Well what can I say? Arrived New Orleans and booked into our hotel which just happens to be sited on the corner of Canal and Bourbon, right in the heart of the French Quarter, and it just happens to be Jazz Festival time! Of course once we were settled in our room we just had to go out and see what the famous Bourbon St was all about!

Bourbon St, French quarter, New Orleans

Bourbon St at night

Started with a dozen oysters at Felix's, a small bar/restaurant on the very next corner to our hotel. Our friend Will Prull who builds the most amazing bespoke houses in Santa Fe www.prull.com had recommended this place to us, so we had to find out if it was as good as he said. Well thank you Will, what a great recommendation.

You literally just stand at the bar and a guy ‘schucks' oysters onto the bar top for you until you tell him to stop. The oysters were fabulous, icy cold and soooo fresh! You mix up your own dip (Horseradish, Tabasco, vinegar, etc) and then go for it. Tony and I stopped at a dozen (between us) lus an excellent Bloody Mary each because we were due at the NASC reception by 6 pm.  At the reception we were all given necklaces of brightly coloured beads and were told that apparently during Mardi Gras if you throw the necklaces up to the ladies on the balconies above Bourbon Street all will be revealed!!

Unfortunately our knack of being in the wrong place at the wrong time seems to continue unabated. When we arrived in New Orleans we were told of the terrible disaster on the BP oil rig in the Mexican Gulf, not far out from New Orleans. What a disaster! The local fishermen, and of course all the restaurants that rely on the supply of fresh seafood, shrimp, and crabs, are desperate. The city, which is only now recovering from the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, is once more being asked to cope with an unprecedented environmental disaster. I dread to think of the long term impact this is going to have on marine life, birds, and the marshlands, which are home to the oyster, crab, and shrimp breeding grounds? Our excitement at visiting this wonderful city has certainly been tinged with sorrow for what these folk are going to have to deal with both now and in the future.

Hilary & Tony