N'Awlins

Well, here we are again, on the (achingly slow) Internet connection in New Orleans Public Library. The bus to Miami leaves at 3pm, so this is a convenient place to waste an hour or two.

With any luck our bags will be sitting waiting for us at the Greyhound station, which is just five minutes down the road. Of course, more likely they've been sent to Dakota or something, but the New Orleans Greyhound people seem to know what they're doing so we should get them back eventually. Last we heard both bags were in Atlanta, which isn't too far away :-).

Living on little more than one set of clothes and a toothbrush has been instructive - we've actually coped pretty well, and I'm starting to fear that we've over-packed!

So we had a fairly lazy day yesterday. After Katherine's post (at 5.30pm) we went back into town, sat around for a bit, then started to look for places to eat. Eventually we found a nice bar/restaurant that was fairly cheap, and, rather more importantly, offered something without seafood in it.

Katherine had a pizza (more or less staple for New Orleans vegetarians - do they exist? -, it would seem), whereas I got to try - at last! - a bowl of gumbo, a plate of rice and beans with smoked sausage, and a stuffed crab. This is absolutely my kind of food - hot and fishy! The shrimp in the gumbo was so fresh I can only imagine that it was caught that very morning.

OK, I'd better write about something else - I'm making myself hungry...

After our meal we strolled up and down the (in)famous Bourbon Street, lined with laid-back jazz clubs, thumping live music bars, seedy strip clubs, tacky tourist shops. Neon lights, alcohol, music, sweat... it's certainly a place to get your senses reeling. We hovered around a couple of the jazz places, soaking it all in, then headed back home on the trusty 42 bus.

And that's more or less that for the Big Easy - we left India House this morning, waved goodbye to the turtles and made for the Library. We'll head to the bus station in about thirty minutes or so, with our fingers firmly crossed. When you next hear from us, I hope we'll be in Miami!