Day2 in New Orleans

Rising at 11, feeling relatively well compared to previous mornings, we started the day with a healthy breakfast of Coco Pops and milk. Unfortunately, contrary to our previous thoughts “Half and Half” Milk was not in fact halfway between full cream milk and skim milk, but halfway between milk and cream. Another breakfast of champions. Keen to make the best of our last day in New Orleans, we headed into the French Quarter where we checked out various museums and Wonders pretended to be an art connoisseur, interested in buying a $17,000 painting. However, after closer consultation with his fellow connoisseurs it was determined that they were approximately $16,995 short.

New Orleans is also known for its haunted houses and Voodoo culture, so our next stop was the Voodoo Museum. This consisted of a single A4 handout and three ordinary sized rooms consisting of skulls, bones, voodoo dolls and various potions. Our entry fees had not been wasted however when we met the current voodoo witchdoctor – Mr John T. Martin – Druid and Voodoo Priest, who had an unhealthy passion for large snakes. Although his 350 lbs, 25 foot, 30 inch girthed boa constrictor had recently died, he did introduce us to his three year old albino green tree python. It was remarkably affectionate apart from what we were told is an unhealthy fetish for big toes. This did not bode well as we were all wearing thongs and we beat a hasty retreat.

Keen to satisfy our culinary cultural curiosity we headed to get ourselves some Po’Boys for lunch. Jez was the most adventurous – trying fried catfish, while Carl and Nick stuck to the simpler option of mixed meats. After wandering over to Frenchmen St, which only really differed to the rest of the French Quarter in the higher incidence of facial tattoos, we jumped on the streetcar and headed back to the hostel to gear up for a big night.

For the first time in a long time, our promise to our bodies of exercise was upheld and the three of us went running along the canal and blew some quickly accumulating cobwebs out of our systems. We then returned home where Jez caught up on some blogging and Carl and Nick went and got food and drinks for the night. Head chef Wonders created what Carl has described as a “Rogan Josh delicacy – minus the delicacy” courtesy of the good people at Patak’s which we washed down, not with bargain Coronas as we had thought we had bought, but with extremely effeminate Coronitas. Well fed, we headed into town with our new friends – Matt from Texas, Kristin from Arkansas and Lordy and Teeny from Melbourne. Starting at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen, we listened to some local jazz before making our way to the bright lights of Bourbon St. There, feeling very generous – Jez bought a round of test-tube shots for everyone which, we were somewhat surprised to learn, were to be served from the bust of a large African-American cocktail waitress. Post test-tube shots, things moved downhill quickly with hurricanes being introduced for the next round. This was bad enough, but Wonders took things to a whole different level by buying them in “big gulp” form – which amounted to McDonalds super-size cups which would’ve been approximately a litre.

From this point, the group disintegrated somewhat, though all made it home safely. However, none made a direct journey. Jez drunkenly slept in an unoccupied room at the hostel, Wonders made a detour to walk through some wet paint at the hostel and Carl got his Tarot cards read on the street. He was told that he was currently travelling, will be poor in the near future and that this will change when he starts working. Insightful stuff.

Either way – we had all very much enjoyed our last night in the Big Easy and were looking forward to some quiet(ish) days on the road to Tennessee.

‘Til next time

The boys on the road