Day 6 - Memphis to New Orleans

Day 6
Apologies for the delay in posting, we are all still alive.

We left early from Memphis in the morning for the drive to New Orleans. We drove from Tennessee, through Mississippi and Louisiana. On the way we stopped off at Cracker Barrel for lunch. We had seen it advertised on a billboard whilst on the freeway. Home style Country cooking sounded very appetising. It was the healthiest we had been on the road trip so far. Everyone was very concerned when Charis ordered beans. We were going to try a coca-cola brownie however we decided to maintain our healthy eating and opted not to try it.

The drivers in Mississippi were sloppier than in other states we had been in so far, there was a lot of undertaking. As we began to get closer to New Orleans, we were on what seemed to be the longest bridge, on the I-10. There were a lot of police pulling people over; we concluded that it must be an easy spot to catch people. The bridge was not much higher than water level. We were surrounded by swamp land and hurricane damage was still evident. The trees looked very short sticking out of the water and many of them were dead. As we moved closer towards the City, we noticed how there wasn’t as much of a skyline as what we had seen in other cities, because of the swampy terrain.

We arrived in New Orleans earlier than expected, at around 4. The Hotel was the Clarion on Canal Street. Canal Street was a bit phasing to drive down at first as it is one of the main streets in the city, especially with the streetcars in the middle of the road. The weather was beautiful and the palm trees made us feel we were finally on vacation. The Clarion was the nicest Hotel we had stayed in so far and we managed to utilise our AAA discount. We were concerned when we booked over the phone as the operator told us we could have a room with three double beds in. It was snug, but not overcrowded.

We decided to make the most of the weather and explore the city. We walked down Canal Street to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. Even though it was the middle of the day, most of the bars were pumping music out and the strip clubs were plentiful. The 3 for 1 offer on alcoholic drinks we had not seen before. There were some tourist stores that had quite colourful merchandise, such as a mens t that had an arrow pointing upwards that said ‘The Man’ and then an arrow pointing downwards that said ‘The Legend’. We stopped at Market Cafe for a cocktail. They had a live jazz band and we listened to a bit of Louis Armstrong et al. whilst drinking cocktails. Rowena, Jamie and Luke had the ‘Hurricane’ cocktail, whilst Kishan, Beverley and Charis opted for other New Orleans specialities.

Feeling refreshed after the cocktails and the set, we walked along the Mississippi river front as the sun was setting and saw the Natchez steamboat going past. Oceana restaurant had been suggested to us so we decided to check it out. Alligator sausage was on the menu so we ordered it and Rowena told the waiter to “make it snappy”. The cuisine was seafood; amongst the list of dishes we tried were Jambalaya, Beans, Shrimp and Catfish. Kishan with the sweet tooth had a Pecan Pie for desert. We saw a sign in the window saying ‘Eat Oysters, Get Lucky’ and the waiter appeared to be very nervous and looked like her wanted to go skiing with his arm movements. He reminded Jamie of Will Ferrell.

After dinner we were exhausted so we went straight back to the luxury of the Hotel room, and were in bed by 10:30. Along the way we saw some men being arrested near out Hotel, the location was excellent as we could walk everywhere, but the last few blocks were a bit sketchy. Our car was safely locked in the car park and we swiftly entered the Hotel.