Lundi Gras

Stephanie is still posting on Instagram so look at stephatkingscliff.

Mon 27 Feb   Lundi Gras

Specialised step ladders to view parades.

Trees get decorated with discarded beads.

Peter and Lesley did an early morning walk to a market to get some basics for breakfast. Once fed we headed to the end of our road, where there's a streetcar stop, to head to the French Quarter and Mardi Gras festivities. Tram tickets were only $3 for the whole day. We got two thirds of the way there then the track was closed by the parade route so transferred to a bus that got us the rest of the way past all the stands and stepladders that people had out to view the evening parade.

The unique New Orleans trolley cars (trams)

Entertainment on the banks of the Mississippi

Saw a large memorial to Robert E Lee on a traffic round-about, then walked around parts of the French Quarter including along Decatur St to Jackson Square where there is a statute to Andrew Jackson to balance Robert E Lee at the other end. There are many cafés, bars and shops selling souvenirs. We were going to stop for lunch at Café du Monde that had been recommended to us, but the line up was way too long.

Lesley & Stephanie in Jackson Square in the French Quarter

We walked along the river front where we could see the SS Natchez, a paddle wheel riverboat. Considering taking one of their jazz cruises at a later date. There were many food and drink stalls and two sound stages with bands performing and, of course, people dancing.

Back to Decatur St and lunch at The Crescent City Brewhouse with a resident jazz band. Stephanie and Lesley had pulled pork burgers, I had a Shrimp Po' Boy and Peter experimented with Gumbo but wasn't impressed.

Lots of tasty choices washed down with beers and margaritas

We then experienced Bourbon St! Wow! The street was filled with bars and people in costumes.
The odd whiff of strange cigarettes and music from wandering jazz bands. People tossing strings of beads from balconies. (This is THE thing at Mardi Gras. Everyone wears piles and piles of beads they've collected from various places like the balconies mentioned and the passing floats in the parades. Traditionally, people threw beads to the women who flashed their décolletage - very rare, but did see some examples of this.)

People getting in the Mardi Gras mood

Music everywhere

Houses too - sad guy with no costume to wear

Local kid watching the parade from the top of a step-ladder.

We later found a spot where we could watch the two evening parades. One was by the Krewe of Orpheus, the other by the Krewe of Proteus. They both had very elaborate floats around a common theme for their Krewe. These were interspersed with marching bands and dancing girls, riders on horses and flambeaux (traditional torch bearers who once lit the floats, but now the floats carry their own lighting). The Krewe members on the floats tossed beads, stuffed toys and other stuff to the onlookers. Traditionally, if the item tossed is not caught, then it is left on the ground. The kids are pretty quick with the toys but the amount of beads left lying around is incredible.

One of the colourful floats in the Proteus parade

The whole experience is amazing. The people are really friendly and helpful when we ask questions about anything. Watching the way some of the little kids are dressed up in the purple, gold and green colours of Mardi Gras is really cute and everyone gets into the friendly Mardi Gras mood.

But wow, a long walk back to the tram stop.

Down to the coast

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Second day on the train and the scenery and time zone have changed. Things are much greener as we approach the coast. Have seen lots of farms and cattle ranches - even some sugar cane fields.

We eventually crossed the Mississippi River in the night and arrived at New Orleans station at 9:30pm. Easily found a cab that could load the four of us plus luggage. It took us to the Airbnb place quite directly - only $20. The place is half a duplex that's been renovated. Very nice, good wifi, roomy shower, but no basic foods like most Airbnbs provide. Early market trip tomorrow.

Lesley and Stephanie testing the rocking chairs on the porch of our AirBnb

2 Days on a Train

Stephanie is posting photos on Instagram so if you have an account you can follow: stephatkingscliff to see the photos she has posted.

Sat 25 Feb

Eventually woke in a new time zone. Quick shower as we pulled into Tucson, Arizona. Meals are included in our fare so we ate well, the coffee wasn't too bad. Will just rest up today. Not much else to do other than watching the scenery go by.

Relaxing in our "room".

Scenery: very dry, desert-like with rugged mountains in the distance. Dry scrub with little bushes everywhere as well as a lot of prickly pear cactus (there was a plague of this once in Australia). All the watercourses we've crossed have been dry. We did see three deer taking off away from the tracks. Oddly, houses (many abandoned) are scattered throughout the landscape and the train tracks are usually near the poorer parts of towns we pass through. There a lots of trailer parks and tiny houses in need of repairs.

Last days of LA

Fri 24 Feb

Took Peter and Lesley to the Great Central Market for breakfast however the line at Eggsluts was three time as long as yesterday so we all had egg and bacon sandwiches this time.  We then walked down to the nearby Fashion Institute of Design and Marketing to see a display of film costumes. These were current Oscar nominees and other costumes from older films.

Costumes from "Suicide Squad"

We then took the red line train to Hollywood - it was not quite as tacky as the online reviews made out, but almost. We saw the preparations being made for the Oscars as well as hundreds (almost literally) of souvenir stores. Picked up an expensive snack at a sandwich bar before heading back towards our hotel but stopped for a coffee and free wifi at Demitasse. Coffee was very bitter.

Preparations for the Oscars

The WALLACE (Beery) star on Hollywood

We picked up our luggage from the hotel and walked 15 minutes to the train station where we rested in the first class lounge with snacks, juice, etc. Eventually boarded the train and sorted out the luggage needed for this small sleeper room. Derek, the porter sorted out our fold down beds while we had wine in the snack bar. Found it very difficult to sleep in a train even though we had a full length bed.

The midnight train ... continued

Part 2:
We took Peter and Lesley up to Olvera St where the Mexican market is. We had a quick look around before deciding to have a drink and snacks at one of the cantinas in the market. Very tasty.

It was starting to get dark and cold by then so we walked back to the hotel. Stephanie and I headed up to our room while Peter and Lesley headed to a Japanese restaurant for a ramen noodle feast. When they returned we planned the next day's itinerary:
Pack bags and check out. Head to the Grand Central Market for some breakfast. Catch train to Hollywood area (reviews on Tripadvisor don't raise our expectations).

Clock tower in  a park in LA

I'm leavin' LA baby, Gonna catch that midnight train

We had a late breakfast yesterday at the Grand Central Market. This is a large food hall/market that's been operating since early last century. There's a wide variety of food for sale but we settled on a bacon and egg sandwich. Wasn't bad. May be heading back today for another breakfast and might try something from the Egg Sluts stall.

We later found a Post Office (after a bit of hill climbing) to post some postcards to parents. Then headed down to the Bradbury building which was used in the film "Bladerunner". The early 20th C architecture is amazing. Nearby, we got delayed at an intersection while a scene for a movie was filmed. Cars crawled through some red lights (sped up later, I suppose), then take 2, take 3. Ok cut. The cops and security were around everywhere to keep the streets clear. This was right next to The Last Bookstore where we wandered for a while - Steph found a small book to buy.

We headed back to the hotel as our friends Peter & Lesley were due to arrive. We're traveling with them to New Orleans tomorrow night. Once they were settled we walked up to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. This is a building of unique architecture with twisted stainless steel and reflective surfaces. The climb up and down the many steps tested our legs. We lined up to enter the Broad, an art gallery of contemporary art including works by Jean Michel Basquier, Andy Warhol and Keith Herring.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall

         ... to be continued.

Santa Monica

Last night we went to a popular little Japanese restaurant across the road from our hotel but made the mistake of ordering a recommended meal which turned out to be far too much - ramen noodle dish, fried rice with beef and coleslaw with mayo. Staggered back to the hotel and fell asleep pretty quickly. 

Tackled the LA metro system today with a trip to the coast at Santa Monica. One of the benefits of the elderly is cheap public transport - $0.75 each way!

The area seemed pretty busy although it's probably much more crowded in the summer time. We wandered down onto the pier with all the other tourists. The pier has the typical roller coaster, buskers, souvenirs, etc. We then headed south along the beach walkway past the "Muscle Beach" area and further towards Venice Beach while avoiding cyclists, skaters, skateboarders and joggers sharing the walkway. 

The beach is very wide with combed, level sand but nobody in the water which was pretty choppy and dirty - probably due to all the rain they've had recently. Then a walk back to the pier area and on to a local shopping boulevard. 

After the trip back to the hotel we rested up before venturing out for dinner.

LA LA land

We did the time-warp with our flight to Los Angeles. Left Brisbane at 11:10 Tuesday morning and arrived in LA before we left at 6:00 Tuesday morning after a 13 hour flight. Bit of a shakey shuttle trip from LAX to the Miyako hotel - it's in the "Little Tokyo" part of central LA.
   We dumped our bags there then explored the local Japanese shopping village.

We took the 10 minute hike to Union Station (where we are leaving from on Friday night) and got lots of advice and maps from the guy at the information desk. We had a snack lunch then headed out for another walk to counter the jet lag.

The Spanish/Mexican culture is very ingrained locally so we visited a local Mexican market and museum before getting the lift to the top of the town hall for some spectacular views of the city.
 

The bigger, improved, all-new adventure

We have a week to go before we head off on our latest adventure. We have tickets, passports, vouchers, credit cards all ready to go.

This trip will take about 10 weeks and is mostly concentrated on cities. The legs are:

• Brisbane => Los Angeles - stay there a couple of days before;
• Los Angeles => New Orleans by train - this takes 2 days. 6 nights in the Big Easy.
• New Orleans => New York - stay 17 nights.
• New York => London (via Frankfurt) - 5 nights in London then
• Train to Oxford - pick up car for 10 days around the south of England and maybe Wales. Then train back to London.
• London => Paris on Eurostar train - 9 nights in Paris (near to where we stayed last time).
• Paris => Madrid - 5 nights.
• Madrid => Barcelona by train - 6 nights.
• Barcelona => Frankfurt - 3 nights.
• Frankfurt => Bangkok - 3 nights. 
• Bangkok => Brisbane - Whew!

 We have some great friends who are looking after our house while we're away and neighbours who keep an eye on things. 

Hope to do the next post from LA on 21st February (US time).