Bizarre Change

After a noisy night (the main water pipe of the hotel went through our wall), we set off on our journey around 10 o'clock.

First stop: Walmart.

What a dimension. Comparable to the area of an Ikea department store, simply gigantic. Each aisle is named like a street, where it is clear what is available where. Even the shopping carts feel like bathtubs!

It has everything and more than you need at great prices.

Equipped again with enough drinks, we set off for New Orleans. We covered the 610 km in 5.5 hours without any incidents.

We had already booked the hotel the previous evening, so the friendly lady was already expecting us.

Our room is cozy, the bed comfortable. We suspect that the room has just been renovated. The painter's masking tape is still sticking to the doorknob from the inside, and there are various painter's utensils in our anteroom.

Even though it was already afternoon, we wanted to explore. We decided on the well-known Bourbon and Royal Street.

We walked through pretty little streets on foot with the little houses that you know from the photos. Colorfully painted, small terrace with rocking chairs. Totally idyllic and beautiful.

And then we came to Bourbon Street.

To be honest, we're not sure what to think of it ourselves.

On the one hand, anyone can be whoever they want here. No matter what clothes, no matter what hairstyle and no matter how extreme. And there's music everywhere. However, it reminds of a huge drinking party. It stinks, staggering people stumble towards you, and you get approached a lot.

Here, total tolerance and acceptance meets party mile.

What bothered us the most was the smell. Very pungent and unpleasant.

We're still considering whether we should go back there or not.

We could hardly have experienced a more extreme change from lying on the beach to this street.

A cross street further is Royal Street. There is nothing of the hustle and bustle of Bourbon Street here. One shop next to another, with a restaurant in between.

This is a very special day for us. Who doesn't know the world-famous Fried Chicken Festival? We didn't know it. Maybe there is also a Melted Raclette Cheese Festival?

Many stalls that all had one thing in common: they all served fried chicken. Sometimes with rice, sometimes with spaghetti. You can guess three times what we had for dinner. Exactly, chicken.

What impressed us here was the size of the event. Several stages with live music, many food stands, seating areas, and much more. All in all, the size of about 5 football fields right on the Mississippi.

There we enjoyed the rest of the evening.