Salsiccia: Nawlins

We arrived in New Orleans on Monday afternoon and went straight to the gym to blow away the travel cobwebs - and also because we hadn't been on Sunday, like we said we would :). Between Monday evening and Thursday evening I didn't see Rob a whole lot as he had conference stuff to do and people to see, but I spent the week hanging out with Keri, Annabelle and Corgan, which was very cool.

Tuesday we went to Audubon Zoo, which was a trolley ride away from our hotel downtown, then we had a walk through the Garden District on the way back to the hotel. On Wednesday we had a walk around the French Quarter and got roped into taking a horse & carriage ride round the area, which we hadn't planned on doing, but it was great. Thursday we visited the Louisiana Children's Museum then walked back towards the French Quarter, stopping at Cafe du Monde for some beignets. Then on Thursday evening all the SpringSource people who hadn't already left to go home went out for a meal on Bourbon Street. Afterwards I went with a few of the guys to the bar in our hotel, but left after one drink just after midnight, when I heard they were planning to stay out for a while. Rob didn't get in until 05:00, which pretty much put paid to us doing anything on the Friday as he went straight back to bed after breakfast at IHOP, so I went to New Orleans City Park with Keri, Keith and the kids. On Saturday after the Donalds left, Ben, Rob and I had a look around the French Quarter (me for the third or fourth time; them for the first) then we left Sunday to come home, arriving this morning. Actually, I came home; Rob went straight from T5 to T2 at Heathrow to get on a plane to Prague for another conference...

New Orleans is an interesting place. Our horse & carriage tour guide told us that the French Quarter didn't actually get damaged all that much during Katrina - everywhere up to about 12ft above sea level was flooded, but the French Quarter is 14ft above and was barely touched. My first reaction to that was 'Great!' At least the main historial and tourist area wasn't badly affected. But that then led me to ask 'So what's its excuse for looking so shabby?' Sure, it's old (well, by American standards it's old), and I guess that brings with it a certain amount of charm, but I think the French Quarter in particular has crossed the line from 'charming' into 'a bit tired'. We didn't find a whole lot of jazz in New Orleans. What we did find a lot of were bars and strip joints. Which I'm sure will interest some people, but me not so much.

All in all, a worthwhile trip to visit a new city; glad I've seen it, the weather (barring one afternoon and evening when there was a storm) was much nicer than at home, and some areas - the Garden District and Audubon Park in particular - are beautiful, but it's no New York.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few: -