basically all sorted. The one problem we did find, however, was that the Amtrak trains were all sold out on the dates we wanted to travel, possibly because everyone else had waited for the storm to clear before travelling too. And this is how it came about that Louise and I found ourselves, once again, aboard a greyhound bus. This time the journey took 12 hours so it was significantly worse than our journey from Nashville to Memphis, although the people on board were notably less dodgy than those we'd previously encountered on that earlier journey. We arrived in Nola some time around 9pm and one of our couchsurfing hosts picked us up from the station which was extremely generous of him. That evening we found ourselves first of all at a college Halloween party (yes it´s only September but this is the USA remember!) and then at a crazy dance club. It turns out that the people of New Orleans really know how to party. Most of them also seem to really know how to dance, so that was nice to witness, for someone who is used to the (generally dire) standard of dancing that occurs in Stevenage night clubs. Because I had no Halloween outfit I opted for the only alternative that I could think of: pyjamas! Any excuse to wear pyjamas for a night out is good by me. I think we must have got home some time around 3am so we were all pretty shattered and so the following morning was a bit of a write-off. The guys who were hosting us have a little pool and a trampoline though so we spent a lot of the afternoon in their backgarden with one of our hosts and his friend. It wasn´t until around 5pm that we ventured outside of the house but when we finally did, we went to the French Quarter which we fell immediately in love with. There´s quite a big indoor market area called the French Market so we spent some time there before going out for food. In the evening we went out on Frenchman Street which you could maybe say is the New Orleans equivalent of Broadway in Nashville or Beale Street in Memphis. Here, of course, the music of choice is jazz, and so we hopped in and out of a bunch of different bars to check out the music which was just incredible.

The next morning Louise and I woke up pretty hungover but determined to get out in time for the pre-game celebrations, because on Sunday the New Orleans Saints were playing at home against the Washington Redskins. We got to the Superdome (which is the Saints´stadium) about half an hour before the game started so we missed most of the fun times before the game, but we got to experience the buzz from all the fans which was pretty cool. Then we made our way to the French Quarter where we wandered around enjoying the quaint charm of the old colourful buildings, browsing through the art galleries and listening to jazz bands on the street. We walked over to Frenchman Street once again where we´d seen a tattoo parlour the previous night and got matching heart tattoos as a little souvenir of our time in New Orleans! Post-tattoo-age, we went over to see one of our hosts at the fire station where he works, so he gave us a tour around the place. One of his colleagues then very kindly drove us back to our host's house along the scenic route through St Charles Avenue which holds loads of beautiful fancy mansions. It turns out that he (the guy who gave us the lift home) was originally from Cartagena, Colombia (where I currently am!) so he was able to give me some tips on the place.

I´m a little bit lost as to which day we are up to now, but I think on Monday Louise and I once again headed over to the French Quarter. This time we also checked out Magazine Street which we´d heard was really lovely, but we actually found it slightly disappointing, although the Court of Appeals building and the nearby park was very pretty. After giving up on Magazine Street we wandered over to Canal Street which had some interesting shops, before once again going over to the French Quarter. We found a sports bar which unfortunately was not showing the US Open final so I wasn´t able to watch the Murray v Djokovic game but from what I´ve heard it sounds like it was pretty good! However, what the sports bar DID have was epic cocktails which came with (yet another) souvenir cup for my collection. I bought a cocktail called ´Gator Bite´ and I don´t remember exactly what went into it but I was watching the bartender (who sounded exactly like Seth Rogan by the way) pour the alcohol in and honestly I´ve never seen so much alcohol go into one drink before. Louise got a beast of a cocktail as well, so they were awesome, but they did have the effect of causing us to be rather drunk at about 5pm. Deciding that food was definitely a good idea, Louise and I found a restaurant for dinner and bought ourselves fish po´boys which are a big deal in New Orleans. And they were delicious so I can understand why. As per usual, the serving sizes were ridiculous so we took half of it back home with us for later. This turned out to be a good thing because we had another night out with two of our hosts which involved a fairly outrageous amount of alcohol, so the leftovers were put to good use as late-night drunk food when we got home in the small hours of the morning.

Wednesday was officially our last day as we were leaving in the afternoon, but as most of that day was spent packing, Tuesday was the last day when we really had time to do much. However, after the previous night´s activities the day was a bit of write-off. We spent most of the day lounging around and in the garden on the trampoline. In the evening we went out with two of our hosts and a couple of their friends for Mexican food, before spending our last evening out listening to some more brilliant jazz music at one of the bars. On Wednesday morning we went to the supermarker and bought supplies for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to commemorate our last day in the USA. Sadly one of the dogs had other plans, so before we were able to create our pb&j, he ate our entire loaf of bread and half of the packaging. After returning to the supermarket to buy another loaf (and being asked by the cashier whether we'd been at the shop all day, as he was certain he'd seen us there earlier), we returned to the house, got packed and ready, and Louisey very kindly made the sandwiches. Loaded with our bags (which I weighed when we arrived in Nola by the way, and mine weigh half of what I myself weigh) and our pb&j, we got a taxi to the airport. In a rather poignant and Hollywood movie-esque way, it turned out that Louise's departure gate was literally opposite mine, and we were both boarding our (seperate) planes at exactly the same time. So we had our movie-style farewell and took off, Louise heading back home (she's already planning to come back to the USA) and me to Bogotá in Colombia. As I've mentioned above, I am currently in Cartagena, so I have a couple more blogs to write to fill you all in on my adventures up to this point. But I think that the Memphis and New Orleans blogs are probably sufficient for now! Again, please check out the Facebook album (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151028320986801.412358.590966800&type=3) if you want to see the photos, as I can't upload them on this computer.

Bye for now!

Laura P

---

Comments

[Dad]

Sounds great......!
Sounds absolutely brilliant....but I think the Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer killer bloke should be locked up (loony bin or prison, whichever is nearest!) Oh, and far too much alcohol being mentioned, young lady. Come home immediately and you are grounded for a week! If you find a half decent PC again, with Skype, try calling whenever you can. I'll leave ours connected every evening we are in. Luv ya M&D xx