All joking aside, I was starting to go a bit stir crazy in the National Parks because nothing was happening socially at all. (While in Yellowstone I picked up a couple of hitch-hikers just for the sake of having someone to talk to. Obviously I selected young female hitch-hikers, for security reasons.) Now I'm staying in a lively hostel, meeting all kinds of people and getting drunk with them, as is my wont. Please note that there are no nightlife pictures below, because expensive cameras and binge drinking don't mix.
My hostel is about a mile or two from downtown: the slow and creaky streetcar (tram) runs 24 hours and only costs $3 for a day ticket. Naturally I have gotten sozzled on Bourbon St, as you do. It's an experience, but I prefer some of the quieter areas like Magazine Street and Frenchmen Street. To use a Newcastle analogy, if Bourbon St is the Bigg Market then the others are Jesmond and the Quayside.
I've explored pretty much the whole of the French Quarter, as well as other interesting areas like the Garden District and Tremé. In the latter I visited a barbershop called True Stylz, where I was the only white customer present, and indeed perhaps the first one ever. They charged me $20, which is the most I've ever paid for a headshave - even more than in Manhattan last year. Maybe I'll try a redneck place next time instead.
There's a huge amount of musical history in New Orleans: in the context of 20th-century music, perhaps more so than in any other city in the world. I've seen quite a few live jazz and blues bands, some better than others. And there's live gospel music audible in the hostel from the surrounding churches.
There are of course also some very prominent social, racial and economical issues on show here. In my life to date I have spent quite a bit of time on the wrong side of numerous tracks, but it was still quite an eye-opener just to walk a few blocks north-west from the hostel. I wish there was something positive I could say, like I did with Detroit last year. It's not for me as a newly-arrived tourist to offer opinions on the rights and wrongs of it all, and certainly I'm not about to start taking 'poverty porn' photos.
On Bourbon St, one ancient trick is for the panhandlers to approach tourists and say 'I bet you $20 I know where you got your shoes...' The tourist accepts the bet, and then the beggar says 'You got them on your feet!' Apparently some tourists do pay up. I had read about this beforehand, so when my turn came, I was all primed with my smug response: 'Yeah, yeah, I got them on my feet'. But then I noticed how old, weary and unwell the guy looked, and immediately I felt like a complete w*nker. Deservedly so.
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| St Louis Cathedral, New Orleans. I had to wait ages to get this picture without any fat people or big SUVs in the shot. |
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| A statue of Louis Armstrong, in Louis Armstrong Park |
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| The hostel's on-site pet: a Pomeranian from the rescue shelter. Yes, it's a dog and not a cat. I got him to pose for the picture by pretending that I was going to feed him. I'm a very bad human being. |
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| The Opera Guild Home, 2504 Prytania St, New Orleans. In the Garden District. A fine example of Greek Revival architecture, built in 1865. Also a fine example of a Porsche 928S, as driven by Tom Cruise in 'Risky Business'. |
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| Edd vs Food #18 A 'Mr Biggs' combo at the Rum House Caribbean taqueria, 3128 Magazine St, New Orleans. Taco 1 is jerk chicken with mango salsa; taco 2 is marinated flank steak with guacamole and lime cream; taco 3 is red curried lamb with mint yoghurt chutney and sliced plantains; taco 4 is shredded pork with savoury mole sauce and grilled pineapple salsa. Black beans with chorizo relish and sour cream on the side. All washed down with draught Blue Moon. |
