New Orleans, Louisiana

Like every other place we've been so far New Orleans is completely unlike any of the others. The biggest difference personally is that New Orleans was number 1 on my priority of places I wanted to go when planning this trip.

We left Memphis, travelled down through Mississippi, into Louisiana and arrived in New Orleans late in the afternoon. Sadly 11 of our little Contiki family were getting off in New Orleans, including a couple of my new friends that I'd been hanging out with :( So to celebrate, or commiserate, we had a costume party. 50 people did pretty well to pull costumes together in 2 hours (mainly from a great costume place around the corner from the hotel) and we walked down the river to get on the Paddlewheeler that took us on a dinner cruise along the Mississippi River. For the first time in weeks we were the ones having photos taken of us by strangers as opposed to the other way round. 

After the cruise we went down Bourbon Street, looking for somewhere to hang out for the evening. I decided to head home around midnight. I wasn't feeling 100% and I really wanted to get up in the morning and enjoy the day exploring the city. 

The next morning a group of 10 of us went to a cooking school class in the French Quarter. It was brilliant. The tutor was a local Grandma, really funny and so good at teaching. She demonstrated Gumbo, Jambalaya, Pralines and a desert. Not only did we get copies of her recipies, but we got to eat what she was cooking. We got to here her secrets and methods. My roommate Sarah is a chef, so Im hoping she'll practice and invite me over to her place in Masterton to sample when we get home. Hint hint. 

After the cooking school Sarah and I walked around the French Quarter - the touristy friendly part of the city. We shopped at the local markets and checked out some local restaurants for a dinner venue. We had already decided that we didn't want to get stuck into having dinner at the hotel with the rest of the group, we were in New Orleans for gods sake and wanted to try as much of the local cuisine as possible. A group of 8 of us met up and went to a local place and had a wonderful meal of alligator and crawfish. Delicious! 

With so much of the tour and holiday left to go, and a travel day tomorrow, no drinking tonight. Pacing oneself is so important on this long trip! Tomorrow we head to Florida. We are doing a grand tour of Florida, so will be there for several days in total. Looking forward it, as we as Fourth of July. These Americans sure know how to celebrate I can tell you that much!