New Orleans

The drive down to Missouri took forever. For the most part it went well. We had to drive around a section of the highway that was flooded by the Mississippi. The littel towns we headed through were quite beautiful. The weather went from Toronto winter to spring, to rain, to snow and finally, sun.

The day in Springfield was pretty much spent eating. We hit Lambert's, America's number one spot to pig out. They throw the bread rolls at you in this establishment. Those rolls were like butter. They slid down my throat and before I knew it I had eaten four. Later, Chris' sister let me know that each roll was 300 calories which explained why I felt sort of full by the time the main course arrived. The evening was spent at a habachi grill where our private food artist Louis was a little stiff with his food tricks. Aisha was afraid he was going to accidentally throw a knife at her during is chopping extravaganza at the grill at our table.

10 hours later the next day we arrived in Lafayette. Home to the football sensation known as Nasser. He took us to Prejeans (pronounced properly with a southern twank as Pray-johns). All the crawfish was deep fried, the hot sauce flowed and there were lots of square dancing elderly couples. We left with a bottle of hot sauce snuggly tugged away in Aisha's purse.

Nasser had the time of his life at the Walmart later that night. He nearly had a breakdown in the frozen food isle when he confessed that Aisha and I were "stressing" him out with the multitude of choices we were providing in terms of pillow options and tuna varieties.

Avery farm is home to Tobasco island. Not much happened there other than the discovery that Hasina really loved chipotle sauce (or chipo-totly as she likes to call it). The drive to New Orleans was beautiful. Much of the drive is on a bridge above the largest swamp basin in the world. I watched a vulture fly out of the trees and feast on some road kill along the way.

The French quarter seemed pretty much untouched by Hurricane Katrina. The quarter was back to its middle aged tourist splendor. I've never seen so many 40 year old couples in one place in my life. Decatur street was a favorite with us. We headed to Angeli for dinner the first night. The bars and restaurant at the edge of the quarter on these streets were among the most interesting.

We got used to Nasser being catcalled by men passing us quite quickly. "Hey big guy" "You been working out?" and "Raging Cajuns, wooh!" was the usual. He seemed used to it.

That first night we bored Nasser to tears with our choice of Fritzle's with its jazz music. Jazz was born in this city. The name comes from the perfumed jasmine oil the women used to wear around the musicians in New Orleans.

Bourbon, where we spent the majority of the next night, was...well, just like you expect it to be. Closed off to traffic with loud bars from beginning to end. Nasser didn't get Id'd at a single place and somehow we all had to pull out our driver's licenses once he entered the establishment in question ahead of us. A slap on the back by a 300 pound guy gets you in anywhere. A few hand grenades and beers on the street got Aisha & Hasina the courage to ask for beads. After the first string graced their necks they were hooked. The hookers on the balcony of the Barely Legal club kept showering Bourbon street patrons with beads. Half the crowd was standing with its camera pointing at the crowd of bead fans while the other half was photographing the jiggle fest on the balcony. The night ended with pizza at 13 on Frenchman street off Decatur.

The voodoo temple on the edge of the quarter drew us the next day. Priestess Miriam was working in the shop while her Canadian husband surfed the net in the back. We managed to get past the paraphernalia to the temple in the back with its many altars. It was one of the most colourful rooms I've encountered in a long time. Priestess Miriam was a funny lady. She took various strange phone calls and gave Chris a mojo bag that will protect him on his travels. The priestess pointed us toward the St Louis Cemetery after handing me a prayer for the road in 2008.

The cemeteries were a little disappointing. Not because there was a lack of tombs but because I didn't realize that so many people had died so recently and been buried there. Something had given me the impression that the cemeteries were filled with corpses from the 18-9th century and not 1967. Also, I thought these places were filled with sculptures? Lafayette Cemetery was located in the Garden district. One of the more beautiful places in New Orleans with huge homes featuring beautiful gardens and extensive wrought iron fences and balconies.

By far the most relaxing day came with our trip to Audubon park. Huge. Beautiful. I want to live there. We picked up some groceries consisting of rotisserie chicken and various other treats for our picnic. The sun was warm and the trees were stunning.


The last day was spent eating. Craw fish followed by espresso at Khave off Frenchman street followed by middle eastern on Magazine in the Garden district followed by bread pudding. Hmm.

Nasser got on the bus back to Lafayette.