Advertisement
Published: January 20th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Well time to say goodbye to The McDonalds and Houston and move on to New Orelans. Arrived at the airport with our heads held high our tickets said "Discounted Business Class" finally we were going to see how "the other half" travel... what a shame it is only a 50 min flight!!! Welllllll we lined up with Business Class which was a much smaller queue only to discover we were in "coach class" excuse me but I have a ticket that says Business Class albeit discounted...Sorry M'am you did not pay enough for business class and to add insult to injury we could not even get an exit seat for Ian so we were saying "thank God it is only a 50min flight" my how your perspective changes when the cicumstances change.
Arrived in New Orleans Robert drove us to our Bed & Breakfast in Magazine Street in The Garden District which is in the "Old part of Town" Excellent location close to Downtown and the French Quarter.
The house is an old 3 storey house, Jessie the owner told us he stayed here during Katrina... there was no damage to his home but as we walk around the
neighbourhood we have noticed homes with some damage and as yet not repaired. Compensation money is slow to come into the town.
After we checked in we went to Loyola to check out where Robert now calls "home" It is a very old campus and shares several facilities with Tulane Unversity which is right next door. The Gym at Loyola is up on the 5th floor of the multi storey carpark.
We were made very welcome by all the palyers both men's and women's team and the coaching staff. The team seems very happy and there is no "bitching" amongst the players and they genuinely seem to like each other.
Loyola is in a very affluent part of town with beautiful big old houses apparently it is where the"old money" lives. I have really enjoyed the way the houses are all decorated with lights and christmas stuff ( have tried to photograph it but they just don't come up the same) we have been told this will change shortly to purple, green and gold for Mardi Gras.
We watched training and Robert twisted his ankle just before first game, so drove to Milsaps in Jackson Mississippi
and met up with Delecia and the children even though Robert did not play.
Spent New Years in Natchez with Delecia and Tom while Robert drove back to spend New Year in the French Quarter with a couple of his mates from Natchez...apparently pretty wild and packed.
Returned to New Orleans ourselves next day via a quick visit with Eddie Palubinskus.
New Year started pretty low key first few days were mostly watching Robert practice, eating and going for walks.
First weekend of the new year was very busy in downtown and the French Quarter due to a big football game it was LSU vs Ohio State for the College Championship. This is a really big deal.
LSU fans are like no others, there are thousands of them and they are very parochial. You could perhaps compare it to our AFL grand final only more. Houses are decorated in purple and gold, everyone is dressed in purple and gold you can even buy dog collars in purple and gold ...it was insane.
We walked down to the French Quarter on the Friday, the game was not until Monday, and there were hundreds of Ohio
State fans in town (red & white) but the thing I noticed was there was such a good spirit....lots of fun stirring each other. The bars were clearly one team or the other.
Ohio had played the year before and lost... LSU had only lost 2 games this season and because they are from Baton Rogue and the main Louisiana team there was plenty of local support...a great thing for the City of New Orleans because it bought lots of people and $$$$'s to the town and it sure needs it.
Delecia and Tom came down to New Orleans for a long weekend to go to the game as they are very staunch LSU supporters and to watch Robert play. We caught up with them at Cooter Browns which is a student hang out and sports fan hangout as it has a huge screen TV for major games and about 10 smaller tv's around the walls for any other games that are on at the same time so you don't miss anything. The other "attraction" is they claim to have 400 different beers from around the world including a couple for Australia.
For the record LSU won
by heaps so there was much celebrating in "The Quarter" but then I guess that is why they all came.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.12s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0854s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Glenny
non-member comment
Luv this blogging stuff
I reckon this is the best thing since sliced bread - almost our own CNN on what you are doing. Lizzie you do a mean commentary as well. Keep em coming - maybe more???? Ozbound Glenny (maybe one day)