We have had four full days to explore New Orleans and had a fantastic time! On Friday we headed into the French Quarter to wander around the old streets. We met up with a friend of Mikaela's and had beignets (French donuts) for breakfast at famous Cafe Du Monde. The weather was a bit drizzly so it was quiet around the place, but we took the chance to walk around and read about lots of the beautiful old buildings and had a delicious New Orleans lunch with gumbo, red beans and rice and fried eggplant.

The weather was much better in Saturday and we took the morning to explore around the Garden District not far from where we are staying, which is full of beautiful old southern mansions. We wandered through a graveyard with all the tombs above ground due to the city being below sea level before taking the old street car down to Audubon park, which is bordered by Tulane and Loyola universities. They are beautiful and the park had the classic southern trees with moss hanging from them. That afternoon we went on a swamp tour, at Honey Island Swamp about an hour out of the city. There wasn't too much wildlife as it was winter, but the swamp was interesting and interspersed with old fishing shacks along it. All the gators were hibernating, but we had a small one passed around in the boat that was neat. That evening we headed out to Frenchman St to see some music, but didn't get far due to a forgotten ID, so wandered back through the craziness of Bourbon St.

On Sunday we had the first truly warm weather we've had in awhile. We took the opportunity to relax and wander more through the French Quarter and along the Mississippi. For lunch we had Po' Boys, massive delicious New Orleans sandwiches, we were so full after! We lounged in the park, before visiting an exhibition of Hurricane Katrina. Some of the stories were harrowing, we heard quite a few while we were in town and saw some of the effects and flood lines. Truly devastating, but the rebuild seems to be going well. That evening we had a true American experience and watched the Superbowl in a sports bar with nachos and pizza!

We were up early on Monday for a cooking class, taken by a massive chef named Big Kev who was hilarious and well known around town. We learnt how to make Southern staples such as red beans and rice, corn bread, pecan pie and delicious pralines. Came out ridiculously full! The rest of the day was spent looking around the many shops and galleries and we took the ferry across the river to Algiers. That night we were exhausted after our full on four days!