Wednesday 24 September 2014

New Orleans my favourite US city to date and a four wheel road trip


Maria could get corporate rates at the Marriott Suites Hotel so I remembered what it was like to sleep in a decent bed.


Maria had painted her toes to match the colour of Raul and Liz house in New Orleans.  Raul and Liz helped me after I had hit the cow in Peru.



They have bought this old Jail in New Orleans to turn into a B & B


I fitted in well among the musicians in Louis Armstrong Park




Above is Congo Square where slaves were allowed to meet, dance and play music


Foe some reason this tomb in St Louis Cemetery No.1 has been labelled a voodoo tomb hence the XXX graffiti


Nicholas Cage owns this tomb so it is assumed that when he snuffs it he will be buried here



Can you believe this?
Steve was one of the guys who rescued me in the Gobi desert in Mongolia.  I was walking down a street in the French Quarter when I bumped into him.  He had been in Detroit? on business and had flown down for the weekend.  Stalker!!!!! :-)



Art???





Lively conversation.  It was a little quick for me to follow


The mighty Mississippi!!






During a visit to the small Laura Plantation







The start of our airboat ride.  Really good.  Awesome skillful and knowledgeable helmsmen



Bloody big spider and its larder





Cypress trees


The objects around the base are so that it can live in water.  Mangroves have similar


They took the boat overland




More healthy cuisine


Grand Isle is now cut off from the mainland after the 1959 hurricane so it is now linked by a network of impressive bridges



We camped at Grand Isle.  Camped is a loose term since I had forgotten the tent poles.  PPPPPPP?  I cooked a Cordon Bleu meal in the mens' toilets.  It got dark at 1900 and nobody was around except the cleaner who was working in the mens toilets.  I took a shower in the ladies and when I came out the manager was waiting for me.  Apparently a women from the RV camp adjacent to the tent sites had gone to use the loo and was so incensed that I was showering she called the manager who then threatened to call the police.  I was very polite and apologetic but was really thinking how petty and crap the situation was.  Actually I was far less polite about her.


The shelter where we spent the night.  Well at least we would have done but without a sleeping bag I was sure I was getting bitten so I slept in the car whereas Maria being tough stuck it out.  In the morning her back and face were covered in hundreds of ant bites.  It looked like she had measles and they would last for at least a week.  I think that on this occasion playing the wimp payed off.






Bourbon Street, French Quarter, New Orleans








Fritzals Jazz Bar


No idea!!!!!



A breakfast Poboy







Spider and his larder







The Belle of Baton Rouge Hotel and Casino.  The Casino was on a boat on the Mississippi.  Must be something to do with licensing


I had to let Maria have a day shopping in the Mall of Louisiana



Not happy!!!!  Saw 3 Union Flags around downtown Baton Rouge and each one was upside down :-(





Baton Rouge as the state capital was very average but New Orleans was great.  You would think you were in Europe or South America.  It was fun, cultured and cosmopolitan.