Nawlins'

Sunday

An early morning and quick breakfast meant that it seemed that in no time we were saying goodbye to the most wonderful hosts and trying not to get too emotional. Thank you to Kathy and Doug for the card as well :)

We arrived in New Orleans in the late afternoon and had an interesting start to our stay in the big easy. On the shuttle from the airport our driver was regaling us with mildly amusing commentary, when he almost hit a skateboarder, prompting him to postulate about how skateboarders are the new 'organ donors' of the city, replacing motorcyclists (according to him). The group of four kids continued to skate next to the bus and at one point one of the kids bent over, exposing a colt .45 shoved in the back of his pants (a texan on board was quite certain of the type of gun). There was absolutely no threat or anything, but it was a somewhat unsettling reminder of where we were.

We checked in to our hotel and decided to explore. By this stage we needed some food, so we ended up wandering along Decatuer street and decided on getting some food at Emmaline's, a little pub with local beer. We had catfish jambalya, deep fried okra and dirty rice. Soooooo yummy. This kind of set the tone for the rest of our stay, meaning this bit of our trip was going to be all about the food. We explored some more and looked through some shops and just generally enjoyed the lovely atmosphere before heading back to our room, as we discovered that everything shuts very early on Sunday. There was quite the hiccough back in our room. Andrew was in the shower when we lost all hot water. It was after 11pm so we rang the front desk and they sent up an engineer. He came up about 5 minutes later and spent about 30 minutes trying to figure out the problem (while I'm in pj's and Andrew still has shampoo in his hair). It turned out that one of the boilers had gone out and it would take hours to fix, so we ended up packing up and moving to a new room at 11.30pm. This was very annoying, but on the plus side we were given a $50 credit on our account to make up for the inconvenience. An odd but good first day.

Monday

A beautiful day meant we had lots of time to wander the streets. We began by exploring Chartres and Bourbon streets, stopping on Ursulines at Croissant d'Or for croissants and coffee for breakfast. I wanted to see Elysian Fields so we walked the length of the French quarter and then some, past Frenchman street, and found it, took a photo of the sign, and made our way back to the quarter. We couldn't quite believe how quickly the and sharply the feel of the place changes immediately after Frenchman, so much so it would be comical if it weren't a real place where actual people live.

We walked back along the length of Frenchman street and turned down Royal to head back into the centre of the quarter. There are so many antique stores, clothing stores, galleries and interesting little shops to explore, and soon we were in need of lunch. We had a detour for a recommended record store, which was brilliant, and bought Conditions of My Parole before continuing. We stopped for a drink at the New Orleans Musical Legends park for mojito and mint julep (ugh, had no idea it was whiskey) before stopping at a little cafe for coffee and a scone. We continued our exploring, wandering past Jackson square and up and down almost every street in the quarter. There were quite a few street performers and it was lovely to see such amazing talent on display.

It became quite dark and again, shops were closing, so we went to the Jax brewery for some dinner. Wow, it was amazing. Andrew had a tasting plate of four local beers, and I had another mojito, and we decided to share a meal special they had as we've discovered that the portions here are beyond ridiculous. We had blackened red fish, gumbo and bread pudding for dessert. It was some of the best food we've ever tasted. The fish was incredible, the gumbo was delicious and I'm fairly sure I could eat bread pudding for a week and still want more. By this stage it was a bit late, so we decided that an early night was probably a good plan as tomorrow was New Years Eve. We finished up and then went back to our hotel, stopping by some more record stores on the way. A lovely day in a beautiful city.

New Years

We slept in to ensure we'd be up and about tonight, and decided to try a New Orleans speciality of beignets for breakfast and, after looking for a considerable time, we lined up for Cafe du Monde, a place that has been serving them sine 1862. They were excellent (though the coffee was ordinary) and they're a bit like hot cinnamon doughnuts except covered in icing sugar and a bit crispier. Delicious. The markets were next on our agenda, so we headed there and looked through the stands and decided to grab lunch there. Gator sausage on a stick and fried crawfish (yabbies) were delicious, and we had apple beignets for a dessert, before continuing our wander through the streets. We had no idea just how much a real chandelier costs (think $90000 and up).

It was getting really cold, so we popped back to the hotel to get our warm jackets, then we decided to walk back along the foreshore and find some dinner. There was one recommendation in the guide about a place called Coop's, so we went there. Yet again, incredible food. Andrew had cajun fried chicken, I had fried shrimp. Way too much food, but so yummy. We finished our drinks then went to the Allstate Sugarbowl Fanfest. This was basically a square that was taken over by football sponsors where there was a free concert and activities like kicking a goal etc. By signing up for emails, we both received free t-shirts, so that was a bonus. We stuck around for the last few songs of the last band, then made our way slowly along Bourbon street to soak up some of the New Years atmosphere, which was clearly in full swing. It turns out that you don't have to do anything to get beads, people just chuck them off balconies, so by the end of the street both Andrew and I were festooned with beads and we decided to kill some time back in our room before heading out for drinks and festivities closer to midnight.

Wow, the difference a couple of hours makes. Where it was fairly crowded and mildly sauced earlier, as we went out at 11pm to make our way to the banks of the Mississippi to see the fireworks, the crows were much bigger, rowdier and altogether more manic. There was a huge police presence and a really pumped atmosphere in spite of the rain. We grabbed a couple of drinks on the way and found a great spot on the river directly in front of the barge that had the fireworks. Unfortunately it began to rain somewhat heavily part way through the fireworks, but they were spectacular! They went for around 15 minutes and it was a brilliant way to ring in the new year. With the fireworks over and the crowds getting a bit much, we went and grabbed some wine and beer from the local supermarket, as well as some snacks, and went back to our room around 12.45am to watch some Parks and Rec and continue drinking in a quieter setting. A fantastic new years in all.

New Years Day

Sleep in! We got up late and decided that for our last day in the big easy we would go on a river cruise on the Natchez, the last original steam boat on the Mississippi. We paid for the lunch and river cruise so we were treated to a huge all you can eat buffet of jambalaya, catfish, okra, quiche, cornbread, sausage and bread pudding. This was our brunch so, with plates piled high with too much food, we spent two hours cruising up and down the Mississippi, enjoying the lovely live jazz band and exploring the boat. This was such a lovely way to spend the early afternoon and we'd thoroughly recommend it to anyone considering coming here.

Following our cruise we went past the Sugarbowl area and won some more free things, including gloves, a blanket, keyring and lip balm. We were fairly tired and, knowing that we'd need to be up at 3 am, plus having $50 on our account to use, we decided to head back to our hotel and type up some stuff and have dinner at the hotel. New Orleans is a brilliant, laid back, beautiful city with incredible food and welcoming people. We loved our time here.