HNY from NOLA

The only thing everyone said we should do in New Orleans was eat. Eat as much as we could, in as many places as we could find. A lot of people had specific recommendations. Nobody told us of places which were bad. It was hard to go wrong.

Louis Armstrong Park, at the end of our street

There was a catch. It was bowl season and the Oklahoma Sooners were playing the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Sugarbowl. As the crowds of black and gold faded away hordes of people in red and white took their place.

College football is serious business.

So our culinary expeditions had to be well planned. For example we could not bring ourselves to wait in line for Cafe du Monde, which is very famous. We knew it was famous because of the queue, which often stretched through the cafe, on to the street, and along the block. We decided to get our beignets elsewhere.

Here are some highlights.

Andrew Jackson

The Backspace Bar gave us a meatloaf sandwich to remember, let us split it, and gave us the okay to eat it with our hands: "Grip it and rip it," the bartender said.

The height limit in the French Quarter keeps the roof line low

Cafe Amelie has an offshoot, Petite Amelie, which made a top-level gumbo and fresh sandwiches. It was one of the few places we visited more than once.

A number of the alleyways are not accessible by vehicles.

We had planned to spend New Years Eve in one of the many famous restaurants around the city but, because of the Sugarbowl crowds, they were booked pretty tight. But our Christmas experience had taught us well; we went to the movies.

The Wolf of Wall Street was showing in a cinema which offered in-seat service. We enjoyed drinks and food and emerged into the streets to celebrate with the city of New Orleans as the Fleur de Lis dropped.

Bourbon street on New Years Eve

New year's day was quiet; the streets empty but for the strange trucks applying detergent to Bourbon Street.

Actually they do this every day

The weather did not clear for our whole stay but we were determined to get some photos by the water. We braved the winds and the growing crowds of Sooners and Tide and snapped some pics by the water.

Spirit of the Immigrant (really)

With New Year's Eve behind us we finally went around to Frenchmen Street to have a drink and listen to some music. It was a revelation. Outside of the bustle of the French Quarter crowds Ali found a bar with live jazz and a massive beer menu. The first band we saw played for tips, coming around with a sousaphone and a bucket to collect change from the patrons between sets. We stayed longer than we meant to.

It was a great time.

Ali being cold in New Orleans

Of course the highlight was the seafood. Shrimp po boys, catfish, shellfish gumbo, all things I wouldn't eat at home, all smelled too good to pass up.

Oyster tacos were a highlight

In truth we probably stayed in New Orleans one night too long. With everything we meant to do finished after a few days we struggled on our last and didn't want to stay cooped up in the room of our inn.

Creepy Jesus was a landmark we navigated by.

In fact we stayed two days too long. Our flight to New York was cancelled (of the five direct flights that day ours was the only one cancelled).

We were given a hotel in a dead spot in the city. The next day we flew to Atlanta before sunrise and spent eight hours learning our way around Atlanta International Airport, which was not as bad as it sounds. The airport is huge. We learned some Georgian history, walked through a display of Zimbabwean sculpture, had some good food, and made our connection to La Guardia.

It was two degrees below zero when we landed. It only got colder from there.

Most of this post will be about the Superdome.

It had stopped raining in Baton Rouge. The GPS unit in the Versa had a 'home' setting. It lit up with directions to Louis Armstrong international airport.

The drive was as good as the previous day was difficult. From Baton Rouge to New Orleans is mostly swamp, with the highway raised up out of the water. The artificial land which periodically flanks the road does nothing to detract from how wild the environment still is. It went on like this until we crossed the edge of Lake Pontchartrain and the highway lifted us up over the water.

Above Lake Pontchartrain

A taxi took us the rest of the way through Jefferson and Metairie to the French Quarter. Our room was not ready (nor had we expected it would be) so we left our bags with the desk at the inn and went to see what we could see. A few turns and we stumbled on a patisserie which became one of our favourite stops. Soon after we arrived there was a line out the door.

Some of the locals recommended we invest in some Saints colours before we made for the Superdome. Se would not want to be confused for 'poison,' the name for supporters of visiting teams. It seemed like good advice; already the dominant colours on the streets of the French Quarter were black and gold.

Suitably attired we made for the Superdome and Champions Square; in Lafayette we had been told to makce certain we checked out the square before the game.

Pregame entertainment at Champions Square

In a way were lucky; the Carolina Panthers had sealed up the NFC east division with a win the day before. The Saints were playing for a wild-card spot. Win and they go to the playoffs, lose and their season was done. Had it been any other way, the atmosphere around the game would have been quite different.

In our Saints gear. Who dat?

The Superdome was a surprise. We had not done our research and did not know that the stadium was fully enclosed and air-conditioned. While there were huge crowds outside not many people entered the stadium to watch the pre-game warm ups and it felt a little like we had the place to ourselves. The roof was well above us despite having nose-bleed seats, because we were sitting under one of the enormous screens.

The stadium food was a little different to what we get at home. In place of meat pies they had crawfish pies (Ali had one) and instead of hotdogs, alligator sausage po boys (of course I had one).

The New Orleans Saints, seen here kind of lying around.

The game started and there were still empty seats all around us. It wasn't until five or ten minutes into the first half that the stadium really filled up.

And then it got loud.

98% of these people are Saints fans and 100% of them are screaming

A display before the game began listed the top five loudest stadiums in the world - with the Superdome having recently displaced CenturyLink Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks. During Tampa Bay plays, the crowd were encouraged to 'Get Loud' by the displays around the park. And they responded, screaming and banging on anything they could reach. When the subsequent play failed, the crowd were congratulated for having created a 'fan impact play.'

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

It was all a bit strange after coming from a country where the sportsmanship of crowds is being questioned and reviewed at the moment. In the defence of the NOLA group, nobody was shouting obscenities. They were just shouting.

There was no organised group of away supporters. Unless you looked hard, you would not think there were away supporters at all. The whole crowd seemed to be decked in black and gold. When Tampa Bay made a big play the stadium was silent.

This photograph mostly for the benefit of my brother

The first half was a tight contest but the Saints ran away with it in the third quarter. The stadium emptied out fast in the fourth quarter; also interesting from an Australian point of view. We usually only leave stadiums when our team is getting flogged.

The New Orleans crowd might have had the right of it, though. With the result clear the heart went out of Tampa Bay, while the Saints pulled all their star players from the game to protect them for the playoffs. The game ground to a halt and the last seven minutes dragged on for close to forty (and nothing happened).

I made Ali stay for the whole thing because I am terrible.

We walked back to the French Quarter to see what madness was unfolding.

Bourbon St madness

The crowds from the stadium had found their way down and joined the crowds from the bars. We pushed through until we found a nice spot on Royal and had very nice beers and po boys for dinner. In fact the beers were so good, we stayed for another.

We reached our beds a little later than anticipated. As is the way in New Orleans.