DAY 16: BACK IN THE BIG EASY
Big driving day today, but we've reached our destination of New Orleans.
We hit the road around 8:30 this morning. About half hour out of Vicksburg, we took an exit off Hwy 61 to enjoy a drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It felt like we had this scenic route to ourselves as the road weaved through a thick forest parallel to the Mississippi River. The Parkway pretty much led us straight into the town of Natchez by about morning tea, where we got out to stretch our legs and take in a view of the 'Mighty Miss'.
From there, it was back onto 61 South where we made good time to have some lunch at Baton Rouge. The effects of the recent floods weren't visible, at least on the highway we were on, so it was only an hour or so more before we reached our final destination of New Orleans.
We booked the same hotel we stayed at last time (only revisit we've done so far) - you just can't beat the location here at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel with your own balcony overlooking the famous Bourbon St.
Being a big day, we didn't venture far from our hotel tonight. We walked one block to St Peter's where we had some Gumbo for dinner before taking in a performance at the historic Preservation Hall. There's an old 6-piece 'all-star' jazz band that put on 3 or 4 x 45min shows a night here. People line up for over an hour hoping they might get to be among the 70 or so people they jam into this little hall. Fortunately we booked our spots on the limited seating benches in advance. No long queues for us!
Unfortunately it was strictly no photos or video during the performance, so you'll just have to take our word at how good these guys were. They did a couple of numbers, but then threw it open to requests from the audience. Their rendition of 'What a Wonderful World' to finish the show was just pure goosebump material.
It was the perfect way to start our stay here in the 'Big Easy'.