Our train was 2 hours late leaving Atlanta so we didn't get into New Orleans until after 9:30pm so we decided to have an early night and a big day the next day. We headed out quite early and wandered through the French Quarter and down to the river. We then arranged to do a swamp tour. They picked us up at our hotel (we could see Bourbon St from our window!) and the guy actually gave us a bit of a tour of the city and lots of history on our way out to the swamp.

The swamp tour was great. The only alligators we saw were in the young ones in the boat but it is actually very beautiful travelling through the bayous of Louisiana, especially as the sun was shining and it was really warm (a whole 14C!). We were introduced to Bad Boy, a new alligator they have got that is about 1 year old, but he was really feisty and is still being introduced to people so we got to hold Elvis, a slightly younger alligator that loves to be rubbed on the back of his head (yep, go figure!). As there was not many people on our tour, we got to have photos with everyone holding him and also, the guy put him on everyone's shoulders. He got Bad Boy out for a photo with one couple and then Emma and I got to hold him...he was so much bigger than the other one...it was so very cool!

We headed back to the French Quarter and had lunch at Pat O'Briens, where the hurricane was invented. So we had hurricanes and tried alligator and catfish off the menu. Emma also tried the jambalaya, gumbo and crawfish but Tara and I had 'normal' mains!

We then spent the evening wandering the French Quarter, stopping where we wanted...you can wander down the street with your drink as long as it's in a plastic container so there is always loads of people on the street. Seem as though we had started early, we also piked a bit early as we had to get the train the next day as well.... Loved New Orleans though and we hope to go back...apparently Jazz Fest in April/May is the best time to go!