The morning I left LA, I was at the bus station and a guy asked me where I was off to and I replied with "New Orleans". His response to that was "WHY?" and "BY YOURSELF??". He seemed very shaken up about it. I was a little confused. Wasn't New Orleans suppose to be a fun place? isn't this the place to party?? Well apparently it was also one of the most dangerous places in North America. He had my fun a little shaken, but I had my ticket and I was about to get on that retched bus.
Fast forward 2 and a half days and I step off the bus and into a taxi headed for "India House Hostel". Now this place looked awesome online. It seemed very colourful and clean and warm, cozy like. Well.. it was colourful, not the cleanest and only cozy if you were in the little lounge section with the TV. The beds were terrible!!! If it wasn't for my little neck pillow that I picked up at the airport I'd've killed someone through lack of sleep.
So the first day I arrived there I thought I'd go downtown to where it's at. The only way to get there without a car is the trolly, what we would call a tram, but very slow and loud. They were pretty though. So about 15 mins later I get off at Burbon st. This is where all and I mean all the craziness is. I didn't know exactly how crazy till that night.
Off I was in search of food I could eat. Until this point I had not fully enjoyed anything (except the pizza I ate in LA and a hot dog, oh and that meal in Vegas.. but other than those) I had put in my mouth till now. I came across "The Red Fish Grill" that looked decent, - (let me just throw in now that New Orleans is like it's own country, I was in the French Quarter part of town and their cooking was Moroccan) so when I looked at the menu, I had no idea about anything. They had things like, Jambalya, PO-boys, red beans, crawfish.. huh??
Well after 20 mins of staring at the menu, I asked the bar man what he would chose and so Pasta Jambalya it was. Now the only good thing, food wise to come out of the states, that I've found, is that they give you bread and whipped butter with every meal. This butter is amazing!!!! If all that I had to eat on this trip was bread and butter, I would have been happy. So my pasta came out with the bread and butter and it was fantastic!! I was so happy to be eating good food. My pasta had chicken, sausage and prawns in it with a plain red sauce oh and with spirally pasta. So happy was I!!!!
So the food was good, but the beer wasn't. I hadn't enjoyed a beer yet and New Orleans wasn't the place I was going to start. But halfway through my meal, 2 gentleman sat next to me at the bar, (yes, I was eating my dinner alone at the bar. what??) and ordered their dinner. One of the men started talking to me, (when an American realizes you are from Australia, they get very excited.) and seemed very nice. They were both over 45 and seemed harmless. The one talking to me asked if he could buy me a drink, (I should just add in quickly that before I left for the States, Darcy made me a ring and I have been wearing it on my wedding finger.. and it works.) but not just any drink, a cocktail. So once again I asked my trusty bar man on his opinion and he made me the nicest cocktail I ever had. I don't remember the name or what was in it, but it was so yum!!!
So at this point Sid and Pat had become my new friends. They ordered dessert after dinner and insisted that I share in it and coffee and without my knowing, paid for my dinner. I was very surprised. After that they offered to show me around. By this point it was well and truly party time on Burbon St and the craziness I was talking about?? OMG.. Burbon St is famous for it's "hand grenades" which is a cocktail, so yum but so deadly and the Street Porn as I like to call it. STrip clubs everywhere, but not just that, they have naked, feral woman inviting you in. It was insane!!!
On to the Cigar bar it was for us and I had my very first one!! I was so proud. At first it was nice, mine was dipped in vanilla so it smelt and tasted quite nice, but I only got 3/4 of the way throw it and had to give it up. My throat hurt so bad, I coughed and had a foul taste in my mouth for the rest of the night. But it was fun!!
We walked around for a bit, saw the lovely little shops and organized what we were going to do the next day. Pat was the younger one and the leader of the two and was also happily married. Neither of them made me feel uncomfortable and I spoke about Darcy a lot so I thought if I was going to be here by myself, I might as well hang out with people who were fun and I would feel safe with. So they made sure I got home ok and they were going to ring me the next day and organize a time to meet, they wanted to take me to dinner again.
So my first night in New Orlens was great. My next post will be what happened the next day.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment