NOLA - New Orleans

From one rocking city to the next.  We did the 9 hour drive from Austin to New Orleans.  Leaving the small hick towns of Texas behind, we entered Louisiana where we were welcomed by large upstate mansions. The colours that are splattered across the façades of the city's architecture give NOLA its characteristic lively atmosphere. Each house seems more beautiful than the next and you get lost in a maze of colours and street corners.

We stayed in a typical "gunshot" house where each room continues through to the next, without any corridors in between. While this obviously takes away from privacy, it gives houses a communal feel, as there is no place to hide! We stayed with some lovely Frenchies who told us all the must-see's and -do's and came out with us for a ridiculous night at a dinky little bar called BJ's. A night that started with harmless $4 margaritas, dancing and chatting with new friends who handed us small baggies of dope as sign of friendship, and ended with a ride home from a hick but friendly ex-army guy in exchange for said baggies of dope and our very last $1 bill. He was convinced we would get mugged in the ghetto around the corner if we walked. Americans. Gotta love em.

Anyone who is in New Orleans on a Monday night must go to BJ's for King James and the Special Men!

And New Orleans, as y'all know, is all about the music. We had always heard that NOLA was all about the jazz, and were surprised to find that this was not the case. After spending a good many hours in a record shop, and dropping some serious cash for some serious loads of vinyl, we were educated by the store-keeper as to the fact that the real "New Orleans sound" originated from Rhythm & Blues. And that's what we continued to find in all the music around the city. Once the sun started coming down, there was music on every street corner. The city was transformed and there was literally singing and dancing in the streets! Beer was cheap and the company was good. We felt at home.

Of course, it being a Jake holiday, we still had to eat our heart's out. I was so excited to hear about a place called Elizabeth's Restaurant on Gallier Street that did candied praline bacon! It was as good as it sounded and the clogged arteries were well worth it!

That was also how we found the most awesome of record stores. Just around the corner from Elizabeth's is a place called Euclid Records on Charters street. Go and support the small guys people!

The rest of our adventures continued in this fabulous city, with many music and food highlights. Ashamedly too hung over to remember the name of the incredible sandwich bar we went to on my birthday. We were sore and dizzy from dancing at BJ's the night before and I had to spoon-feed Sprite into Naomi's mouth so that she wouldn't vomit all over the amazing meaty goodness we had ordered. By night-fall we were feeling revived but still needed some grease so ventured to Yo Mama's for peanut butter bacon burgers. Yep. Americans have got it all worked out.

                                                    NOLA I love you.