Winterbreak - New Orleans (Week 17)

At Tuesday (December 16th) we caught our bus to New Orleans. It took about six and a half hours. The hostel, where we stayed was this time not that great - everything was really fine except our bedroom - we shared a messy room with 12 other people and it was pretty cold inside.

Except from the hostel the first day was really nice - we went to Bourbon Street, the most famous street of the French Quarter with a lot of bars, where they play great live music (Jazz, Blues, Reggea, ...). We also met Denny again (the guy we met in Houston) and went to a nice bar/club where an awesome jazz band was playing.

On Wednesday (our second day) we went to Jackson Square and visited the St. Louis Cathedral. Furthermore, we went around in French Quarter and visited a Voodoo Shop and the Louis Armstrong Park. After a little break at the famous Cafe Du Monde, where we had some Beigneits (French Doughnuts, which are somewhat comparable with the Austrian Schürfel, we listened to some live jazz and spent a nice evening with some other international travelers at the hostel (I met the first Austrian there, while I am in the US, also an exchange student, who is traveling around).

The next day we visited some of the famous New Orleans Cemeteries. We also went to the Garden District, a neighborhood where there are a lot of nice looking old houses, with beautiful arranged gardens. After we had some Poboys (some typical sandwiches of New Orleans), we visited the Mardi Gras Museum and went again to a little park, where they played live music. At night we went out, with the people we met the day before, to Frenchmen Street, where there is a little bit better music than in Bourbon Street. We went to "The Spotted Cat", a club where they played really nice jazz.

At Friday, our last day, we planned to do a Voodoo Tour, but as it heavily rained and stormed we just decided to stay at our hostel and played games with other guests and went out again to Frenchmen Street at night.

Another thing I'd like to mention: there were a lot of homeless people in the city and they kept telling me that they'd know where I bought my shoes and I have absolutely no clue why :). Over all I liked New Orleans a lot - the most thing I liked about it was the live music. It was also really cool to meet so many people from different countries (including two Austrians) and go out with them.