ALL THE TASTES & SIGHTS OF NAWLINS IN ONE DAY!

Friday, 18 January 2012 – our last day in New Orleans loomed as another beautiful winter’s day on the Gulf Coast.  We had a fair bit to pack in before we headed to the airport at 5.30pm for our flight to Los Angeles to join up with my brother and his family for a week of themeparks, rollercoaster, themeparks, big rides and did I mention themeparks??

The Superdown dressed for the Superbowl

As we had a historical culinary walking tour booked for the afternoon, we decided the best way to see all the other ‘best bits’ of New Orleans was to jump on the Hop On Hop Off bus.  If we managed to jump on around 9am, this would give us a good three hours to tootle around the city and the chance to actually ‘hop of and on’ at a few attractions we wanted to see up close.  Justyn, mum, dad and I walked up to Canal Street, grabbed the bus and headed up to the top deck for the best vantage point.  These buses while being ultra-touristy are a great way to see the sights of any city.  This morning, our bus was taking us from Canal Street past the Riverfront and Harrah's Casino (tick – saw that last night J) and onto the Superdome.  The stadium’s steel frame covers a 13-acre (5.3 ha) expanse and its 273 foot (83 m) dome has a diameter of 680 feet (210 m), making the Superdome the largest fixed domed structure in the world.  And it is also the venue for the SuperBowl so there was a lot of action happening around it and no opportunity for us to get off and take a tour which Justyn was keen on until he found out tours had been suspended until after the big game.  After circumnavigating the Superdome, we headed back past the National World War II Museum (tick) and along Magazine Street where after Hurricane Katrina many retailers moved to start again and this area was not as badly affected as many other parts of the city.  Because of this, Magazine Street has a real eclectic feel to it as you can find antique shops next to mardi-gras specialists next to boutiques of all persuasions! 

One of the beautiful houses along St Charles Ave

Magazine Street flows out into a more suburbian area which is where many magnificent southern mansions adorn the tree-lined route heading through St Charles Avenue – the start of the main Mardi-Gras parades.  Many of the trees bear evidence of the years of parades (the first parade was on Shrove Tuesday in 1838!) with beads of many colours shapes and sizes draping the trees like its Christmas all year round.  The traditional colours of mardi-gras are purple, gold and green which symbolise justice, faith, and power and glimmers of these colours twinkle at you from the trees.  Just duck your head from the top floor of the double-decker bus so the tree limbs and their beads don’t smack you in the face!! 

Mardi gras beads in the trees

Mardi Gras World Welcomes You!

The beautiful 19^th century houses continued to line the streets as we travelled from St Charles Avenue into the Garden District on our way to Mardi Gras World which was where we decided to jump off the bus and stretch the legs.  We had just missed a tour of this warehouse complex where they have been making and building Mardi Gras floats since 1947 and contented ourselves with browsing amongst the large sculptures of creatures, people and floats.  A very unique industry!  Time was ticking so it was back on the next bus which headed through the Arts District and to the historic Jackson Square, originally known in the 18th century as "Place d'Armes,".  This famous landmark faces the Mississippi River and is surrounded by historic buildings.  It is also home to an artist colony and fresh produce markets – quite a festive place!  Heading through the French Market, we continued through the area known as Treme which is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city, and early in the city's history was the main neighbourhood of free people of colour.  Historically a racially mixed neighbourhood, it remains an important centre of the city's African-American and Créole culture, especially the modern brass band tradition.  Treme is home to several museums dedicated to African American life, art, and history, as well as Armstrong Park, a memorial to the great jazz legend Louis Armstrong.  The last ‘hop-off’ stop for us was the St Louis Cemetery #1 / Basin Street Station stop as this was the site of New Orleans oldest and most famous cemetery. 

Nic Cage's Tomb (apparently)

Voodoo priestess Marie Laveua tomb

All of the graves are above ground vaults and most were constructed in the 18th century and 19th century, although the tour guide said that Nicholas Cage has his pyramid vault built in this cemetary and ready for him when he is ready!  The renowned Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau is believed to be interred in the Glapion family crypt here also.  Marie Laveau's tomb is believed to be the third most visited burial site in the US after those of Elvis Presley and John F. Kennedy!  People still bring offerings and leave "XXX" marks on the tomb in the hopes that the priestess will grant them their wish.  The cemetery covers just one block, but it is supposed to contain the remains of 100,000 dead. 

Mardi Gras King Cake

This is where we chose to end our journey of the ‘Hop-On Hop-Off’ bus as it midday and our historical culinary walking tour was starting at 1pm just a couple of blocks away.  Making our way back into the French Quarter, we continued to be entertained by musicians playing on odd corners as the afternoon was getting started (and it appeared that many tourists were getting their party started early too!)  The meeting point for the tour was at New Orleans oldest restaurant (and oldest family run restaurant in the US) Antoine’s.  While mum and I waited across the street admiring the King Cakes being prepared (the king cake is made usually of braided Danish pastry, laced with cinnamon, always iced in the Mardi Gras colours and hidden in each king cake is a tiny plastic baby. The person who finds the baby must buy the next king cake or host the next party), Justyn went with dad to the New Orleans Fire Department to drop off some patches and a tshirt from his Mid Richmond Rural Fire Service team and pick up some NOFD tshirts – a pretty groovy souvenir I reckon!

Antoine's World Famous Gumbo

The Rex Room at Antoine's

By this time, our guide extraordinaire Renee, arrived and shepherded us into Antoine’s into their famous ‘Mystery Room’ to give us some history of Nawlins, the restaurant and outline the afternoon ahead.  Antoine's features a 25,000 bottle capacity wine storage and 14 dining rooms of varying sizes and themes, with several featuring Mardi Gras krewe memorabilia.  Apparently one of these rooms is regularly requested by Brangelina when they are in town!  The Mystery Room acquired its name due to Prohibition as during this time, those in the know would go through a door in the ladies' restroom to a secret room and exit with a coffee cup full of booze.  Our first taster on the tour was of gumbo.  This was an exquisite bowl of rich Creole gumbo with blue crabs, oysters, and gulf shrimp (and much, much better than Emeril’s I must say!).  Leaving Antoine’s, we crossed the street to where mum and I had been watching the King Cake preparation to Leah’s Pralines.  French settlers brought the praline recipe to Louisiana, where both sugar cane and pecan trees were plentiful.  The praline is easily the most famous of any confection made in New Orleans.  Not only did we get to sample a number of different types of pralines, but we received sample bags to take with us! 

Shrimp arnaud at Arnauds

Turtle soup at Desire Oyster Bar

Mum, dad and i enjoying a muffaletta at La Divina

More seafood was on the menu at our next cuisine stop.  Arnauds Remoulade are famous for their shrimp arnaud, a dish that has held first place on Arnaud’s menu since the self-titled Count opened the restaurant in 1913.  It is considered the benchmark by which all other Creole remoulade sauces are measured.  More please!!  At our next restaurant Desire Oyster Bar, we were given a small bowl of brown liquid that was a little reminiscent of the gumbo, but it was not gumbo!  It was turtle soup!  Among Creole communities, turtle soup is known as Caouane and in New Orleans, it is a specialty of several neighbourhood and classic Creole restaurants such as Desires.  Turtle soup is generally padded out with beef but they use snapping turtles that are not any endangered species list.  Let’s just say that I’ve tasted it and do not feel the need to order it off a menu any time soon…..  The next stop was a café called La Divina for a traditional New Orleans muffaletta.   As you know, Justyn and I indulged in a muffaletta at our diner stop in Lake Charles, but what is a muffaletta I hear you asking?  A traditional style muffuletta sandwich consists of a muffuletta loaf (a large, round, and somewhat flattened loaf with a sturdy texture) split horizontally and covered with layers of marinated olive salad, capicola, mortadella, salami, pepperoni, ham, Swiss cheese and provolone.  Thank goodness we also received a sampler of gelato to wash it all down as I am not a huge fan of olives!  Guiding us through Jackson Square, Renee our guide took us through a store called Creole Delicacies and out the back to have live demonstration of a roux being made by a real creole chef called Saundra.  For the non-chefs amongst us, a roux is s a cooking mixture of wheat flour and fat (traditionally butter). It is the thickening agent of a number of the mother sauces of classical French cooking which is also the basis for much of the Creole and Cajun recipes. 

Saundra preparing a roux

Apparently if you cook the roux until it is dark, then you are making Cajun food, whilst maintaining the lighter side sets you up for Creole food.  While Saundra was stirring the roux, we sampled mardi gras dip and the traditional red beans and rice.  Red beans and rice is an emblematic dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine (not originally of Cajun cuisine) traditionally made on Mondays with red beans, vegetables (bell pepper, onion and celery – the holy trinity), spices (thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaf) and pork bones as left over from Sunday dinner, cooked together slowly in a pot and served over rice.  Meats such as ham and sausage are also frequently used in the dish.  The dish is customary - ham was traditionally a Sunday meal and Monday was washday.  A pot of beans could sit on the stove and simmer while the women were busy scrubbing clothes.  Red beans and rice is very much part of the New Orleans identity.  Did you know that Jazz trumpeter and New Orleanian Louis Armstrong's favourite food was red beans and rice - the musician would famously sign letters "Red Beans and Ricely Yours, Louis Armstrong”!  Our last stop on the New Orleans Culinary History Tour was Tujague’s (the second oldest restaurant in Nawlins) for some beef brisket with creole horseradish sauce.  What a dish to end on – the brisket could have been cut with a spoon it was that tender!  Renee also promised that Tujague’s made the best Sazerac in the city and we should try definitely try it! 

Sampling the Sazerac

The Sazerac is a local New Orleans variation of an old-fashioned cognac or whiskey cocktail, named for the Sazerac de Forge et Fils brand of cognac that was its original prime ingredient.  The drink is some combination of cognac or rye whiskey, absinthe, and bitters; it is distinguished by its preparation method - using bittersand two chilled old-fashioned glasses, one swirled with a light wash of absinthe for the slight taste and strong scent, the second chilled glass is used to mix the other ingredients, then the contents of that are poured or strained into the first.  It is sometimes referred to as the oldest known American cocktail, with origins in pre–Civil War New Orleans.  For those film spotters, a Sazerac cocktail features prominently in an episode of the TV series Treme when chef Janette Desautel (played by Kim Dickens) tosses one in the face of restaurant critic and food writer Alan Richman (appearing as himself).  Richman had angered many New Orleanians in 2006 with an article in the magazine GQ in which he criticized New Orleans' food culture post-Katrina. Despite reservations, he agreed to participate in the scene and called Sazerac "a good choice of weaponry, because it symbolizes the city".  (Let it be know that I can now tick tasting a true Sazerac off my list and need never put it on any list again….  I’m not really a whisky / cognac drinker!)

Justyn with our luggage at Budget Rentals LAX!

Finally our time in New Orleans was at an end.  After thank Renee for the fabulous time we had on her tour, we made a mad dash back to the hotel to meet our afternoon airport pick up.  We loaded up the taxi SUV and mum, dad, Justyn and I headed to the airport to catch our flight to Los Angeles.  Checked in, it was a 3.5 hour flight that I used to catch some sleep as upon landing at LAX, I was to be the dedicated driver for the four of us – needed some wits about me for that!  Upgrading our car to a Dodge Journey to fit four adults, four suitcases plus various hand luggage and backpacks, we programmed Simon and cruised on up the various interstates for the 40 minute drive down to Anaheim where we were staying for the week – 6 adults and 3 children in the one house!  You would think that at 11pm at night the drive would be reasonably uneventful, but remember this is LA!  Heading along the interstate, we could see a police car with its lights blazing zigzagging across the six lanes of traffic slowing us all down to about 20mph.  Cars would come flying up beside us only to see the cop car and drop back to the speed we were doing.  We must have travelled like this for about 15 minutes!  Eventually near an exit, the police veered across to the right where they let us reclaim the 65mph speed limit.  Finally we arrived at W Laster Street in Anaheim, woke up Peter as he’d forgotten to leave the door open for us, dropped luggage off, put mum and dad in charge of making a much-needed cup of tea and headed back out to the 24hr Denny’s up the road to fix us a late night snack!  Then finally bed around 1am!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

MARDI GRAS MEETS SUPERBOWL (WITH SOME HISTORY THROWN IN...)

Outdoor breakfast Hotel Le Marais

National WWII Museum

Thursday, 17 January 2013 – Well we were close to Bourbon Street alright!  The live music continued outside in the wee hours but fortunately our hotel was reasonably sound-proofed allowing us old-fogies (well me actually) to sleep!  Breakfast was provided in our hotel, so after meeting up with mum and dad, we planned our itineraries for the day.  Mum and dad wanted to go riding airboats on the bayou’s and spot alligators while Justyn was keen to head to the National World War 2 museum.  So after agreeing to meet up for pre-dinner drinks at the end of the day mum and dad pottered off in one direction and Justyn and I walked out into the sunshine of the New Orleans morning and headed up Magazine Street towards the museum.  Justyn thoroughly enjoyed himself at the museum but unfortunately some of the larger exhibits were closed as New Orleans was hosting a little thing called the Super Bowl on February 3 and these areas in the museum were being set up to host media and various functions.  Some may wonder why The National World War II Museum is located in New Orleans, a city known for other tourism sites but which is not usually associated with 20th-century military history.  The museum opened as the D-Day Museum, focusing initially on the amphibious invasion of Normandy, then opening a second gallery exploring the amphibious invasions of the Pacific War.  As the Higgins Boats vital to D-Day operations were designed, built, and tested in New Orleans by Higgins Industries, the city was deemed to be the natural home for such a project.  A highlight of the museum is the ‘Beyond all Boundaries’ film that is shown as a 4D experience.  Justyn’s favourite Tom Hanks narrates the film and the voices of some of Hollywood’s top stars bringing to life the words of actual World War II participants and war correspondents. 

Creole Queen on the Mississippi

Cafe du Monde beignets

Finally I had had enough of trawling the museum and dragged Justyn away and out to see some of the more famous sites of ‘Nawlins.  We found ourselves following the route the mardi-gras will take –evidenced by the street closures and seating being built.  Did you know we missed the start of Mardi-Gras by just one day!  

Setting up for Mardi Gras, NOLA

Next time….  Many of the city’s icon’s were being adapted not only for mardi-gras but also the Super Bowl.  Large decorated footballs popped up in the oddest places representing each year of the Super Bowl and its location.  Our wanderings found us down on the Mississippi where the Creole Queen Riverboat was setting off for a run up the river.  A huge storm had swept through the Gulf region so the river was churning and brown, but the sky was blue and the sun was glowing and it made for a beautiful backdrop for the paddle steamer.  By this time my stomach was demanding a taste of something from the famous cusine of New Orleans, so we found the Café du Monde.  All they serve are café au lait and beignets.  Beignets are fluffy globs of dough deep fried and absolutely smothered in powdered sugar.  I was delighted!  New Orleans are also famous for the po-boy and a well-known deli specialising in all versions of po-boys was not far from Café du Monde – Johnny’s Po-Boy’s.  Along the way we stopped in at a record shop called Peaches which is a local institution specialising in the music of Louisiana – Zydeco, Local New Orleans Rap, Blues and of course Jazz.  Continuing to Johnny’s, Justyn ordered the roast beef po-boy and went with the more traditional fried oyster po-boy.  And both were ‘dressed’.  What a taste sensation!  For those who are asking “but what is a po-boy”, it is a traditional submarine sandwich almost always consisting of meat, usually roast beef, or fried seafood.  

Fried oyster po-boy from Johnny's, NOLA

The meat is served on baguette-like New Orleans French bread, known for its crisp crust and fluffy centre.  A "dressed" po-boy has lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise; onions are optional.  After our late lunch, we headed back to our hotel to drop of some souvenirs we had collected along the way and set out to explore the area around the hotel known as the French Quarter.  It is a beautiful part of the city, with gorgeous architecture and this afternoon our stroll was accompanied by the music from many bands and buskers set up on most street corners.  Often we found ourselves stalling whilst listening to the various genres being played around us.

Buskers on Bourbon St, NOLA

Too soon it the sun was setting and the winter chill was moving in signalling time to head back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  We had booked into Emeril Lagasse’s flagship restaurant for another exceptional New Orleans dining experience.  Justyn and I became familiar with Emeril through various cooking shows such as Top Chef that we regularly watch.  Emeril initially gained fame in the culinary world as executive chef of Commander’s Palace which is a famous New Orleans restaurant.  After leaving Commander’s he opened his first restaurant, Emeril’s, with an emphasis on Creole and Cajun cooking styles.  And the dining experience more than lived up to expectations.  We had three people waiting on us (plus a sommelier) and they were all engaging, professional and very knowledgeable; we felt like VIP’s!  For appetisers, mum, dad and Justyn all went with the gumbo and I had the special of the day which was Sweet and Sour pigs tail.  We all went in different directions for our entrees (main course) with Justyn enjoying the "Mac N’ Cheese" which was sautéed gulf shrimp with artisanal pasta, vermouth cream, guanciale and brioche crumbs, mum decided on the Sweet Barbecue Glazed Salmon with andouille potato hash, crispy onions and house made Worcestershire, dad hit the gamier side with the veal special and I had one of items that have been on Emeril’s menu since opening the restaurant in 1990, the Andouille Crusted Drum (a local fish) with grilled vegetables, shoestring potatoes, glazed pecans and creole meunière sauce.  There wasn’t much talking at the table while we were all in our own little rapturous worlds.  And then there was dessert.  With not much room to fit it in, we managed to share two of his well-known desserts - Emeril’s Banana Cream Pie with a graham cracker crust, caramel sauce, chocolate shavings and his Key Lime Ice Box Pie with torched cinnamon meringue and tequila gingersnap crust – heavenly bites of deliciousness each one!

We were all very full from our fantastic meal so we decided to amble back to our hotel.  Emeril’s was in the Warehouse District so it wasn’t far to wander.  Before long we came across Harrah’s Casino and instead of going around, we headed in to put a few pennies through the slot machines.  Justyn was the only one to come out the other side a winner.  We knew when we were getting close to our hotel as Bourbon Street became louder and louder.  Another Nawlins institution we felt we needed to experience, we dodged the hordes stumbling around the street clutching their hurricane cocktails in fish bowls, the spruikers toting ‘It’s go-time for ho-time’ strip clubs and the bachelor/bachelorette groups covered in beads and swinging from the lamp posts.  All quite entertaining through my slightly tipsy eyes (well I had had a couple of cocktails and glasses of wine with dinner!)

BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER LOUISIANA STYLE!

French Press French Toast & Breakfast Sandwich

Wednesday, 16 January 2013 – First up, here are some fun facts about Lafayette!

• Lafayette is the center of Cajun culture in Louisiana and the United States (this is different to Creole which is mainly found in New Orleans).
• Cajun food is rural, more seasoned, sometimes spicy, and tends to be heartier - game food is the basis rabbit, hog, duck etc
• Lafayette is said to have more restaurants per capita than any other American city

It was still damp outside but we had slept well and very comfortably in our Loft 7. During his Lafayette wander the day before, Justyn had discovered a great little café for our breakfast, so after rugging up against the 3oC weather outside we walked a few blocks to the French Press Bakery. We were warmly welcomed inside and had our very first decent cup of restaurant tea (our first decent cup was with Kay & Dave!). My selection was very easy – the French Press French Toast which was cream cheese and banana stuffed french toast with berry-champagne compote for me please! Justyn went with the Breakfast Sandwich which had eggs, avocado, bacon, tomato, spicy chipotle aioli and choice of cheddar, swiss, or goat cheese in a spinach wrap and served with cheddar grits – also delicious! Wandering back to the loft, we passed a ‘chain gang’ which was a group of prisoners cleaning up the streets of Lafayette wearing bright orange jumpsuits with black and white striped pants accompanied by the tiniest female guard – one of those sights you just never see in Sydney!! Our destination today was New Orleans and while it was only about 2 hours away, we wanted to stop in Baton Rouge and at an outlet mall along the way. But first a Lafayette magnet! Perhaps the Lafayette Visitor Centre would have them? Nooooooooo – and no souvenirs there at all but if we were interested in duck hunting then they could assist us with the appropriate licence…. Thanks but not this trip!

Across the road was a Walmat – with an odd fascination of this conglomerate, we detoured into the Walmat – perhaps they might have a magnet?? No magnets but it was a bit of an eye-opening visit as it turned out to be in not a great part of town… We did get a Louisiana 2013 calendar though! Spinning the wheels on the White Kitty, we jumped on the I 10 WB again and headed for Baton Rouge. This part of the journey took us into the Atchafalaya area and onto the Basin Bridge which is a pair of parallel bridges with a total length of 29.290 kilometres or 18.2 miles, it is the fourteenth longest bridge in the world by total length!

Atchafalaya Basin Bridge (aka Long Ass Bridge)

The Atchafalaya Basin Bridge is apparently also known as the ‘Long Ass Bridge’ which was very apparent when we came across an accident on the other bridge (going EB) not long after starting on it where a truck cabin was burnt out and the traffic backed up behind it went for about 15 miles! With no place to turn around and stuck with trucks, cars, pickups and trailers, it was a very looooong wait for those people heading eastbound and we were very lucky that it wasn’t on our bridge side! Baton Rouge was upon us not long after the Basin Bridge but the weather and time wasn’t on our side so we decided to continue on the I 10 WB to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Gonzales. It wasn’t busy so we gave ourselves 2 hours to shop and dine before we had to have the White Kitty back at the hire car at the New Orleans airport. And shop we did! Woo hoo – gotta love an outlet mall – and gotta love an outlet mall with a Cracker Barrel! If you read my last blog of our trip to the US in 2010 (Life Begins at 40 Rollercoasters) you will know of my fascination with the Cracker Barrel. Where else can you have breakfast at 3pm in the afternoon! And not just any breakfast…. Try the Sunrise Sampler (which I did) – two eggs cooked to order with grits, sawmill gravy and homemade buttermilk biscuits along with real butter and the best preserves, jam n' apple butter, served with fried apples, hashbrown casserole and a sampling of smoked sausage, country ham and thick-sliced bacon. And the bottomless soda of course! Justyn kept it simple and went for the Homemade Beef Stew and coleslaw with corn muffins. But no magnet!

Cracker Barrel feast!

We now had an hour to return the White Kitty to the NOLA airport and roadworks and Simon did their very best to challenge that timing and our stress levels! We finally made it, jumped into the shuttle to the airport then to another shuttle to take us to our hotel in New Orleans. Phew! Mum and dad were also arriving in New Orleans today and we found that they had already checked into their room at the Le Marais in the French Quarter. After dropping our bags off in the room, we met them for a couple of cocktails and beers in the hotel bar and a catch up of each other’s travels prior to meeting in NOLA.

We left the dinner decision up to Justyn who took us to SoBou (which stands for South of Bourbon Street). What a great restaurant – they describe themselves as “A Spirited Restaurant”– it was like a creole tapas so we could order lots of small plates and share. And share we did – pork crackling, a divine apple & pear salad with green apples, poached asian pears, autumn greens, camembert cheese & salted pecan tuile, with muscadine wine vinaigrette, crispy oyster tacos, duck debris & butternut beignets, crispy fried chicken, creole mac ‘n cheese and a foie gras burger. All great dishes – no duds!

Chocolate Coma Bar, SoBou NOLA

Creole Mac 'n Cheese & Fried Chicken

For dessert we indulged in a chocolate coma bar which was a flourless dark chocolate torte with white chocolate mousse, candied pecans & sea salt caramel covered in milk chocolate and served with a shot of chicory coffee shake, the ‘dark and stormy banana rum cake’ and the sweet caprese which was sugarcane soaked navel oranges, citrus vanilla bean panna cotta, fresh mint with Steen’s cane syrup and balsamic reduction – mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wandering back to our hotel, we headed up to bed but Justyn went for a wander to the infamous Bourbon Street and to find his NOLA bearings – he wasn’t gone for long as even though it was a week night, Bourbon Street was apparently living up to its reputation!!

CROSSING THE (STATE) LINE INTO CAJUN COUNTRY!

Tuesday, 15 January 2013 – Today it was time to head across the state line and into Louisiana. The weather was atrocious for any real sightseeing in Houston, so even though checkout time was midday, we were in the White Kitty and on our way by 10am. Our driving plan was to head to Lake Charles in Louisiana for a lunch stop before making our way to Lafayette for our overnight stop. We jumped on the I 10 WB, put the foot down and tootled our way along the interstate for a couple of hours before reaching Lake Charles.

Pronia's Deli & Bakery

The state line was marked on a bridge with absolutely nowhere to stop, but Justyn still managed to check us in on FB as we flashed by! We did notice the change in landscape as we left Texas and entered Louisiana – we were surrounded by ‘casino’s’ which means that if you have a slot machine in your foyer, you are designated a casino, and the many bridges we travelled over. Texas is very flat and Louisiana seems to be very ‘bridgy’! Arriving in Lake Charles (with a detour of the city provided by Simon…), we stopped for lunch in the rain at a diner popular with university students, Pronia’s Deli and Bakery. As usual, eyes were bigger than stomachs and we sample fried cheese sticks, a muffaletta, tamales, meatball sub and the bottomless soda. I attempted to find a magnet but they didn’t have any so we decided to find the Lake Charles visitors centre – they always have souvenirs don’t they?? Well no they don’t… But they could sign us up for duck hunting if we were interested. Thanks but no, a magnet was all we wanted! And it was darn cold in Lake Charles!! We had a lovely chat with a couple of retirees who saw us trying to take a ‘selfie’ and jumped out of their motor home to offer their photography services. After telling us they were a long way from their home near Chicago and heading to Florida for the rest of the winter; they asked where we were from and just about fell over when we told them Australia – they’d never met any Australians before so we turned on the ‘strine, had a chat then both went on our ways. Time was ticking on and we wanted to get to Lafayette before the sun set so back onto the I 10 WB we went and set of in the White Kitty.

Justyn had decided on our accommodations for our night in Lafayette and so he went with a loft style over a hotel. The rain was pouring down and the light was fading as we arrive at Buchanan Lofts. With car parking across the street and no lift, poor Justyn was on luggage duty once we arrived (well I did do all the driving!) It was a very unusual place – gorgeous but with no one on duty to check us in! We called the cell number, received a code to enter once they confirmed our booking and went up the stairs.

Buchanan Lofts, Lafayette

Most of the lofts had their doors open and we encountered another lady who was checking out the lofts and picking which one she wanted to stay in! Obviously you couldn’t get into the lofts where people were staying but she was definitely eyeing Loft Number 7 which we had already selected!! As the weather was miserable, Justyn went for a wander before meeting the loft lady to get our key and I stayed indoors, showered and caught up on the blog. Dinner was really great Japanese from around the corner at Tsunami Sushi and an early night in front of the telly with a load of washing on!

IS THERE LIFE ON MARS AND IF SO, DOES IT SHOP??

Monday, 14th January 2013 – We were spending the whole day in Houston and the weather decided that it would finally snap and actually spend some time as winter… I think the top was 4 or 5oC. Our first destination for the day was the Johnson Space Centre where NASA maintains the control room for all space missions.

The cool thing for me about the visit was the update on the Curiosity Rover on Mars and what it was doing up there. Apparently it has a friend rover on Mars – the poor little Spirit arrived on Mars in 2004 but unfortunately froze to death in 2010 during the Martian winter when he got stuck on a rock and was unable to move his solar panels around to collect enough sun to power him and ‘died’. But the rover Opportunity is still grooving around on Mars and actually helped the Curiosity mission team pick the best spot for his landing. It was all really fascinating actually! You can follow Curiosity’s progress at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html - I will be! Inside the Johnson Space Centre, there are lots of experiments you can do and many of them incorporate the Angry Birds Space game as it was developed in conjunction with NASA!

According to the blurb, game developers incorporated concepts of human space exploration into the game. From the weightlessness of space to the gravity wells of nearby planets, players use physics as they explore the various levels of the game set both on planets and in microgravity. Angry Birds is educational!! We also took the tram ride to Building 30 which were NASA still manages many space missions including monitoring the current astronauts up in the International Space Station.

NASA Mission Control

They allow you into the refurbished mission control that was used up until the end of the Space Shuttles but was set up to look like it did when they were managing the Apollo 11 landing on the moon in July 1969. The next stop on the tram tour was the Rocket Field with actual rockets used to fire into space with the absolutely humongous Saturn 5 rocket built in the 60’s housed in a hangar.

And since we were in Houston, there was much quoting of Apollo 13 “Houston we have a problem”! Despite freezing our little butts off, the visit to the Johnson Space Centre was ‘out of this world’!

The Houston Galleria Skating Rink

Skirting the outer parts of Houston (which recently overtook Chicago as America’s third largest city), we drove to the Galleria which, continuing the theme of ‘it’s bigger in Texas’, is one of the country’s largest shopping malls. So large that there are numerous hotels including the Westin and Sheraton connecting directly into it… It is open until 9pm every night so we resisted the urge to throw on some ice skates and partake in some ‘freestyling’ on the blades and contented ourselves with shopping! As it is winter here, there were some amaaaaaazing sales on winter clothes to make way for their summer styles. Shopping Part 1 completed, it was home to the hotel for an early night, pack and get ready for our drive across the border to Louisiana. We didn’t get to see much of Houston except for loop roads and freeways on this trip – guess it means we will have to come back!!
And of course, here are some fun facts about Houston:

• Houston was the first word spoken from the moon - The Apollo 11 mission established a place in history for the city when astronaut Neil Armstrong spoke the now-famous line, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” 
• Strange but true: It is illegal to sell Limburger cheese on Sundays in Houston.  
• At 634 square miles, the City of Houston could contain the cities of New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis and Miami.
• The first successful human heart transplant was performed in Houston by Dr. Denton Cooley (1968). 

REMEMBER THE ALAMO! (BUT NOT THE HOUSTON TEXANS LOSS IN THE NFL SEMIS...)

Sunday, 13 January 2013 – We were very lucky today as not only did the Westin where we were staying give us free wifi, as it was Sunday we also received a 3pm checkout!! No strings attached! That gave us plenty of time to get out and see more of the beautiful city of San Antonio. Our first stop was the River Walk Center to grab some breakfast and it was there that I encountered my first Cinnabon of the trip. Absolutely sensational with a cup of Starbucks Awake (read “British Breakfast”) tea!

The cinnabon!

Fuelled up, we walked across to the Alamo. A quick history lesson for those who are not aware of the legend of The Alamo: The Alamo as it appears today represents nearly three hundred years of human activity. The Spanish started building the Alamo in 1724. For most of the 1700s the Alamo was a Spanish mission. They stopped using it as a mission in 1793. In the early 1800s, the Spanish stationed soldiers at the old mission and after Mexico's independence from Spain, Mexican soldiers occupied the Alamo. Back in those days, Texas was a part of Mexico. Due to changes in the Mexican government, Texans wanted to be independent from Mexico. Also in those days, Anglo-Americans in Texas were called "Texians" and Hispanic-Americans were called "Tejanos". In December 1835, a group of Texan volunteer soldiers fought against the Mexican soldiers in San Antonio and won. The Texans then occupied the Alamo. This "independent-mindedness" didn't sit well with the Mexican government so on February 23, 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna arrived outside San Antonio with about 6000 men to suppress the rebellion. Even though there were only around 200 of them, the Texans inside the Alamo decided to stick together and defend their position. Some of the defenders included famous people, like Jim Bowie (who created the Bowie knife) and Davy Crockett.

Despite the overwhelming odds, the Texan defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. The Mexicans' final assault on the Alamo started around 5.30 am on March 6, 1836. They attacked the walls of the Alamo on four fronts. The defenders fought back bravely, but eventually they were overwhelmed. An hour later it was all over and Mexico had won the Battle of the Alamo. About 6 weeks after the battle of the Alamo, on April 21, Sam Houston's army defeated Santa Anna's army at the Battle of San Jacinto. So according to legend, the brave men of the Alamo had not died in vain. From their sacrifice emerged Sam Houston's battle-cry, "Remember The Alamo!" that led to Texas liberty.

Remember the Alamo!

Before coming on holiday to Texas, Justyn pulled the movie ‘The Alamo’ with Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thornton out of the collection. While I realise that it was a ‘Hollywoodification’ of the battle, I am glad that I had watched it to give me a greater appreciation of the reverence that The Alamo is held. After the obligatory purchases, and photograph with Davey Crockett hat, in the Alamo gift shop, we decided to stroll around the River Walk area for an hour or so to get a different viewpoint in daylight. Apparently the river is drained for cleaning and maintenance the first week in January except for 2013 so we were very lucky! San Antonio would not have been as beautiful with a dry creek in the middle of town! Finally it was time to leave San Antonio – but not without some fun facts!

• San Antonio is the 3rd largest city in Texas with over 1.1 million peeps and the 11th largest in the US 
• San Antonio was named in honour of St Anthony of Padua the patron saint of children 
• Chili was ‘invented’ in San Antonio in the 18th Century. It officially was "introduced" to the nation at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. • 
• Arguably the most famous San Antonio resident is Tommy Lee Jones.

 Our next destination was Houston which is nearly 200 miles (or a three hour drive) east of San Antonio. So we loaded up the White Kitty and purred down the I10 EB at the speed limit of 75 mph (125kph woo hooo!!) towards Downtown Houston. Our accommodations for the next two nights was at the Embassy Suites Downtown so we could do some washing!

A grackle

Grackles galore surrounded all the buildings in this area but as it was a Sunday night the traffic and people were light on the ground. We valet parked and checked in before heading off to eat at Hearsay Gastro Lounge http://www.hearsayhouston.com/ a very popular dining destination (and historically important building designed by Eugene T. Heiner) for the locals and fortunately for us open on Sundays!!

Hearsay Gastro Lounge

Dessert - Chocolate gateau

While the dude who sat us was a touch testy as his team the Houston Texans were in the process of losing to the New England Patriots in the NFL finals series being held in Boston, Justyn enjoyed the beef brisket sandwich and four-cheese mac n cheese and I went for the stuffed chicken breast washed down with a Gin Gin Mule and a Karbach Hopadillo. After dinner we tackled the washing and then it was bed time!