Day 3 was a rip-roaring success as far as I am concerned. The drive was short--4 hours--and Jackson was a giant shit pile like I had suspected. The only tall building in the town had a giant cross on it. As soon as we passed into Louisiana--
--we saw signs for Kentwood, the childhood home of Britney Spears. I tell you, Jackson looked like a wonderful oasis comparatively. This was one of those instances where someone's entire lifetime of choices was explained completely. We have had several of those instances thus far.
We crossed into the New Orleans area via the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest water bridge in the world. I gotta say, it's pretty long. We had to search around for a hotel that was reasonably priced, but found one pretty quickly that has actually been the cheapest deal on the trip so far.
Immediately we hit the streets, gunning for the French Quarter. What a crazy place that place is. Drunk people everywhere, live music, people dressed as strange things (hand grenades). I really enjoyed the architecture as well. The bars were all holes in the wall with shitty, shitty (pun halfway intended) bathroom facilities. But, I managed using cunning, wits, brawn, sex appeal, and gusto. We had New Orleans-esque food all day and I tried four different types of Abita beers. Abita seems to be the beer of choice in the French Quarter.
It was damn cold, too. Walking around and seeing St. Louis Cathedral and the mighty Mississip was really awesome, but it left my extremities number than my heart. When the pre-pre Mardi Gras parade finally came, it was probably colder, but we didn't notice because we had been drinking and there were many people crowded on that damn Royal St.
The parade began with Dr. John, surprisingly enough, being named King of the parade. It continued with a political satire theme. Various politicians were displayed with other things like gravestones that read "R.I.P. Integrity" and the like. It really can be summed up as this: same shit, different city. Although I did not know most of the politicians displayed, I knew the complaints. We all do. From what I saw, New Orleans is a pretty as well as kick-ass town with a lot of character. I hope to go back there some day before I'm too old to enjoy it. If nothing else, than for the culture. It's thriving.
No comments:
Post a Comment