The Big Easy - Peasy

Hello all,

Hope everyone is well. After leaving Wisconsin we flew to the deep south of New Orleans. There was a noticeable increase in the temperature, humidity and the size of the cockroaches. We spent a few days mooching around the French Quarter, rode the streetcar, dodged the rain showers, and ate a lot of Gumbo of variable quality. It was good for pralines though, of excellent quality and we also discovered Peteypops which are marshmallow, rice crispies and white chocolate on a stick. We also discovered a recipe for what could become our family´s famous desert - Bananas Foster. I wonder if Grandma knows how to make it?

We went to the famous Bourbon Street and received some coloured beads from ladies of the lady bars. We also visited the grave of the voodoo queen herself - Marie Lavaeu. We left some money as instructed by the superstitious hostel landlady because we didn´t want our legs broken - as was what happened to a guy she took on a graveyard tour. He decided to steal from the graves and when she asked him to leave - he was immediately hit by a bus.
So when we went we left plenty of money just in case.......as we like our legs!

The Hurricane Katrina tour was the most interesting part, around all the previously flooded parts of town. The tour guide informed us after the hurricane many people decided not to return to their homes and left them derelict. Also many people had crawled into their attics during the floods, without adequate food or water, and no escape route. Sadly many perished before emergency services reached them. Luckily this tour was fully booked out and seemed to help raise much needed money for the relief effort. We will never moan about rain again.

Whilst there we met a couple of wonderful people from couchsurfing. Thanks to Heather and her friends with whom we made a lovely meal, and also learned how to make animals from balloons (don´t ask us when we get back - sadly we will have forgotten how and our dogs will have deflated!).

So with our bellies full of gumbo, and a taste of fresh oysters (aphrodisiac??¿¿¿ - this keyboard has upside down ones too!!¡¡??¿¿) - we flew to Las Vegas. Come on Black 20!

I wonder if we will get Gumbo or pralines for the in-flight meal?.....

Love Urvasi and Pete

XXX