Day 28: Nashville to New Orleans

Greetings from the Tulane School of Medicine (and the department of Pharmacology to be precise). I am sitting here while Vilija does some work with cancers cells for her thesis, aka smart people stuff!

But enough about today, back to yesterday. I said bye to Amanda, Murfreesboro, and Tennessee at around 9am. It was already in the mid 80's at this point, so I had started sweating before I even made it to my car. I went south through Tennessee until I got to Birmingham, then went west through southern Mississippi before getting to New Orleans at around 6:30pm.

Driving through the south was kind of an ordeal. The super hot and humid weather is not actually that bad - I just roll my windows down all the way and drive fast. I would much rather have that than the lightning and thunder and torrential downpour that I had to drive through for about an hour. It was pretty scary (especially since I had already flipped a car in monsoon weather 4 years ago in Arizona and don't want to repeat that again!), and there was a car that had skidded down an embankment in the weather. I got through it slowly but surely (and made up my mind then that if I ever visit the south again, maybe it will be in the winter).

I have also decided that my scope of humor does not extend to people with southern accents. I think it's because when they start talking, I am at first fascinated with the way they talk and then second do not think that someone with that accent would try and be sarcastic. It throws me for a loop! See the two conversations I had below with two different people from the south at gas stations (please think of them having southern accents in your head).

Scenario 1:

Old Southern Man: Washington, eh? Just passing through?

Me: Yes, on my way to New Orleans.

Old Southern Man: That's nice, New Orleans will be a bit cooler than Nashville.

Me: Oh, that's good to hear.

Old Southern Man: And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell ya!

(Side note: At this point, I should have stopped and asked if he knew my grandpa George Aherne, who said this phrase all the time, but sadly I did not).

Scenario 2:

Old Southern Lady: Well, I never thought I would have seen a car from Washington here in Alabama!

Me: Oh yes, just passing through on my way to New Orleans.

Old Southern Lady: I hear that Washington is a beautiful state.

Me: It is - and it's a little bit colder than it is here!

Old Southern Lady: Well, just you wait. Later this week it's supposed to drop into the 80's, and if that happens I might have to turn the heat on!

Me: (sort of blank stare) Uh huh.

Old Southern Lady: I was joking.

Anyways, two funny conversations. Alabama was a pretty state, lots of rolling hills and green shrubbery (same with Mississippi too I guess). I took Highway 10 West over to New Orleans, and you take a very long bridge over this big bay and a swamp - very cool.

I finally got to my friend Vilija's place at around 6:30pm. Vilija (pronounced "Vil-e-uh" but from now on I will just call her "Vil") and I went to UCDavis together and were both Student Housing nerds (aka RAs and SRAs together). She is currently finishing up her postbacc at Tulane and is applying to med schools. In essence, she is smart.

Vil moved to New Orleans a year ago but she is already quite an expert in the city life. And she owns this tiny little condo just off of St. Charles street (which has the streetcar running down it and where all the Mardi Gras parades go through!). Anyway, after I got there and got cleaned up (changed into clothes that weren't drenched in sweat), we made our way down to the French Quarter.

The French Quarter (minus Bourbon Street) is the old historic part of town with a lot of the buildings that you would think of when envisioning New Orleans. They have lots of wrought iron and some bright colors and are very statuesque. We went to a restaurant that Vil knows for dinner and ate po'boys and gumbo - delicious! After that, we walked down by the river some and saw the Mississippi on its final journey to the Gulf (I was trying to remember where I passed the Mississippi up north but forgot). We also walked through Jackson Square and took some pictures.

After walked off dinner a bit, we went to the famous Cafe Du Monde and had beignets. The restaurant is right next to the river and has a lot of outside sitting (perfect for those humid southern nights. right??). The restaurant is kind of old-fashioned, as they only serve beignets and coffee and only take cash. And they're open 24 hours! Anyway, the beignets were delicious (and I managed to finish Vil's too).

After that, we walked around the French Quarter and Bourbon Street and then went to a bar (Pat O'Brien's). We got hurricanes (Dad, even though I don't normally drink rum like you I held my own, you would have been proud) and sat in the piano bar portion for awhile before walking through Bourbon Street. That place is crazy - lots of loud signs and music and tourists and people trying to scam on tourists. Even for a Monday night it was pretty crowded! They close the street off to through cars at night so that people can walk freely. And it is still seems kind of weird to see people walking around with drinks in hand - take that, open container laws!

After that, we took the streetcar back to Vil's and called it a night. Will write more about today later, including the swamp tour! Bye!

Joey