New Orleans, the big easy, home of Jazz, Gumbo & Jambalaya (both very tasty by the way). This is our longest stop so far in the states and so far hasn't failed to disappoint. The city has charm, the people generally friendly and welcoming and every street corner has someone singing or playing the blues or just folk or a mix of the two.
The place is rich with history some modern with the likes of Hurricane Katrina and some distant like the battle of New Orleans. There is a real contrast between the backdrop of high rise buildings and French architecture from the early 1800s especially when you're looking at it from a paddleboat on the mississippi. It also has the oldest active routes of Street cars in the world (take that Sheffield Supertram). It's captivating and just plainly speaking quite cool!
.....and then there is Bourbon St. think club 18-30 from the mid nineties meets Blackpool, Magaluf and Falaraki and add a couple of strip joints featuring the worlds oldest trade then add a sprinkling of 3 for 1 drinking establishments and circus freaks acts in the street coupled with noisy jazz clubs and your not even close to the tacky quite nasty entrance to the infamous street. Shame but it is what it is and thankfully its self contained at the end of one street in the French Quarter. But apparently it's been infamous as a destination for 100s of years (every sailor had to have a port away from home!!) so it's probably a more toned down and tame version now than it would have been in the past.
But Bourbon Street aside New Orleans is a captivating place, full of history, spiritualism (voodoo Catholicism), and generally a good feel about the place. We tonight go to the nicer part of town where real Jazz is played by the current crop of local favourites and jazz old timers that's the real deal on Frenchman. Wallet at the ready and plenty of paracetomol for the morning ;) Mike & Kelly