The excitement about the stay in The Big Easy (Noorluns) didn't disappoint. I wanted to bathe in music as much as possible on this trip, and what better place than here!? The city is hot, humid, and stinks. Underneath the sticky heat and stench is an enticing charm which ensures you’ll be comin’ back for mo’. I found the locals cynical compared to the other places I’d visited, sometimes quite gruff. They like to do things their own way here.
The place is a hive of serious musicians and spicy food of the deep south. I stayed in a friendly hostel on the edge of the French Quarter. The French Quarter is ‘quaint’ (as the Americans often say). Narrow streets lined with iconic old French buildings, and gas-lit street lighting in many areas. Doing any work on these buildings, requires several levels of approval from all sorts of nit-pickers and committee members - but it preserves the architecture.
Initially I went to Bourbon St, but this was nothing special - tacky, touristy, and full of average pub bands. In this city, there's no ‘open alcohol container’ law, so people really fill their boots. Bourbon street is crazy for plastic booze-fuelled partying, I passed a few clubs spinning vinyl which sounded half decent, but the live music here? Meh.
For real music, go to Frenchmen St, by comparison it’s night and day. Insanely talented musicians, effortlessly oozing spine-tingling raw blues and jazz. I spent most evenings on Frenchmen St.
New Orleans is a dangerous city, I was warned by numerous Americans to be careful and not to walk around drunk at 5 am. One of the hostel workers was robbed a few weeks before, he told me it was very much his own fault because he was drunk and being friendly to people who accosted him. So if ever you visit the city, you need to keep your wits about you and don’t engage with people who approach you on the street - especially at night!
One evening, I met a lovely Native American couple in a music bar, we went to loads of other venues with various stragglers and got smashed on Tequilas. I remember saying my goodbyes around 3AM and mentally preparing to walk back staying focussed - I was a good 20 minutes walk away. I woke up the next morning in my room with a glass of water next to me, so I’d clearly got home safely and sorted myself out. However I had no recollection of how I’d got back, not cool!!
More amusingly, on another night I was in a bar where a group of drunk Texan women started conversing with me, I was relatively sober and they were well-oiled. The main woman talking to me was polite and asking interesting questions, so I chatted with her for a while. Her drunk mouth-breather friend kept wobbling up to me and trying to put her hands down the back of my shorts. I gently pushed her away and politely told her to cut it out. But she kept doing it and so my responses became increasingly direct.
I could see why it might be amusing for her, but I really didn’t want her rancid digits anywhere near my pristine bottom (she could have at least bought me a drink first). After her fourth attempt she took great umbrage at my Anglo-Germanic expletive - said with a laughing smile, and prefixed with a ‘will you please just..’ These women were from a rural area of Texas and were away on a ‘ladies’ weekend. The woman told me her husband was having a party of his own while she was away. I wish I was there, looks fun, check out the video:
For the most part, the food was fantastic: Seafood Gumbo, Spicy Chicken, and ‘Poor Boys’ Sadly I didn't find a decent Jambalaya. I guess it’s one of those ubiquitous dishes, so you need to know where to go. As a good recommendation you should definitely try ‘Dat Dog’ on Frenchmen St - friendly staff and cheap food. I had a spiced veggie dog with chipotle mayo and cheese fries, washed down with a local IPA - spot on!
Gumbo:
One morning I did a swamp tour on an air boat. Due to the time of year we didn't see any large alligators as they’re busy mating in deeper water, we only saw ones about 8 feet long. Our guide was excellent - friendly, charismatic and knowledgeable. He started young: catching alligators as a small child, then studying marine biology, then working on conservation projects to help protect them.
It was interesting to learn about their habitat - and how stupid they are! Their brains are about the size of a small marble, they have terrible eyesight, are rubbish at judging distances. On top of that, they can only see in black and white. They hunt using their sense of vibrations. Saw lots of baby alligators which were pretty cool..
Next up - a short stay in Nashville