The US of Par-tay...

[red_dave]

So the story continues...

We hired a car with the plan to drive from Houston to New Orleans. I wanted to see the swamps and mega-long bridges and have a bit of a road trip in general...

So we said our goodbye's to our very generous hosts, jumped on the I-10 and started heading east. The plan was to have lunch a place called Lake Charles and check out the riverboat casinos. It used to be illegal to gamble in that state, but not on the water.

We made it to Lake Charles and went to the Isle of Capri Casino. They build the hotel and restaurants on the mainland, but have the gambling areas on the boats. After a $10 buffet and some of the best fried chicken i've ever had, we walked onto the river boat. You'd never even know your on water. It was all closed in and looks like the entry way to any casino. Marc played blackjack for a while and Mon chucked $20 into a pokie machine and won $350! WOO HOO!

The place was interesting, a little bit seedy, and i have no doubt a lot worse at night, but we've seen it now.


So back on the road and onto New Orleans. We were staying at a friend of Marc's holiday house right in the French Quarter. Now Marc's friend is quite well off and after seeing his ranch, was expecting quite a nice place. Well, we were blown away with how lavishly decorated this place was.

The place has 3 levels and sits above a nice cafe (1st level Lounge and kitchen, 2nd Level - 2 HUGE bedrooms with en-suites, 3rd level - a massive loft with 8 beds and a small kitchenette). It's also about 200 metres off Bourbon Street

Main area


Main bedroom


2nd Bedroom


3rd floor loft




View towards Bourbon St


Pedestrian Mall beside the apartment



We were a bit shagged after the drive so we decided to hang out on the verandah and have a few drinks. New Orleans is known for it's Jazz music. So kicking back having a few Crown Royals, when this guy starts playing a sax on the corner about 50 metres up he street. He didn't have the hat out for donations, he was just playing for the love of it. He played for 2 hours and gave us a great welcome to his town... Awesome.

The next day Casey & Chanel (friends of Marc from LA) arrived. We headed straight down to the famous Cafe Du Monde for a coffee and some Beignets (pronounced "Bin Yay"). These are pastry thingys covered in icing sugar.





A short walk to the mighty Mississippi.


We jumped onto a Horse Drawn carriage for a tour of the French Quarter.


After that, we had a traditional New Orleans drink - The Hurricane. There's 3 shots of rum amongst other stuff - Potent!






Random Images
Street Performer


Bourbon St


Oldest bar in the USA



So it happened to be my birthday too... Dinner, drinks... more drinks... and more...




For the trip, we had the adage, "When in Rome, drink Roman beer". We had he worst beer in New Orleans


SO the next day, we headed out to the swamps to do a Airboat tour.





The swamp was everything i expected, and the airboat was awesome fun.





Then we found Alligators! Now we are talking wild alligators - not the zoo ones...








Had a great time and our airboat driver did a great job.


Back to the city for a another big night.







The next morning, we headed to the airport and jumped on a plane bound for New York!


New Orleans is a strange place. A lot of rich people, and a lot or poor. We didn't get a chance to see the Katrina affected areas (The french quarter didn't flood) but Casey and Chanel did. Still a lot of abandoned houses and piles of rubble. The locals love their music and they love to party. I'm glad we saw it, but i don't think I'd need to go back.

Verdict: 3 Kudas

[dutchy]

Really enjoying the thread!! Hanging out for the NY and Vegas photos!!

[seiko1]

Looks like so much fun...............jealous

[Strika]

Hey Dave, I know what you meant when you said you wish you had more time in San Fran. When we were there in late December, the weather was still warm enough for jeans and A T-shirt during the day and we made the most of it, seeing what we could in the day and a half we had. But we could have stayed for a few weeks if we had time. While I enjoyed other parts of the US, i enjoyed my time in San Francisco more than anywhere else.

[Gosling1]

Great story and fantastic pics here Capt'n Kandy !! really enjoying the story so far..............my sister went over to the US last year, with our cousin, and a couple of their mates, they did SanFran and absolutely raved about the place - they loved it.

[mike-s]

Very nice Dave, im impressed yet again

[red_dave]

Touchdown at JFK in New York at about 1pm...

New York was one of the places we were doing the full touristy thing. We didnt really know anyone there and as such had to sort our own accommodation. NY Hotels are pricey and totally crap unless you spend some big bucks. We were also meeting up with 2 girls (Vicki from Toronto & Suzanne from Denver) that Mon and I had met on our Honeymoon (not giggity giggity ) and they were little "budget conscious". I was given a great website that rent out apartments for people staying for a week or longer. I was lucky enough to organise a 3br apartment on the lower east side of Manhattan for $1k. Split 5 ways = cheap as! The area was basically China town but bordered on Little Italy...

So Marc, Mon and I arrived and headed straight to the apartment. We met the owner who was just finishing cleaning the place for our stay, so we headed out and strolled around the local area. Quic stop at the supermarket for some basic supplies, bottle shop for the booze, and great little wine bar for an afternoon tipple.

The girls arrived and we had a few reunion drinkies!

Next Morning Marc headed to Miami Florida for a pre-arranged meeting, while Mon, the girls and I started walking towards Ground Zero (Lower Manhattan) Via Starbucks. Everyone knows where they were when the planes hit so seeing it and being right there was something i was looking forward to (in a macabre sort of way).

We found a construction zone: The orange squares are the twin tower footprints...


And a Memorial beside the Fire Station next to the Trade Centre site.




There was a Museum dedicated to the redevelopment of the site which outlined what the goal was. The footprints are going to be these massive fountains, all surrounded by gardens etc etc. Remember, next year is the 10th anniversary of the attacks so i think everyone is working their arses off to finish it!

Whilst Ground Zero wasn't what I expected, i did respect the memory of the many innocent people who didn't survive.

We then walked to Battery Park City where we saw The helicopter version of Air Force One fly past flanked by 2 Blackhawk's and another chopper...


Made our way south towards the Staten Island Ferry


The old girl...




Staten Island was awesome.... well for the 37 seconds we were actually there
Caught the ferry straight back.




We kept making our way around the botton of Manhattan, next stop Wall Street.
Brooklyn Bridge


Wall Street





After a few drinks at TGI Friday's we headed back to our apartment to get ready to head out for the night.





Destination - SOHO.
What a awesome area. Lots of art galleries, bars and cafe's and generally a great vibe.
Drinks at a couple of bars, dinner at the great little restaurant, more drinks, laughs, then walked home via Little Italy. Great night with great friends...



DAY 2 - Midtown:
Caught the Subway in to the guts of the city. After a short walk, and a quick stop in Starbucks, we found ourselves at the foot of the Empire State Building. The girls started prattling on about some movie with Meg Ryan in it but it was all white noise to me . We headed up - awesome.

One for Firey:












Bow chicka chicka boooowwww...


Then, twas off to Times Square!


Then the Hard Rock!


Then it got dark...




And they have a grand stand.


Then home for a few drinks via a few pubs, of course

Will do more tomorrow.

[mike-s]

Nice, you have to admit that as cool as it all looks in photos, it is just that little bit more surreal in the flesh. I found this especially true for times square.