If New Orleans is Sinking...

Hello lovely people!

On Wednesday after we explored the Garden District we came back to our hotel and decided to head to the pool (we did bring swimsuits, after all). Although there are 2 pools here at the Hilton the one attached to our particular building is rather pathetic. It was strange to be in an outdoor pool with the air so warm outside. We struck up a conversation with a guy from Virginia/Florida and when Lisa mentioned how hot we thought it was down here, he said, "Where are you guys from, Canada?" like it was some kinda joke. He loved it when we told him we were from Vancouver because then he spent the next few minutes making cracks about how he would import snow for us. He thought he was hilarious. We didn't stay too long at the pool.

After that we got all dressed up in our finery and headed out to a rather nice restaurant for dinner. It was called the Bon Ton Cafe and we had a salad and shrimp etouffee (sorry, there should be accents on that but I just can't bother figuring that out right now). Etouffee means "smothered" down here, and yes, it was. (I took a picture; I have been taking lots of photos of food!.) Then we headed to our favourite store to get some snacks for tomorrow and called it a night.

For the next 2 days we were pretty derailed by the weather. We had an AMAZING bike tour booked (check it out here), but they cancelled due to the storm. I guess that was a good idea cause we didn't really want to be riding a bike around the city in the rain, but still, it was pretty disappointing - the bike tour was the only thing I really wanted to do, and it didn't happen. I guess I will have to come back. Anyone want to come with? :)

We had some lunch, did some shopping, and booked a ghost tour of the city for that evening. We went to Pat O'Brien's, got a famous Hurricane drink in a "go cup" and headed out, ready to be spooked. Our tour guide was Jennifer and she was kind of a riot. She had us cracking up pretty good. Or maybe it was the Hurricane. But in any case, we had a good time. :) After the 2-hour tour we had dinner at a pretty fancy place (that also happens to be haunted) called Muriel's. The best thing we ate had to have been the shrimp & goat cheese crepes. SO GOOD.

Let me mention that the food here has been fantastic. Almost every person that we've spoken to has talked about the food and how people have a misconception about it not being safe to eat due to the oil spill. As far as we can tell, it's totally safe, and extremely delicious to boot. People here seem quite upset that people think otherwise - and you can see why. They just start to get back on their feet after Katrina, and now the oil spill. Tourism is a big industry here, and so is commercial fishing. So, the food here is great. We are still walking up those flights of stairs everyday to justify eating so much of it. :)

We had rebooked our swamp tour for Friday morning and I am so glad that we did. I don't know what I was expecting - Lisa seemed to have a better idea about what would happen than I - but it was absolutely fantastic and worth every penny of that eighty-five dollars!! We were on a small, 6-person airboat, and our tour guide, Jay, was very enthusiastic (I got footage of him so I could remember him later).

Right away Jay sped us around in the airboat and it was awesome - it was also very, very wet. He sprayed all of us on purpose and had a good laugh about it. I knew it was coming when he asked me to cover up my camera. The poor Italian couple sitting next to me were pretty nonplussed about it at first, especially the wife since she didn't understand any English and had no idea what was coming... Anyways, it turned out to be a good thing that he sprayed us because for the next 20-30 minutes or so it acted like a natural air-conditioning and cooled us down as we flew around the water. Method to his madness, for sure. :)

As soon as we were out in the bayou an alligator swam right up to us. Jay called to her in French, and she swam up to the boat and Jay fed her marshmallows. Apparently alligators are attracted to white things. I got to feel her tail (rubbery & smooth!) and she entertained us by swimming around the boat. Once I got over being nervous I was pretty transfixed. Then in another part of the bayou a large male alligator swam up and Jay got him to jump out of the water for the marshmallow. He explained that his family, including his children, have a bond with these alligators that has grown over a number of years, and that there is a level of trust between them (although never forgetting that this animal is wild and that accidents can very easily happen when you are putting things in its mouth!).

We saw the hugest spiders I have ever seen (nobody needs that), herons, ducks, other birds and the best part was when we got to hold a baby alligator!! It was so soft and cute, I wanted to snuggle it and take it home. But, the rain was approaching and we had to get back to the dock, and fast.

Well, it wasn't fast enough.

The rain came down on us, fast and furious, warm and hitting our face like hail as we raced to get back to the dock. By the time we got there, we were soaked - and it was only maybe 5 minutes from start to finish. We thought we were wet from Jay spraying us before? Oh NO - this was sitting your butt in huge pools of water, soaked through to your underwear. Your shoes and socks are soaked, everything is soaked (our bags and cameras were okay cause they were wrapped up). We got off the boat, dripping and saturated from head to toe. It was like we went swimming with all our clothes on. All I could do is laugh. It was totally worth it! We had an amazing time.

Back on the bus with air conditioning. That kinda sucked. But we survived and once we got back to the hotel we rejuvenated with hot showers. Then we went out for lunch, had ice cream (yeah we earned it!), went shopping again (not much else to do with the weather being what it was). Then since we had no other plans, and it had cleared up, we decided to book another evening tour.

What tour did we book for Friday the 13th? Well, a Vampire Tour of course. Jonathan our tour guide was most entertaining and informative, and like the other locals we've met, loves this city and is pretty proud of it. Especially the dark history. It was creepy! I found this tour to be way more creepy than the ghost tour we had done earlier. We enjoyed it though, and it took us into parts of the city that we had not gone yet.

Once the tour was done Jonathan recommended a joint to eat called Coop's Place - he was the second person to direct us there. The service there is not terribly friendly, because they don't much like tourists. Locals eat there and we could easily see why - the food was pretty amazing. Yum!

Being Friday night, we decided to walk through Bourbon Street on the way back to our hotel. Oh, my god. Can I just be honest for a minute and dub it the Bourbon Street Nightmare? I can see why the locals don't go there - it's a total mess. Here are some words to describe it: beads, balconies, drunks, strippers, bars, music, cops, trashy, neon, garbage, crowded, loud, smokers, and signs denoting "Huge Ass Beers" and "Barely Legal Girls." Again, I got footage so that I can remember just how bad it was. I guess it'd be good if you were 19 (oops, I mean 21) and here with a stag. Other than that it was just obnoxious and kind of gross. I feel old for saying that. :P

One thing you should know about New Orleans is that it's pretty old, and the streets and sidewalks are not flat. This is important to keep in mind because you will likely do a lot of walking, with or without a "go cup" in your hand. There are many holes that cannot be described in any other way than "treacherous." Hospital-visit kinda holes. Maybe they do that for sport - obnoxious tourists do get tiring after all...

The day that we had gone to the Garden District, we took a cab home and the driver was thrilled to hear that we were Canadian - so much so that he asked us to sign his "book"; a veritable compendium of all the out-of-town guests he's ported around the city. He also told us about the Red Dress Run, which is basically a charity event where groups of people (and especially men) put on red dresses and go bar-hopping for charity. So as we were making our way around the city Friday & Saturday, we'd see these groups of people all in red and totally outrageous. I can't imagine what Mardi Gras would be like here! Crazy!!

Some random last thoughts:
- Humidity means waiting for your camera lens to become unfogged. This takes a while. Most inconvenient.
- Humidity also means never being dry. Also inconvenient.
- After a while, getting the "uh huh" response to my "thank you"s really started to bug me. I know, I know... it's an American thing...
- We had a celebrity sighting! Della Reese! Oh, oh, and we sat next to a guy with a Green Lantern t-shirt! Does that count??
- The pineapple is a symbol of southern hospitality; we saw it everywhere - mostly carvings and ironwork.
- Child hustlers attached the tops of pop cans to the bottoms of their shoes and tap-danced for money on the street.
- Rats. Roaches. Need I say more?

So today was our last day in New Orleans. At the airport, there was a mix-up with my reservation because someone had entered me into the system as a man. So when I tried to check-in as a woman, they couldn't do it. Hmmm... anyways after some stressed looks from the agents, and subsequent worrying on our part, it was all sorted. Except for maybe inside my own head, as is illustrated by the fact that right after, I went in the men's washroom by accident. I quite confused and upset a young ESL boy when I did that. Oh well...

We flew into Vancouver this evening with an amazing sunset over the mountains and Pacific Ocean. It's good to be home!

Cheers & love,
E!