Born in the Bayou

New Orleans, Louisiana (or NOLA for short)! We have arrived to one of the more anticipated stops during our #C2C trip. I can still remember dad talking about how much he wanted to go to NOLA when they made their US trip back in -05. Sadly, that was the year when hurricane Katrina struck, so they had no way of going there and ended up visiting me in Santa Monica instead. He has wanted to go there ever since (and probably before then) and because of his enthusiasm over the place, I've wanted to go as well.

The trip to NOLA was fun and easy, with beautifil scenery a long the long and spaceous highways. We managed to hit 4 more states on the way, which was a lot of fun. It just kills me that I didn't take photos of "welcome to <state>" before this stretch of our travels, since we entered 14 states but have no photos to prove it =(.

   

Arriving in the famous french-inspired city was pleasant, but parking in front of the main entrance of the hotel was amazing! Boy were we shocked when we entered the hotel. Talk about being at a loss for words. High ceilings, chandeliers in every hallway as well as the lobby and marble floors. We even allowed ourselves the luxury of using their valet service at the high price of $40 per night. It's a lot of money, but in the end we were all very glad that we did use valet, more on that later though.
We opened up the door to our room and the surprises kept coming! Another chandelier, two huge beds and a 50" plasma tv! The bathroom was splendid, with the floor, sink and shower all in marble. When one of us threw himself on the bed, nothing but a guttural noise of approval escaped his lips..it was that great!
The room inspection led to an interest in checking out one of the other services on offer - the pool. We practically ran up the stairs to the top (10th) floor and the sight of the rooftop pool was just simply pure bliss! What.a.hotel!!!
We took to the streets to see what new Orleans had to offer, but we were all too tired to do anything besides eat a real good burger at The City Diner near the French district. Satisfied and tired we said goodnight to this apparently swamp ridden part of Louisiana.

Our day in NOLA started off very relaxed and slow. I hadn't planned anything, but knew I wanted to check out the swamps, so my morning consisted of me in a familiar pose, hunched over a laptop, inquiring google for knowledge. 30 min fervent tapping on the keyboard and two phone calls later saw us booked on a 2h excursion with Airboat Adventures.


I'm not sure how I'm going to describe the ride. Try to imagine a very small barge, filled with rows of seats holding up to 15 people, and a huge fan tacked on to the back end of said barge. It felt ridiculously dangerous, considering the speed those things reach, the lack of belts and only one way of controlling the boat's movement, whether that would be forwards or backwards.
Those two hours flew by, the anxiety regarding safety disappeared long before we saw our first alligator and "overwhelmed" doesn't cover how we felt afterwards. Holding a live gator and feeling it try to wrestle out of your hands so that it can feed on whatever it can clamp it's jaws on was a definite highlight. Seeing a 2 1/2m long alligator charge up on our frail flotation device to chomp down on a shredded chicken was another. I've never held a positive attitude toward the idea of owning a boat, but if I had to, I would want to do so here! The tour guide was very helpful and seemed incredibly proud to have been bourn "right here, in the bayou". We sure appreciated his tidbits of info and the fact that his accent made us all laugh.

Sunburned but in awe, we drove back to the hotel, only to accidentally drive right into the middle of a movie shoot. Unbeknownst to us, the crew for Hot Tub TimeMachine 2 (yes, a sequel to a movie called "Hot Tub TimeMachine"..don't expect greatness -_- ) had commandeered the entrance to our hotel and when we parked as expected for the valet to pick up our car, we interrupted a scene. It was a surreal experience and we were hurried away by people from the movie crew carrying clipboards, wearing headsets and far too much clothing considering the heat.

We kept a close watch on the movie set up from our hotel room, but didn't want the night to end, so we decided to check out New Orleans famous Bourbon Street. We walked from the hotel (we no longer had easy access to our car because of the movie shoot) and checked out the Mercedes-Benz Superdome (which was really cool on the outside, but closed =/ ) on the way over to The Street. 

Reaching the corner of Bourbon and Canal street, we thought something was up. The intersection had a police officer waiting on a motorcycle, sort of like a guard. We looked at him, but he remained frozen in his stance, looking into the distance. We scurried past him and heard lots of noise coming from the alley. We were about to be shocked for the umpteenth time this incredible day. We got to witness a staple of New Orleans, a  parade going down along bourbon street, into canal street. It started right when we showed up, so we just stood and watched the debacle as it unfolded. I can't understand why people would want to dress up in such garish costumes/bodypaint and show off themselves, but I guess that's what we refer to as exhibitionists. While it is always fascinating to experience other cultures, this was a big sickening. We moved on from the parade and walked down along bourbon st. It is just simply a barrage of noise and lights, people trying to lure you into bars with promises of cheap alcohol and other venues.

We tried to find a souvenir shop to buy something fitting, but came  up emptyhanded, so we headed back to the hotel and noticed that the movie crew was still working hard. We asked if we could hang around, and they allowed it. That meant that we actually got to experience  a movie shoot, up close and  personal (without ruining it this time). It was a perfect finish to the most exciting day so far during this amazing journey!