So after neglecting my blog for almost 2 months I’m here to catch up…

This has been largely prompted by my Mum debunking my “it’s difficult to write blogs on a mobile phone” rationale by telling me about Behrouz Boochanj – a detained asylum seeker who’s novel “No friend but the Mountains” was written entirely on WhatsApp whilst detained on Manus Island…

His book has just taken out Australia’s richest literary prize… so yes point begrudgingly taken!

I’m going to attempt to put together a rapid series of catch up blogs prior to Europe and from that point onwards adopt a far more disciplined approach that results in at least weekly blog updates…

So what’s happened since Mexico City….

Let’s start with San Antonio and New Orleans…

San Antonio was one of those cities that was just ok for me… we did the river walk which was both insanely touristy (to be fair St Patrick’s day brought huge crowds there) and also incredibly long (we didn’t realise it runs for 24 – yes 24 kilometers!).

We also visited the The Alamo – which was nice, although slightly less interesting for us historically, having not grown up in the US

Finally we did have some great Texan BBQ – and we absolutely DID enjoy that – although we probably didn’t need to eat for around three days afterwards – they don’t do small servings in Texas.

After a short three days in San Antonio it was off to New Orleans!

New Orleans certainly deserves its reputation as a party town – Bourbon Street was busy and filled with drunk people pretty much 24 hours a day – I can’t even imagine how crowded it must be during Mardi Gras! This person is walking the street at 11am on a Wednesday in New Orleans as an example…

John and I started our time in New Orleans with a food tour – which ended up just being ourselves and a mother and son – New Zealanders who now live in Brisbane. Our guide was great and seemed to have lived many different lives – including most recently being a weather presenter on local television.

Amongst the food we tried (and in picture order below) Beignets, Gumbo, Grits, Muffuletta, and the much loved local Crystal hot sauce – so loved in fact that when Hurricane Katrina wiped out the factory that made it, people missed it so much there was a community drive to restart the company!

Amongst the other things we did in New Orleans..

Went to a fantastic sculpture park called the Besthoff – which is attached to a local gallery – one of the best I’ve ever been to..

We then did a day trip which included a visit to several of the old plantations which whilst steeped in horrific slave history were very interesting. It was however difficult to reconcile the beautiful surroundings we walked through with the horrible stories we were told of what slaves endured during that dark period of history.

We also had a fantastic local dessert on the tour (which included lunch) called a Buttermilk Pie – delicious – recipe below if you’re inclined to do some baking!)

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13802/buttermilk-pie/

We also managed to travel in style on our tour bus with the local libation – Mint Juleps!

After the Plantations tour we enjoyed a fantastic swamp tour by Airboat…

Activities on other days included a visit to the National WWII Museum – regarded by many as in the top ten museums in the world – and it was both expansive and excellent!

Finally we did what everyone does in new cities – aimlessly wandered the streets taking in both the local architecture and political protest signs/art (a fixture in almost every US city we’ve been to).

John and I have also finally drafted our top ten cities visited (not just on this trip but from all the travel we’ve done). This is our “if we could only ever visit 10 cities again which would they be” list – something that will no doubt change as we move through our current trip and all the new cities on it (this list also excludes AU and NZ cities).

Matthew

1. Amsterdam

2. Vancouver

3. London

4. Copenhagen

5. Mexico City

6. Berlin

7. Lisbon

8. Savannah

9. Florence

10. Paris

John

1. Amsterdam

2. London

3. Vancouver

4. Copenhagen

5. Lisbon

6. Paris

7. Florence

8. Savannah

9. Montreal

10. Mexico City

Next blog to come – Savannah and Charleston!.