Southern Style of New Orleans

We left San Antonio and Texas behind us and headed to New Orleans, Louisiana. On our way – based on a tip from a local – we stopped at Buc-ee's service station. Buc-ee’s is quintessentially Texan (read totally over the top!). It had over 100 gas pumps, covering three football fields (which, by the way, is an official unit of measurement in the USA). The convenience store portion was as big as a small Walmart and included 100 spotless, individual bathroom stalls. If you’re ever driving around Texas, you really have to experience a Buc-ee’s service station.

After leaving Buc-ee’s with our gas tank full and our bladders empty, we continued on with a marathon of driving. We hit delays due to excessive rain and construction as we approached our destination, and after eight hours, we arrived wearily into New Orleans (pronounced N’Awlins), which was illuminated in the darkness.

Upon entering the city, we were completely revived by the energy pumping out of the surrounding streets. From our hotel room, we could hear the jazz and blues calling us from the street below, luring us into the musical fray. In fact, we could hear many musical ensembles playing well into the night from our hotel room, which was a great reminder of where in the world we were.

We were staying right in the French Quarter, one street over from the famous Bourbon St. If you are not aware, Bourbon St is pretty much the epicentre of Deep South entertainment. It is loud, vibrant and over the top - a veritable 24-hour, 7 day a week party scene. This is a place that ignores the usual laws about drinking in public, allowing you to purchase an alcoholic drink at one venue, walk around on the street drinking it, and then head into another bar and effectively have them top it up for you. When you think about it, the name of the street has gotta give you some idea of what we are dealing with here.

After walking around a bit, feeling our bodies revitalized by the environment, we discovered that we were completely famished. New Orleans is also well known as a superb place to eat, especially for seafood. A quick look at the ever-faithful Yelp, gave us a recommendation for a nearby restaurant called Acme Oyster Bar. This place had a crowd of people waiting to get in, but despite the line, we didn't have to wait too long before being seated. While there, we sampled Chargrilled Oysters (divine), Jambalaya, Gumbo, and Boo Fries (which are French fries coated in beef gravy and grated cheddar cheese). The Boo Fries were really scrumptious and were in the theme of the Cajun culture, but also very similar to the Canadian Poutine.

We woke up next morning and ventured out to have a look at the place in the cold light of day - a sort of let's check out what Bourbon street looks like with a hangover. Surprisingly it was much as it was the night before, although perhaps a little more subdued and also with a lot of empty Solo cups lying on the ground amidst the colourful Mardi Gras beads. We walked along this Fascination Street, from one end to the other taking a few pictures. We then went searching for a place to have brunch. We ended up at a place called Lüke, which was very nice, if not a bit posh. After finishing our meal, we wandered down to the harbour front, and went to Café du Monde where we had a latte and beignets while watching a riverboat blow its horn and puff steam.

In the afternoon we headed away from the touristy section of New Orleans over to Frenchmen St. This district is filled with bars and cafes with live jazz and blues bands playing in them. We stopped in a couple, doing our own 'pub crawl' from Bamboula's to The Spotted Cat. Here’s what we learned that afternoon: Firstly, there are a lot of superb musical acts out there that no one has ever heard of and secondly: our little pub-crawl was starting to be more of a pub lie down by the end of it. They certainly have a very special way of mixing drinks in New Orleans.

After recovering from the pub-crawl, we picked ourselves up again and headed back towards our hotel on Royal St. As we made our way back, we wandered in on a movie shoot. It turned out to be the latest Tom Cruise movie Jack Reacher and we discovered that he was staying somewhere along our street (maybe even in our hotel?). Alas, no sightings were made.

That night we tried a different seafood restaurant for dinner called Felix’s, which again had a very long queue. It was interesting to compare Acme and Felix’s and we felt that they had a slightly different slant to their interpretation of Cajun style cooking. If pressed, we would have to say that we preferred Acme over Felix's.

The next day we left on our way to sunny Florida. Prior to leaving, we went on a drive around some of the places that had experienced flooding during Hurricane Katrina. We were pleased to see a fair bit of redevelopment, although they still have some ways to go. It struck us that this is a beautiful community filled with life, music and culture – So much more than just a tourist destination.

Next Up: Sunny Beaches and Disney Dreaming in Florida