Miami (FL)

I survived my little 'fish eye' incident but unfortunately we had to cut the alabama/georgia portion of our trip due to the incident, which meant after another couple of days in New Orleans, it was off to Miami.

The hotel was very nice and quite a contrast to our place in New Orleans, Chateau Dupree had character and a great location, our Miami hotel was super modern near the beach and with an awesome view of the marina. Being accross the street from the beach, we started every day with swimming and snorkeling off the beautiful atlantic beaches.

We only had about three days in Miami, so we spent our nights exploring the relatively local South Beach, which while nice and very classy lacked the live music and entertainment options of New Orleans or Austin... but still, look at the beach! ;-)

Leaving Miami means the sun has set on our little tour of the Gulf Coast States, so I will say bye bye for now...

Hospital (!!)

I've always been slightly allergic to sea food, which used to make me a little sick, but it hasn't been an issue in several years as I'm vegetarian. Anyway... I opened some crab shells for my sister at the sea food buffet and must have touched my eyes. About 15 minutes later they started to itch, then they started to swell. Then the whites of my eyes went soft and began to bulge out from under my eye-lids like soft poached eggs!!

But not to worry, after a couple hours in the emergency room, I was all sorted. The swelling was coming down and I was beginning to feel like a human again. The only bad part was the $120 prescription for anti-histamine eye drops. Michael Moore had a point in Sicko!

New Orleans (LA)

The Sunset limited chugged into New Orleans station around 6PM and we caught a cab to our Hotel, ‘Chateau Dupree’. The hotel was in a great location near the edge of the French Quarter on Decatur Street and turned out to be a pretty nice building from the 1840s.

We got out in time to catch the tail-end of the ‘Dueling Barges’ firework display on the Mississippi, which was spectacular. Almost as spectacular was the giant clouds of bats that swarmed around the trees on Canal Street, perhaps scared away from their usual haunts by the fire-works. After the show we hit the Creole sea-food buffet at Harrah’s Casino, where my sister tried everything from fried catfish to ‘Oysters Rockefeller’.

New Orleans proved to be alternately laid-back and frenetic, from the live music and huge frozen cocktails offered on bustling Bourbon Street, to the quiet and laid back streets and cafés at the down-river end of the French Quarter.


Like Las Vegas, there’s great night-life, gambling, music and shows, but unlike Vegas, New Orleans has a real cultural core and feels quite different to anywhere else I’ve been in the mainland USA. I definitely think I’ll return here at some point.

Sleeper Train (TX-LA)

Rather than flying again and risking the (inevitable?) lost bags and delays, we booked a ticket on Amtrak’s ‘Sunset limited’ night train from San Antonio to New Orleans. In general, I’ve found that Amtrak offers a great service, but it often runs late. Our connection from Austin was delayed until after 10, but the station manager booked a van to get us to San Antonio and we just about made it.


We settled into our tiny ‘sleep-liner roomette’ which is kind of a private cabin which converts into a set of bunk-beds so you can sleep. It was a tight squeeze with our cases, but we had a refreshing night’s sleep and after good breakfast, watched the scenery change as we headed deeper into the Louisiana swamps. We saw deer, turtles and even a aligator as we chugged along.


By late afternoon we were rattling across the Mississippi approaching New Orleans, just in time for the Independence Day celebrations.

Austin (TX)

The first stop on this trip was supposed to be Austin in central Texas but US Airways screwed up our flights, which meant a brief stay-over in Philly. Nevertheless, by Tuesday afternoon (a day late and several bucks short) we were happily baking in the Texas sun.

During the day we did a little shopping and checked out the sights including the imposing Texas state capitol building (above) and the leafy parks along the river.

Austin definitely lived up to its reputation as a liberal oasis stranded in the middle of Texas. There was tons of music and art. Eating out was also cheap and good. Austin offers the best Mexican food and Margaritas I’ve ever had. I’d especially recommend the ‘Iron Cactus’ on 6th street. For after dinner there are tons of lively bars within easy walking distance. We saw foot-stomping country music (yeeha!) with $1 beers and an awesome blues band over cocktails.