Walkin' through N'Awlins

We stepped into our first Mardi Gras parade less than two hours after landing at Louis Armstrong New Orleans airport! We literally walked out of our hotel door and into the middle of the stiltwalkers, butterflies, walking dead .... and police cars with flashing blue and red lights. For a moment, I wondered if there'd been a murder (Mark's words about our area "being dodgy" ringing in my ears). But no, it was time to party.

So, slightly disoriented, we headed off in the wrong direction and had to backtrack to Oceana Restaurant to catch up with James. He was patiently waiting in the queue on the cold, windy street to get a table for us ... at peak hour on the Friday night of a long weekend! It was worth waiting for though. The place was bursting at the seams and buzzing with energy and all the N'Awlins atmosphere I had imagined.

I ordered the famous crawfish étouffée, Phil had the BBQ prawns, and James had the gumbo and a New Orleans tasting plate. But the food took second place to catching up on the last year years and planning the next few days. Even though we'd finished off with vanilla ice-cream smothered in delicious, rum-caramel sauce, and drunk the first decent coffee in days, and paid the bill, and figuratively fought off all the people queuing for our table, we were still talking when the long week started catching up with Phil. So we adjourned to our deluxe room and talked some more!

However, we don't have the stamina of Kiki and Craig. The party they hosted in their suite last night kept them up till 2.30am this morning! We travelled across the continent with them (the long flights giving them time to get 40 winks) and shared a taxi into the city. Katrina was front of mind as we drove over bridge after bridge across the swampy, low-lying suburbs. And it was a sobering moment when we drove past Caesars Superdome - the "shelter of last resort" for those who couldn't evacuate during the hurricane ... so hard to believe it was over 17 years ago.

I knew I was in New Orleans when I overheard the flight attendants making plans as I disembarked, "What's the time?", "Almost 4.30" "Good, let's go have coffee and beignets then".Read more