We were going to take a tour around the statue of Liberty which range from $13 to about $90 depending on the time of day and features. While looking at Yelp I noticed that you can travel from South Ferry to Staten Island for free!

We decided to take this option as it had good reviews – lots of people waiting and it was a large ferry. The ferry on the way over was the “John F Kennedy” and it had standing areas on the sides of the boat – the return one did not – I can’t remember its name.

Here are some photos of Downtown Manhattan from our Staten Island Ferry

 

The old lady – the “Statue of Liberty”

The view over downtown Manhattan (click the photo for a larger view)

The view over Manhattan from Staten Island

We arrived in New York about 2pm and bought tickets on the Airport Express Bus Service to take us into Manhattan ($15 each). All worked pretty well. We were going to get off at Penn Station which is basically across the road from our hotel. But Pam suggested we get off at Grand Central and get one of the free shuttles (tips required) to the hotel.

We were told to wait for the shuttle and it seemed like it never came – about 30 minutes later it turned up and we were on our way. Slow going in New York City traffic.

We finally arrived at hour Hotel – Affiania Manhattan – on the corner of 7th Avenue and 31st Streets

We were given keys to our hotel room on the 19th floor. But when we got in there it was like we entered a building site (not the room) what sounded like on the next room was drilling (into concrete) – and next door was a building site – Unacceptable.

I phoned up the customer services who told me that there were “no” rooms available to move to and tomorrow we could move to a different room.

This was no good so down to check-in and asked for the manager. A lady came out and found us a room on the 4th floor that “might” be better as there is construction on that side of the hotel all night.

So we will wait and see what happens..

Pam & I having a drink at broussards which was across the road from our hotel in Conti Street. We booked in for dinner but cancelled and had about 4 dozen oysters instead!

Local artists trying to sell there wares

We planned to go on one of these paddle steamers but never got around to it.

The cathedral is called “St Louis Cathedral”

Saint Louis Cathedral, also known as the Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans; it has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating cathedral in the (as now constituted) United States

The first church on the site was built in 1718; the third, built in 1789, was raised to cathedral rank in 1793. The cathedral was expanded and largely rebuilt in 1850, with little of the 1789 structure remaining.

The view from outside – almost like a fairy tale.

Bourbon street is obviously not what it use to be – strip clubs, bars and restaurants everywhere, all with music, hardly any with Jazz.

There is more Jazz around the area during the day with small bands on the street but not much in the bars. Most bars have live music at night.

Lots of happy hours, 2 for 1, and even 3 for 1 drinks.

I bought Pam a hurricane which is far too sweet and basically White Rum, Dark Rum, Grenadine, and sugar water and other fruit juices. The one I bought was for the 3 for 1 deal which did not mean 3 drinks but 3 x the alcohol.

Needless to say – 1 was enough for Pam….

Walking down Decatur street we came across a shop that only sells Pepper Sauces, Salas, and a few other things like rubs called Pepper Palace.

Almost all was available for tasting and tasting I did including the 10+++ which is a killer.

I only bought one called “Hot Habanero-Mango” not too hot I think from memory only a 6 but quite full of flavour.

http://www.pepperpalace.com/Pepper_Palace_Mango_Habanero_Hot_Sauce_p/m263.htm

I booked a trip (by myself) for an airboat adventure in the Bayou (slow moving river). I booked with the company “air boat adventures” and my caption was “Captain Greg”

Here is Greg and an airboat.

My trip was planned for 2pm and was picked up at the hotel about 12:45pm to do the rounds of picking up others from different hotels.

The location their business is at is called “port laffitte” and we got a history lesson the ride out there – about 35 miles.

The trip was $90 USD including transportation + Tips (driver of the airboat + driver of the bus)

It was a nice warm day about 26°c

I saw lots of alligators – you would not want to fall off the boat.

Greg obviously knows how to deal with them – he has lived in the area his whole life and still has both hands!

Greg was saying that he thinks this alligator could be 100 years old. You can tell she is old by the length of the breast.

We went out about 7pm to see the action in Bourbon Street. And action is what was there, it was dark now, and there were 1000’s of people walking the streets – heaps of people really drunk. There were lots of 3 for 1 happy hours along the street so we checked out one.

We got 3 Heineken beers (brewed in Holland) for $6.75 so indeed 3 for 1.

This large piece of art was on the wall and I liked it so I took a photo. There was a band and DJ setting up – the music was quite good the DJ was playing with some lady rapping words over it.

Bourbon Street is very busy and most of the music at night is not Jazz.

We were going to go to an Oyster restaurant called Acme Oyster House but there were queues waiting to get in down the street. So we went to another one across the street called Felix’s about 10 people waiting. We shared a dozen raw oysters (they can be very large) and then a 1/2 dozen char grilled which were lovely.  We also got a Jambalaya dish which was OK but no where near as good as the oysters.

We are off to New Orleans – a quick breakfast and then grab the shuttle to the airport. About a 15 minute drive to LAX from Lawndale so pretty easy. We left at 8am as the shuttle only goes once per hour and we were here by 8:15am.

Security was pretty easy – off with the shoes and out with the computer and I am through. Pam on the other hand tries to go through with a metal pendant and her around the neck bag. So she has to go back to security and put them through the machine. She then also gets stopped by having her watch still on – back again and this time all ok.

So it is only about 8:30 and our flight is not until 10:30 – we probably should have caught the 9am shuttle.

So we wait and wait and are then told the inbound flight is delayed because of de-icing in Salt Lake City.

Finally we are told it has landed but it does not show at the gate. More time passes and we are told the plane in front of it was waiting for the machine to pull it to the gate and it broken down and they have to tow it away and get a new one.

So finally our 10:30am flight is going to leave at 11:20am.

All sitting on the plane waiting and we hear the familiar voice of the gate man saying that they are replacing the wheel on one of the tires and it should not be too long.

We finally take off at about 11:45 – an uneventful flight once we leave and we arrive in New Orleans at 5:30pm.

We get a taxi into town as it costs less than the shuttle ($33 vs $38) and book into the Prince Conti hotel.

Pam does not like our room as it has no Windows!

Looks like we will be changing rooms to a normal room today (Saturday) and then back to a Suite on Sunday + Monday.