We actually managed to get to lay in bed a bit longer today as we only had a realatively short way to travel. The atmosphere down here in the deep south is very humid and sticky and it is not long in the morning hours before the clouds start to bubble-up and the weather starts to look threatening. By the time we reached Lafayette the weather had really deteriorated, with the rain lashing down. We decided to stop for lunch at a restaurant called Dwyer's, which had been recommended by our 'Road Food” book. There was a convenient parking spot across the street from the restaurant, but we got absolutely drenched simply crossing the road. The food was southern style fried cooking, and came in copious quantities piled onto our plates. Unfortunately one dish was pretty much indistinguishable from another so it was a homogeneous “gloop” on our plates. Luckily by the time we had finished and paid the rain had abated so we made a run for it. They often talk about the “calm before the storm” and this was it. We got no more than ten miles down the road when we got into a tremendous thunderstorm. The rain was so heavy that we could not see more than 100 feet or so and the lightning and thunder were coincidental, as we were not in a hurry we decided to pull over into a little restaurant and sit the storm out. We had left Lafayette in a hurry after we became embroiled in a police ambush of an armed man! It was unnerving to be merely feet away from officers with their guns drawn chasing a suspect into a house a few yards from us as we pulled over to allow more police cars to pass!
The very real danger of this thunderstorm seemed less unnerving than the last incident! Being holed up in Mike's Crabby Shack was certainly better than the fate of the offender, we felt sure!
Half an hour later we were on our way again. We arrived in New Orleans late afternoon, unpacked our bags and headed into town. Our hotel was well situated for visiting the French Quarter, we were only a block or two from Canal Street and ten minutes from Bourbon Street. It was about 6:30pm when we got to Bourbon street and it was already very much alive; this is the hub of tourist activity for this city. There were numerous bars offering discounted libations and booming live music, ranging from Blues and Jazz to Hip-Hop, amongst which were various clubs, shops and cabaret bars offering refreshments of a sexual type. The streets of Las Vegas offered the heady mix of sex, drugs and rock and roll, but in a very sanitised form compared to that on display in New Orleans. In some ways the raw openness of the depravity in New Orleans is less sleazy than the “behind doors” goings on of Vegas. Jack and Emily are mesmerized by it all and even for the grown up Hoblets the noise, smells and images cause a degree of sensory overload! After about 20 minutes of walking we reach the quieter end of Bourbon Street, and the relative peace allows us to start to appreciate the architecture and grace of some of this fine city's buildings. Having rested for a few minutes we head back down to find somewhere to eat amongst the mêlée, a finally chose an outdoor café with a jazz band performing traditional jazz and swing music. Jack really got into the music; he had enjoyed being the Middle School Jazz band for the last year, and requested a tune “Jumpin' at the Woodside” that he had played with the band. They had never practised or played it together before but recognised that this was a young musician's choice and had a go! It was great!
We were very tired at this time and began to return to the hotel, only stopping to listen and watch a group of young talented street musicians bash out some rippin' jazz.
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