Blogs from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, North America - page 15

So, we've done country, blues and soul. Now it's time for Jazz. New Orleans (or as they pronounce it N'Awlins) - home of Satchmo (Louis Armstrong), Mardi Gras and the French Quarter (Vieux Carre). It's an early start as our train leaves Memphis at 6-50 am, and we're slightly concerned as our taxi turns up 10 mins late. Shouldn't have worried; the train is running one and a half hours late! It's the Chicago to New Orleans overnighter and no one has any idea how or why it was running late......till the one of the attendants spilled the beans - it left Chicago late and they didn't know why! We have lower level coach seats which is pretty comfortable for a 9 hour journey - loads of leg room, reclining seats and power points. No Wi-Fi ... read more

Jan. 21. We left San Antonio late morning and headed east on I10. I waved hello to Houston, but we didn't stop. Houston has a very impressive road system and we were very glad that we drove through it at 1:00 PM and not at rush hour. As we were expecting a long and boring ride on I10, we put an audio book, The Goldfinch, on and listened to it all the way. We crossed the border into Louisiana and got our first Mardi Gras beads at the LA Welcome Center. After about 6 hours on the road, we stopped for the night at the Comfort Inn & Suites in Lafayette. We have stayed in several Comfort Inns this trip and they have all been very nice & comfortable. The girl at the front desk recommended ... read more

Step back in time to the days of Mark Twain as you board the Steamboat Natchez in New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA). Visiting New Orleans in early March was breezy and somewhat chilly, but an enjoyable cruise and interesting education about the river. During our stroll in the French Quarter earlier in the day, we could hear the lively musical dance of the steam calliope. Historically, the Greek mythology tells us that Calliope (Kalliope) was the oldest daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. As the eldest of the Muses, she was a goddesses of music, song and dance. In artwork representations, Calliope is typically shown holding a tablet or a scroll representing poetry, but in some of the older artwork, she is shown holding a lyre as representation of music and song. That’s the history lesson, so now ... read more

Louisiana: Lafayette to New Iberia Coming from Houston, Texas on Interstate Route 10, we travelled the affectionately named Creole Nature Trail. Again, we were advised by the visitor centre attendant that it was a much more scenic and pleasant road than the interstate. We turned off 10 at Sulphur and headed south on 27 toward the Gulf and Holly Beach. We passed along the edge of the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge which is comprised of 125,000 acres of protected marshland, 61 miles of levees and is the largest coastal marsh refuge on the Gulf of Mexico. The Creole Nature Trail winds through more than 180 miles of bayous, marshland and shores along the Gulf. It passes through miles of fertile prairies and lush marshes. The brochure boasted that there was a good chance that we would ... read more

Day 6 – July 2nd Our Last morning in N’awlins. We had breakfast around the big dining room table and chatted with other guests and the lady in charge of the breakfast room – what a Sweetie she is! She told us there will be a celebrity staying with them next week, but she didn’t know who it was. Then she went on to tell us about last year when Jennifer Gardner stayed there. Jennifer Gardner is one of my favorites. I loved watching her in the TV series Alias. I asked which room she was in and as it turns out, she stayed is the same room we were in. We slept in Jennifer Gardner’s bed! We had two things left on our NOLA “to do” list so we got right ... read more