Day Eleven - 26th October

So up and check out of our Pensacola Motel. All in all it had been a good spot – we couldn’t find one real central spot of Pensacola and it seemed pretty spread out, taking about 15 – 20 minutes to cross the city on the occasions we went out. However the location of our Motel, despite its vocation as a bacterial incubator, was an ideal spot for the museum and worked out pretty well.

We went across city again, mostly on the freeways this time, and found the rental car place without too much trouble (after a small detour to get fuel) and swapped our Mustang for a more conventional Ford Focus. Sadly we’ve also lost a bit of boot space as well and have to put our breakout bag (too much stuff already!) of the luggage on the back seat. We’d been hoping to try and put most of it in the boot to allow us to park in public areas without attracting unwanted attention, but we’ll just have to work around that.

The Focus is a bit easier to drive than the Mustang, lighter and less bonnet in front to obstruct the view, and after getting things adjusted we were on our way down the I-10 onto New Orleans.

The I-10 is much like the Interstates we’ve travelled so far , it’s wide open roads , lined with trees (all green , we miss the fall colours of the northern autumn) , easy driving and at 70mph ( plus change ;-) ) we eat up the miles.

The I-10 actually crosses both Alabama & Mississippi before getting into Louisiana however our first stop was the U.S.S Alabama memorial park, a short hour or so out of Pensacola.

The park is very easy to find, and we were soon there, after turning off the Interstate. It’s a very wide open space, and in addition to the ship parked up at the wharf, there’s also a number of military vehicles and aircraft dotted around. These include WW2 aircraft and post war aircraft including a huge Vietnam era B-52 Stratofortress. The park also has a hanger where they keep other aircraft as well.

However the main attraction here is the ship, and after paying our entry fee we were on board. There are three ‘tours’ you can take, red green and yellow (all self-guided), which focus on a different part of the ship. The Red & Green paths both focus on the ships internals all the way down to the engine bay. It’s a very well-constructed path and shows off the main parts of the ship very well. Its also slightly claustrophobic as you have to sometimes go through narrow doorways and passages, and contend with low ceilings and pipes & boxes protruding from the walls, The stairwells between decks are narrow and steep and take some care, but it doesn’t take long to go through, and you can appreciate what it took to serve on one of these machines. It’s essentially a floating city and they have to have everything on board to cater for the crew (including having all the right pay in safes for payday!). Every crew member has an assigned task or team and this even includes someone whose job it is to ensure the U.S Marines on board had suitably pressed trousers! However, the further into the ship I went, the more conscious I became of how hard it would have been to evacuate in an “abandon ship” scenario. Indeed, there were many watertight compartment doors intended to seal a flooded area and stop the ship sinking, and the thought of being caught on the wrong side of that door, as many sailors were, was too awful to contemplate.

The Yellow tour takes you into the upper decks and the fresh air, and after spending some time above and getting some wonderful expansive views of the Gulf, and checking out the weaponry ( those huge turrets are very confined inside) we retreated to the café and had a quiet bite there before getting into the car and carrying on. Another very hot, sunny day as well.

The drive into New Orleans was uneventful (we saw more than a few cops along the way apprehending unlucky motorists) and after a quick hop across Mississippi, we were in Louisiana.

Coming into the city, we had to cross a hugely long, low bridge across the lake (Lake Pontchartrain) that gave a real feel for how flat and low lying this area was. After going through the outer suburbs for about 5 minutes on the I-10, we were unerringly guided to our target by faithful Dora (redeemed after her Miami fiasco) and soon arrived at our Hotel, the Provincial in Chartres St. The streets are very narrow and rough, and has quite a ‘rough’ feel to it. The Hotel is an old one and divided up into three buildings, and for a change ours is on the ground floor. Quaintly , there are even banana trees growing in the courtyard.

The room wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we spent some time wandering the streets and getting oriented with the French Quarter of New Orleans (or NOLA, New Orleans, Louisiana). The French and Spanish influences are everywhere and this could almost, with the heat & humidity, be a French island in the pacific. A bit like Las Vegs, the main areas, especially the infamous Bourbon St, has a slightly seedy feel to it, but at the same time there’s a good vibe about the place, Brass jazz bands play in the street, and almost every bar or restaurant has a live act. We did a circuit of the main area, stopping at a café for our first New Orleans treat, Coffee and Beignets.

Beignets are like doughnuts, a doughy mixture deep fried till crispy then covered in icing sugar, oh so nice. The place we stopped at, Café du Mode, essentially only had Coffee & Beignets on the menu so it was a pretty easy order. The staff were buzzing around like blue-assed flies and the place was very busy with a high turnover. However the coffee and beignets were perfect.

We then carried on walking going as far as Canal St, a wide boulevard with a tram line running the length of the St in the center,  and walked back down Royal St to the Hotel. Surprisingly, this is where many art galleries and antique shops are located, and it made for a slow walk back.

Got back to the Hotel, picked up the room key and freshened up before going out. Most of the popular action seems to happen on Bourbon St, and the whole street is blocked off at night to allow people to wander freely. You’re allowed to carry a drink between bars, but it has to be in a plastic container, a glass one will earn you a $450 fine from the NOPD, who has a very visible presence in the city. The streets are crowded and it’s really an assault on the senses, with noise coming from bars, noise and street bands, rowdy crowds, the smell from the eateries and, well, various fluids and deposits lining the streets!  The New Orleans population is around 400,000 but the tourist market must swell those numbers hugely.

The streets were very crowded and we managed to negotiate our way to a place for dinner, which specialises in Bourbons. A bit like a scotch / Irish whisky bar, this place specialises in bourbons, and has about 200+ on offer. After a really pleasant meal, we tried what was called a “flight” – each flight consists of three small bourbons (though, being the U.S, small is a relative term) and we tried two flights, one of small batch bourbon, and one of single barrel bourbon. Bourbon is quite different to Whisky in that its primary ingredient is corn. It imparts quite a different taste and the bourbons we had varied between 90 & 100 proof. Needless to say after a large meal it took a while for the bourbons to filter down, and the general consensus was that it may take a few more to appreciate the taste.

Then it was back to the Hotel via Bourbon St. The crowds were noticeably larger now and this part of New Orleans seems to really come alive later at night. Loud music pumped from bars, drunk & tipsy individuals and groups wandered the streets, homeless begged for cash, and neon signs assaulted the eyes. The streets were awash with spilled drinks and water (hopefully mostly water) and cops everywhere keeping an eye on things. However we made it back OK, and called it quits for the night.