Marrero to New Orleans

This morning we hit the canals for our swamp and alligator
tour. Pete was kinda disappointed by the lack of toothless swamp people and
beards, but the tour was amazing. Junior is a second generation swamp tour man,
and he was very informative. I was no so keen on the idea that he be attracting
quite large gators to our boat but he seemed to have it all under control.
Surprisingly, he attracts them with large marshmallows – really not what I
expected to be gator bait. But Junior explained the white of the marshmallow contrasted
strongly against the water which attracted the gators to the surface. The tour
continued and we ended up in the breeding grounds. Here we saw some baby gators
and got to hold a tiny baby gator, about 20 cm long and Pete was brave enough
to hold a bigger little gator, about 80cm long. There was no way on God’s green
earth that I was holding the bigger one but was happy to take pics of Pete
doing so.

After gators, we headed to New Orleans. We knew parking was
always going to be expensive in New Orleans and the parking station we hit near
the River View shopping centre was about $11 per hour but when you had parking
validated, it was heaps cheaper. So I HAD to spend some money in their outlet
stores J
When speaking with the fabulous man with mesmerising eyebrows from the sun
glasses store, he told us about the tax refund system they had in Louisiana so
that non-US visitors can claim their tax back. Winning!!! About $20 US in our
pocket which paid for our lunch. Speaking of lunch, we hit Bourbon Street, to
check out New Orleans in the day time.

My first impressions of New Orleans
based on our journey by foot along Canal Street, Bourbon Street, and St Louis
Street was that it was smelly, dirty, seedy and not my cup of tea. The streets,
while lined with interesting and historical buildings, smelled like urine and
rotting rubbish. There were a lot of people sitting on the street with signs
asking for money and we were approached a few times by people directly asking
for money. There are gentlemen’s clubs everywhere. We ended up in a little
restaurant for a late lunch and shared fried chicken waffle with Cajun maple
syrup and meat pies with Cajun ranch sauce. The chicken was exceptional but the
real star was the Cajun maple syrup. Pete has vowed to replicate this upon our
return home.

We headed to the motel to get tarted up for a night out in
this supposed party town. As the evening began, the vibe on Bourbon Street
changed from that of its daytime. The street is blocked to vehicles which turns
it into a bit of a mall. Sure, the smell is still there, the strip clubs are
all still there but it is just a bit glossier and the sheer number of people
instil a false sense of security. We grabbed some hot beignets from Café Beignet.
These were on my bucket list and they far exceeded my expectations and were so
worth being covered in icing sugar and still be finding it and wiping it off my
camera bag days later.

We also sat in a bar on Bourbon Street, where I had a Kaluha and
Pete had a bourbon. We went back to the motel and observed the night life from
the balcony before we headed to bed, like a pair of old people.   

Bourbon on Bourbon Street

Alligator and swamp tour in Louisiana, tick!

Fried chicken in New Orleans, tick!

Beignets in New Orleans, tick!

Drinks on Bourbon Street, tick!

New Orleans, tick!