Day 22: Arriving in New Orleans

Up at 5AM, it was time to say goodbye and continue on to our next stop: New Orleans. We drove almost straight through, only breifly stopping at a Waffle House to have some breakfast. The ground started to get very swampy as we drove into Louisiana. Much of the interstate was on pylons directly over swamp. Exactly what I expected Lousiana to look like.

After a time, we came to New Orleans. On Aunty Barbara's advice, we were going to get a hotel room for tonight. We made our way into the French Quarter around 4PM and started looking around for a hotel. We found a room at the Royal St. Charles near Bourbon St. and set off to find some dinner. It was a Friday night, so as we walked along Bourbon St, there were already many people walking around drinking and enjoying themselves. There are many little shops that sell beer to go, and alcohol can be consumed in the street so long as it is in a plastic container. We found a little resaurant and sat on a balcony overlooking the street. We had fried alligator, gumbo, jambalaya and catfish pie, all of which were quite delicious.

I was keen to spend some time out on the town. We were in New Orleans after all. Unfortunatley Alex had been feeling ill all day, and really wasn't feeling any better. She was adamant that I still go out though, so I took her back to the hotel and put her to bed. I then went back out and to a blues club on Bourbon. It was some goood music and I enjoyed it. Eventually I left there and visited a couple of other places for some live music. I would love to give more details about what I did, but I was drinking something called a Hurricane and something else called a Handgrenade, so you will understand that although I had a great time and had some good conversations with locals, much of the night is a little bit of a blur.