Saturday morning came around far too early after our long
drive on Friday, but we were up early and out on the road again for the drive
West to New Orleans. It started out as a normal day, but would turn into the
strangest and one of the best days we have had so far.
Nothing occurred for the first couple of hours driving. Then
the heavens opened as we approached New Orleans and the traffic came to a halt.
There were a few short leaps forward but we ended up stuck about 200metres
short of a viable turn off. Unfortunately as people tried to drive along the
hard shoulder one idiot acted as lawman and stuck his car halfway down the
lane. This caused other cars to swerve off the road and onto the wet grass to
get past – One car in particular lost grip and nearly spun off as he did so.
The idiot then pulled out of the way as he was causing more than enough
problems. So we took our chance and drove down the hard shoulder leaving the
freeway with about 20 miles to go to New Orleans.
As we reached the outskirts of the city we were surprised to
see boats strewn alongside the road. Some with writing sprayed on the sides
telling people not to crush them or take them away. Other boats were broke in
two or overgrown with trees or grass by the side of the road. I don’t know is
they are still from Hurricane Katrina as it seems to long since that for them
to still be there, but there was a hell of a lot of them and other rubbish strewn
about.
Crazy weather and crazy drivers
Boats.....
...everywhere.
New Orleans - The Big Easy
We eventually reached the hotel about 2pm. The Midtown hotel
didn’t get any good reviews online, but it was the only cheap hotel that had
rooms at the last minute. We weren’t surprised then to enter one of the worst
hotels I have stayed in, since I was in India! We were given room 308, but when
we went inside there was already someone staying in there with his cooler of
beers on the side and the aircon set to freezing. Obviously, we went back to
reception, where we were give room 228. This room was nicer as it overlooked
the pool, but unfortunately the door didn’t even close properly never mind
actually lock. So we returned to reception and tried room 207. This one locked,
had no obvious other residents that we could see, but strangely had a set of curtains
but no window! Weird! We knew we were in a dodgy place, so decided to leave
nothing in the room, but take the car into town and park it in a secure car
park while we took a look around.
The city was dead – it was still raining and there seemed to
be building work going on everywhere. There was nobody on any of the streets
and anyone we did see looked dodgy. Our first impressions of ‘The big easy’,
weren’t looking good. We eventually found a decent car park though and left the
car behind while we made our way to the French Quarter and the world famous
home of the Mardi Gras – Bourbon Street.
Our classy 'windows', in the hotel!
Its not bad outside. though
Downtown New Orleans
Bourbon street
Witches!
This too was a let-down though as during the day it’s a
dirty, loud and sleazy looking strip of bars and clubs. We didn’t think much of
it and made our way east till we found a much nicer and mellow area of the
French Quarter. A spot of good lunch cheered us up., the rain stopped and we
found a nice market place with live music and dancing. Then a stroll along the
river front, a couple of beers (This and Key West are the only two place in the
USA that you can walk along the street while openly drinking alcohol. We have
been to both these places in one week!)a good look around made up happier as we began to enjoy ourselves and
meet a few people. One of the people who chatted to us turned out to be a
Voodoo Priest called Dr John, who invited us to come and see his pet pythons
sometime. (No thanks!) Everywhere you look there is someone wearing a strange
mask or carrying some sort of instrument.Plus there are Witches shops and places where you can buy your own
voodoo dolls and cast your own spells. Haahaa, it’s cool.
Dan with the voodoo priest!
Good bar!
Bourbon street at night
BUUUUURRRP!?
More of Bourbon street
New orleans wedding - video at the bottom
The afternoon turned into evening and as it got dark New
Orleans came to life. The dirty sleazy Bourbon street, when lit up feels like a
different place and when you see a live band playing the trombones, drums and
trumpets and everyone, black and white, young and old, enjoying the music and
dancing in the street you can’t help but join in a little and have some fun. It
is a cool place at night - A really cool place! We spent a couple more hours
wandering around, visiting strange and wonderful bars like the Old Blacksmiths
shop and generally sucking in the atmosphere as much as we could.I wasn’t drinking as we had the car in town,
so we ended up leaving after about 7 hours in town and went to get the car. On
the way we came across a classic New Orleans wedding – Led by a Dixieland band,
about 250 people all with white umbrellas, dancing along the main street
through town, with everyone just loving every minute of it. This is what I came
to see!!
When we got to the car park it was locked up. We couldn’t
get in. Bugar. There was a sign telling anyone to visit an office along the
street, which we couldn’t find, but luckily as we passed the car park again someone
with a pass drove into it. We ran across the street and dove under the lowering
door and headed upstairs to the car. The ticket machine worked 1st
time and the same door we had sneaked into, opened to let us out and eventually
we found our way back out of the city centre to the Hotel of Doom.
Georges
under the freeway...
a Po' Boy!!
Inside Georges bar
We needn’t have worried about the hotel. I slept really well
in the end in a warm and comfortable bed. However, we were up early again on
Sunday and off on our way north, away from New Orleans.
First stop of the day was in Baton Rouge, where we sampled
the traditional Louisiana sandwich – a Po’ Boy. Basically, it’s basically a sub
sandwich, on Louisiana style French bread. We ate ours at a place called
Georges – A cool bar located under a freeway overpass and it does great Po’
boys. Mine had 2 types of meat, olives and melted cheese and was so big, there
was never a chance I would finish it! A proper belly filler.
We then headed north to a small town called Natchez. Largely
unknown, this town is the start of the Natchez Trace parkway. This is a 440
mile long road that commemerates one of the old routes (A trace) used by Native
Americans in the past. It is solely for recreational use and has no trucks, vans
or other big vehicles. It is also built in such a way that you can enter at one
end and drive the whole length at 50mph, without stopping - No traffic lights,
no stop signs. Just exits like you see on the freeway. A blissful drive through
the beautiful countryside – for 440 miles!! We stopped for a map at Natchez and
spoke a little with the lovely little lady in the Visitor centre before
starting our journey, which we expect to take about 2 ½ days. We also took a
few minutes to look down at the Mississippi River which flows majestically through
the valley by the town.
at the start of...
the Natchez Trace Parkway
Big and hungry
An old farm and inn...
...inside.
More wildlife on the empty road!!
On the first day we drove about 100 miles to Jackson,
Mississippi, stopping to see the old ‘trace’, path itself, an abandoned village
where the only remains are the church and two abandoned safes! Plus a cute
little waterfall and an old inn and farm which have been set up to look like it
did when it was in use in the 1800’s. A really cool day made even better when
we kept having to stop to avoid the big vulture like birds that were eating road
kill on the highway. The only disappointment was when we reached out hotel in
Clinton, just outside Jackson. The town has a no drinking rule on Sundays and
so we had to have Coca Cola with our dinner in Applebee’s! Still, it was a good
day!
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