Hello again,

So we made it to New Orleans, after a 5 hour drive this time (which now seems like nothing after the first leg, I will never see the drive to the North in the same way).

In short, we arrived mid afternoon, checked into the motel (this time a Super 8), took a walk around town, did some karaoke, had some beers on Bourbon Street, had some food (and some krispy kreem doughnuts.......sorry donuts) and hit the hay.

The walk around town was very enjoyable. New Orleans seemed to be very compartmentalised, in that each time you rounded a corner, the atmosphere could have changed completely. There were, restaurants, bars, seedy sex places, information offices and residences all within a stones throw of each other. In a way it felt quite like London, until you heard a snippet of the local tongue. On our walk we walked along the riverside, seeing some classic steamboats, straight out of a Mark Twain novel. It seemed evident at this point that we were seeing further through history as we travelled East. The small streets and aged modes of transport were a far cry from the huge roads and new builds of Phoenix.

After seeing a casino and taking a few more random pictures, we stumbled across a movie scene being shot in an inconspicuous ground floor cafe. It later turned out (after utilising my camera's 80x zoom, paparazzi style) that within the cafe sat Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones. So that was a pleasant surprise. Down one of the smaller side streets, we met a man with a trombone by the name of Doc Lewis. He had us both sit with him an hold the slider (I am not familiar with the anatomy of the trombone), and claimed to have been the lead player for James Brown for 30 years. One can only speculate as to how true that claim actually is.

We headed straight back to Bourbon Street, for the night life at the centre of the 'French Quarter', only to be spoilt for choice for which bar to head to. We settled on a small karaoke bar from which a heavy metal rendition of 'Better Man' by Pearl Jam could be heard. The source of this rendition turned out to be a man, 8 pints and countless shots in, willing to sing anything and everything on the song list. I ended up getting a free shot for attempting a Michal Jackson impersonation on stage. It was not based on any accuracy, I just had to get on stage and do a stiff moonwalk. We then did a song each (Jensen - Jason Mraz-I'm Yours and I - Jimmy Eat World-The Middle) and headed for home.

In review, we decided not to review this city, and instead... sing karaoke. (That's the last time I promise)

I really enjoyed what I saw of New Oreans and I know Jensen feels like it is somewhere he would love to come back to for a longer stay. Bourbon Street had a very distinct feel to it, albeit very tacky. It certainly had a lot of entertainment on offer, just not the type we were looking for on the whole. I would definitely go back for a longer stay, however on contrast I would not choose to live there like I would Austin.

Good time had by us both, next stop Oxford MS.