THE BIG EASY

TOMBS AT ST. LOUIS CEMETERY

HURRICANE AND FLOOD DAMAGED 9TH WARD HOUSING

STREET LIFE NEAR JACKSON SQUARE

THE NEXT BIG BOYBAND - OR NOT!

SOME OLD CROC

MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT NATCHEZ

The tour bus picked me up from the hostel at 9.30am. Its first stop was to see the famous catholic tombs at St. Louis Cemetery. The driver/tour guide explained that bodies had to be buried above ground because of the high water table in New Orleans.

We enjoyed a mid-morning break in the beautiful sculpture garden of the New Orleans Museum of Art, which included stuff by British sculptors Henry Moore and Elizabeth Frink.

The final visit was to the 9th Ward of New Orleans, the area most badly damaged by Hurricane Katrina and the floods which followed when the levees broke. The 9th Ward is 13 feet below sea level, so when the water came in it was up to the roofs. Many of the 1833 people who died were trapped in their attics. Even 8 years later the area is clearly still badly damaged. Some parts will never be rebuilt and many people will never return. There has been much criticism of the local, state and the federal governments over their handling of the crisis.

For the afternoon I headed to the French Quarter and particularly around Jackson Square to enjoy the street life. Being 10 feet above sea level, this area largely escaped flood damage.

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, and the street performers were not going to let me forget that fact. Many other musical genres are here too, though. As evening came I made my way slowly down the brightly illuminated Bourbon Street with its 50 or so bars, each one offering live music, included rock, pop, rap, soul, country, blues, ska, grunge, indie, folk and of course jazz. The choice seemed endless, and although this may not have been Mardi Gras, it was party time just the same.

I ordered a beer in a Karaoke Bar called Cats and was given three for the same price! Apparently I had turned up at happy hour, although I couldn't find a sign that stated when happy hour was. Perhaps every hour was happy hour?

I found a nice perch at the back of the bar from where I could slowly imbibe whilst watching the karaoke artists. Some of them were very good. Indeed, as I drank my way through my stock of beers, they just got better and better.

Next morning, I amazingly managed to rise early again to be collected by another bus. This was to take me to a shallow-draft boat for a narrated tour of the Honey Island swamps. These wetlands are populated by a wide variety of wildlife, but most people had come to have a close encounter with the alligators. We were not disappointed. Apparently, alligators are partial to marshmallows and sausages. The experienced guide to took full advantage of this to get them close to the boat and even jump out of the water right alongside us. We were advised not to grip the side rail of the boat in case our fingers were mistaken for sausages!

The bus dropped me back at the French Quarter. I decided to have lunch on the steamship Nachez, which was shortly about to cast off from its dock near Jackson Square. I chose a local traditional meal of crispy bacon with Fritta del Giorno (mix of eggs, cheese and vegetables) with grits (milled corn with sweet cream butter) and creole creamed spinach.

I enjoyed my food, washed down with a beer, as the unique steam-driven vessel paddled its way up and down the Muddy Mississippi. In the background, a live quartet played 'Old Man River'. The ride was really smooth, with none of the vibration so familiar on a cross-channel ferry. The weather was beautiful again. I was starting to get into the swing of living in the Big Easy.

Suitably chilled, I made my way back to the hostel via the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. This sports arena building is amazing and there is a vague link with Southampton, UK, since the primary tenant at the sports arena is the (New Orleans) Saints (American) football team.

NEW ORLEANS

MOST OF THE TRAINS WERE A LITTLE BETTER THAN THIS ONE

SOME NEW ORLEANS HOUSES COULD DO WITH A LITTLE WORK

The rail journey from Toccoa to New Orleans was over 14 hours and since I had travelled into another time zone I had to put my watch back by another hour. As I watched the urban and rural landscapes pass by from my window-side seat, the immense scale of the USA compared to the UK was apparent.

A group of lads, I would guess in their early 20's, came aboard at Birmingham, Alabama. They asked if I would swop seats so they could all sit together, and I was happy to comply as long as they arranged the swop through the attendant. They helped me move my bags and then insisted I take a $20 tip. I had been getting used to the tipping culture in the USA, but this was the first time I had been a recipient of one.

Only then did I open the book given to me by Todd and Joy to find that they had signed it with love.

The train was much noisier than before due to the rowdy banter of two groups of youngsters on their way to N'awlins (as I now understood you pronounced it) for weekend stag parties.

When I finally arrived at Union Passenger Terminal, my initial impressions as I stepped out of the station were not good. Whilst many of the wooden buildings looked colourful and quaint from a distance, close to they were dirty, shabby and poorly maintained, with paint peeling and rubbish strewn around.

I walked to the Bourbon House Hostel, to be greeted on arrival by Ty, who gave me a tour of the facilities. I had a room on my own because I was an oldie. When I told him about some of places I planned to walk to, he was concerned, not because of the distance but because of the danger of being mugged along the way. Apparently I had already walked through some potentially dangerous areas on my way from the station.

I was clearly seeing another side of the USA here. I took his advice and booked a 'City Orientation' tour for the following morning. I then walked a 'safe' route to Walmart to buy provisions. As I walked around the store I was conscious that people with my skin colour were in the minority. I wondered if black people sometimes feel that way in predominantly white areas.