Day 14, 10th November 2000.

Today was the shortest drive of the trip, a little over 60 miles would see us from Baton Rouge to New Orleans, or N'awlins as they like to say.  As we had plenty of time to get there, we tried to get on a swamp cruise to see if we could find us some alligators.  However, after driving for seemingly miles down a narrow winding road we found that "the boat had just left" from the Cajun at the boathouse.  We later discovered that the boat actually left over 3/4 hour ago, but we learned that this was "just" in Louisiana.  So, we headed into the Big Easy to book into the hotel and catch the sights.

Not wanting to take any risks in one of the most dangerous cities in the world, we booked into a posh hotel in the heart of the French Quarter.  The hotel, the "W" was wonderful.  Feather beds, fancy designer features, powerful shower, but best of all had a jellybean dispenser!  Now the flu had begun to take hold on Chris and myself by now, so we thought we'd take it easy.  We had a couple of pints and some lunch in the downtown microbrewery and then Chris headed back to get some rest whilst I took a few pictures of the wonderful buildings.

After a while of trying not to look too much like a tourist, despite holding two cameras, I managed to get a few pictures that sum up the French Quarter by day.  Then I too went back to get some rest before the evening's entertainments.

After a few hours rest it was time to go and get some food.  We both felt like crap, and the feather beds were great, but we forced ourselves that we had to "do" New Orleans.  We ate some wonderful contemporary Creole food.  The discussions then started -

"We've got to do it, we've got to do Bourbon Street."

"Yeah but I feel like sh**."

"So do I"

"But we're here, we've got to"

"Yeah, okay, let's just have one drink in a jazz bar and then sleep."

That's when the trouble started!!!  We stepped one foot into the place (after taking about 15 minutes to decide which one to go into) and then that was it.  The foot starts tapping, the hand starts tapping, the beer goes down well.  Well, do we stay for another????  We decided that it would be rude to walk out in the middle of the band's set, so we stayed for that.

We then headed off to find another bar, then another, then another, then another...........  Oh well, I guess that just sums up Bourbon Street!  I had one of their infamous cocktails - the Handgrenade, which I have no idea what they put in, but it seemed to last for a day or two!

Eventually though, it all got a bit late and we headed off to the hotel at about 12:40am.  Chris then tried to convince me that I should make the most of the place, and after a lot of protesting, I thought I'd better see what else there was to see.  Well, I saw a few more bands in a few more bars and then went back to some of the others, had a few beers and the next thing I know it's 4:30am and the sky's beginning to lighten!  That was when I decided it was time for bed.

My advice to anyone going to New Orleans - Go, don't stay too long or it will kill you, but if you don't see it, you'll be missing something.  It was a wonderful, mysterious and intriguing place.