New Orleans - Day 1 to Day 3

If there’s one stop-over on this trip that pales to insignificance as compared to the rest it is the three nights we spent in New Orleans. Were Barry to write this post I imagine it would be quite different. New Orleans is bound to look a little different if you don’t spend two of the three days in a warm bed, in a private room, with Spicy Chipotle Cheese Ritz Crackers and a tub of Philadelphia, and wifi. The trip to New Orleans took about 24 hours and the hostel (AAE Bourbon House, the best hostel so far by miles) had a pick-up service meaning we were ready to hit the bars almost immediately.

There was a great Mexican restaurant a few blocks down from the hostel, and a great mojito cocktail and Flying Burrito therein. After dinner we caught a cab out the Spotted Cat in the French district and wandered around with the guys and girls from the hostel looking for the best live music. We shouldn’t have strayed. A classic swing band brought the period photographs of the Spotted Cat to life... staring at the frames on the walls, you could swear that you were falling back in time (and if imagination wasn’t sufficient I suppose a wander down an alley or a linger on a street corner would have produced some medicinal aid).

The feeling of the group died at about half-midnight. After a taxi back I still hadn’t seen more of New Orleans than my tired eyes had made out in the shuttle bus from the Greyhound station. Seemingly resolute in my desire to shield myself from experience I spent the next two days indulging in food and blog writing and calling home and making soppy calls to Petunia.

I actually don’t regret it. After two weeks on the road, some me-time was exactly what I needed. There’s plenty in New Orleans I’d like to see – actually going to Bourbon Street, seeing the museums, seeing the remains of the Katrina damage – but it’ll have to be another time.