Week 17 – cramming it all in

​Our time in New Orleans seems to be sadly drawing to a close, so this week it was time to tick off all those things on our NOLA wish list.
 
To begin with we watched an outdoor performance of the ‘roving village’. It’s a bit hard to explain, but essentially an arts/performance/social type charity built some temporary structures, in a bit of a steam punk style, and turned them into musical instruments. For example, there was a coat hanger on a wire that made some screeching noise, and some cow bells, that rang via a pulley system, etc. They are moving these installations around the city, but it was in City Park that we saw them. Meg was quite into it, and whilst musically it didn’t do it for me, I definitely appreciated the art side of it.
 
Next on the list, and not necessarily particularly cultural, was the 60 nugget challenge. Being Billy big balls, I had claimed that I could eat 100 McChicken Nuggets, as they are just so easy to eat. Meg said 60 seemed like a fair amount. As we were out & about looking for curtains, bath mats, and other such exciting items, we took a detour to put my money where my mouth was. I must admit, I was a little nervous, and half way through I hit the wall. I ploughed on for another 8.5 nuggets, but that really was all I could stomach (38.5 in total. Nothing to be particularly proud of!). I am blaming the fact we ordered them all at once, as they were very greasy. So, undeterred, this challenge will be back, and I shall succeed.
 
Then it was our Ghost tour. Even though the guide wasn’t your atypical Ghost tour tour guide (a large Goth lady is what springs to mind), the stories of murder & ghosts was actually really fascinating. Highly recommended (as is American Horror Story, which we downloaded as a lot of the series were filmed in New Orleans). After that, we found a tarot reader to read our fortunes. Having had a couple of readings/fortune tellers, etc in the past, I am always quite open to it, and am never too cynical. However, the moment this woman thought we were from Australia, I realised whatever came out of her mouth was clearly going to be nonsense (if she can’t get that basic fact, then she definitely can’t ‘read’ my future). It was a bit of a garbled nothing’ness, but hey, tarot card read in one of the Voodoo capitals of the world. Tick.
 
In keeping with our packed week, the next night we were back at the NOMA sculpture garden watching an Am Dram take on Robin Hood. It was good fun. They got a few of us to participate as ‘henchmen’, and it was really well done, with the cast surrounding us, and walking through us, etc.
 
Whilst Meg was at work I finally managed to get myself to the WWII museum. Trip Advisor’s #1 museum in New Orleans, #6 in the US, and #11 in the world. That’s a big reputation to live up to, and to be honest, they did. There was a great 4D film about the landing in Normandy, and then a fantastic exhibition about the ‘Road to Berlin’. Really, really well done. Modern, interactive, and just spot on. It was such a shame, as 3 hours later, the museum was closing, so I didn’t get a chance to visit a whole floor about the War in the Pacific.
 
Phew. And that was our week. Jam packed to say the least. But, I feel like we can leave New Orleans, having confidently seen a lot of it, and with very fond memories. And we still have another 3-4 days to go…I’m exhausted.