New Orleans TOURS, TOURS, TOURS

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I woke up to a hangover headache but I had to get up because my first tour was 10AM. I struggled out of the bed and showered before heading to the streetcar. The hostel is right on the streetcar line which runs up and down Canal street. I paid $3 for my all day pass and headed into the French Quarter. FYI the French Quarter is actually quite small and makes up only a portion of New Orleans.

First tour of the day was a Voodoo tour near Louis Armstrong Park. It was a free tour organized by Free Tours on Foot. The tour guide named Melissa told us about the history of Voodoo which is a blend Catholicism and African religions. As it turns out they were fairly easily blended and they worked on their religion on Sundays when the slaves had the days off due to religious requirements. The French who brought in the slaves had the requirement they baptized in Catholicism I guess to assuage their conscious.

Melissa had a lot of good information and explains that it is not a dark religion even though it is portrayed that way in the media. It does have possession by various spirits for blessings and knowledge. It was an interesting conversation and we made our way to various monuments around the park and north French Quarter. We went to the house of Marie Laveau who was the most famous Voodoo priestess and we learned her life story which was interesting.

I decided to skip the voodoo temple tour and went to look for my next tour which was a food tour at Mike's Poboy restaurant. I was an hour early and it was so hot so I decided to get out of the heat by drinking some coke at McDonald's. For the record August is the worse time of the year to go to New Orleans due to the heat and the threat of hurricanes. So if you go in August than remember to keep hydrated.

Food tour started at Mike's Poboys and our tour guide told us the basics of the tour which was 5 places to go to and a history of the food and restaurants. First meal was called a Muffuletta. A Muffuletta is an Italian typed sandwich made on a very thick round bread and full of provolone cheese, Ham, Salami and other meats. The distinct feature of the sandwich is that it has olive salad for dressing. The sandwich was designed for construction workers in the Italian section of New Orleans who needed a sandwich that would not go bad in the sun.

Next stop was a coffee place in the French Quarter where we had coffee with chicory and a beignet. A beignet is a pastry with powdered sugar. The most famous place for this is Café Dumont but we went somewhere else because it is so crowded. A beignet is quite tasty and I did enjoy chicory in my coffee. Chicory was originally used to extend coffee when the real coffee bean was in low supply due to the civil war but people decided they like the taste.

After that we went to Gumbo restaurant for of course some Gumbo and Jambalya. I really liked the Gumbo but not so much the Jambalya. The Gumbo had a lot of delicious spices in it and is well worth the trip to New Orleans. Both meals were popularized in New Orleans and is served in basically every restaurant in New Orleans.

Stop after that was a Po'boy diner. A Po'boy is a submarine sandwich which was created in New Orleans. It can be created with various meats or even seafood and has lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. We had beef Po'boy which was really messy to eat but was tasty. I had a lot of trouble with it because I was so full at that point.

Final stop of the day was the Southern Candy Company where thankfully we only had a small praline as food. I ate a lot of free samples before heading out. I would go back before I leave when I had to buy candy for home. I had a few hours before my next tour so I headed back to the hostel to clean up. Once I got back to the hostel I met another one of my roommates Samantha who was another Aussie who was travelling across the USA. The 2 Aussie brothers had extended their stay at the hostel so they got moved to my room. Another hostel fact if you do extend your stay at a hostel you will be moved to another room. I sat in the courtyard for a while and got names to faces I had met yesterday. Howard who was an IT security student, Gary who was another IT person from England and on a Sabbatical. Gary was trying to find a way to get to Austin from New Orleans so he was working out ride shares or buses. It was a long process for him but I am happy to say as of this writing he made it to Austin. Last person at our table was a lovely young lady named Fawn (that is her actual name). We had an interesting conversation about expanding your mind and I told her about the various substances I tried while visiting Amsterdam. She told me some interesting stories as well and I will say that is the point of hostels. You go there to exchange stories. Nothing against everyone else I met but I will say Fawn had the most interesting stories.

I rode to streetcar back to the French Quarter with Samantha exchanging stories along the way. Once I got into the French Quarter I had a late night ghost story tour. It was with the same free tour company and I had the same tour guide Melissa. Tour started at Saint Louis cathedral and that spot had its own ghost, a priest who haunts the alleyway. It was a large group for the tour so it took a while to coordinate things. First stop was pirate alley which apparently is haunted by executed pirates. People keep claiming to see ghost pirates but since most of the sightings are very early morning and there is a café nearby where the workers dress as pirates it is likely it is drunks who are making these reports. I will say most of the hotels are haunted in New Orleans and each have their own unique ghosts. My favourite ghost was the Madame Lalaurie who lived in the 1830's and horribly mutilated her slaves along with her husband. She later fled to Paris to avoid prosecution but haunts the house after her death. Also the people in the house obviously see the tour groups outside and kept sticking heads in the window and randomly turning on lights.

So that was my ghost tour and I will say the stories were disturbing and the ghosts can be quite vivid. So I can understand why there are over 60 people on each typical tour. After the tour it was pushing 10PM and I headed back to the hostel. There was a long wait for the streetcar so I didn't get back into the hostel until past 11PM. Most people had already gone out by that point and I debated whether to join them at the Spotted Cat Club but I was too tired so I went to sleep. So that is day 2 in New Orleans.

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