Greetings all from Fairhope, Alabama - we're all settled in at the Holiday Inn and about to take in the town and drop by Michael and Kate's villa to say hi, but I thought before that I'd let you know how we got in Nawlins these past few days.Twas rollocking good fun, and I wish we'd had more time to explore - great food, live music, brass bands everywhere, eccentric locals and a healthy side-helping of voodoo all round. I forgot the PIN for my card so we spent most of our connection in Miami and first hour in town driving around trying to find somewhere that would give us cash up front, so we could at least park the car. Having checked into our enormo-hotel opposite the Superdome, gorged in room service shrimp po'boy and regained some sort of normality, we hit the town and ended up sucked into the roiling insanity of Bourbon Street on a Saturday night, and were exposed to all sorts of depravity, lewdness, sugary drinks, wrought ironwork, religious dogma, American football chants, marriage processions and antique shops.
The next day we fought our way through the hordes of strange-looking people in the hotel for a hairstylist convention, and went for a cruise along with the Mississippi, on the enormous Creole Queen paddleboat. Over a buffet of jamabalaya, seafood and bread & whiskey pudding, a gruff historian narrated the history of the city until we got to Chalmette Battlefield, where he gave a blow-for-blow account of how Andrew Jackson and a bunch of pirates repelled the evil British by hiding behind a wall of mud until everyone got tired and/or dead. On the way back he went into harrowing detail about the days and weeks after Hurricane Katrina, which was equally awful and inspiring. Then we went shopping for several hours, and dined at Yo Mama's, with the apparently-traditional New Orleans combo of burger AND entire baked potato, followed by Sazerac and jazz, and bed.
On Monday we went back to the waterfront and the French market by Jackson Square for an amazing food tour, led by a jolly old gentleman who'd just had some new knees installed, taking in po'boys, gumbo, jambalaya (fun fact: jambalaya derives from paella, "seasoned" by the locals with ham, or "jambon" - hence the name), beignets with chicory coffee, a muffaletta sandwich by the banks of the river and finally some pralines and Mississippi Mud at the oldest sweet shop in town, coupled with ghost stories, local trivia and a trip to an amazing tea and spice shop. Then after a stop at the tiny Voodoo Museum and a final streetcar downtown, we hopped in the car and drove across a massive bridge down ol' Alabamie way, for more adventures no doubt. I would thoroughly recommend NOLA if you're that way inclined - play us out, Tom Waits: https://www.youtube.
Speak soon,
Frod
PS: pics are on Facebook!
PPS: not sure when I'll be in the hotel to speak tomorrow, but I'll let you know once we have a plan.
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