Sunday 9th October

Another lovely sunny day, although a bit frosty first thing, and we had a long drive, all the way down to Salt Lake City. The countryside was very varied with mountains giving way to fertile cultivated plains, lots of cattle and arid looking sloping hills which reminded us of sand dunes.

We also saw more of the red Triassic Chugstone and enjoyed the canyon of the Snake River as the road snaked beside it. At Evanston we joined the highway and actually found our hotel very easily! We then had a very good Mexican dinner just around the corner from the hotel.

Monday 10th October

We set our alarms for 6.30am and with the help of our invaluable sat nav found our way to the airport (about 20 minutes drive) and it was then very well signposted to car rental returns!

I had actually guessed the weights of the suitcases accurately this time and carried walking trainers and other shoes/sandals in our cabin luggage. Our flight was uneventful and we were picked up at New Orleans by our taxi driver Stanley. We had been told to phone him on the airport courtesy phone but he was actually there waiting and wondering where we were, which caused a little confusion. He was very knowledgable about the area and plied us with lots of information on the way. We arrived at Banana Courtyard, which used to be an old Bordello and also a Funeral Parlour once upon a time. It is now run by Miss Mary (and Hugh) and is stuffed full of antiques and curios.... how they keep it clean is a mystery to me! We have a small balcony and relaxed with a bottle of bubbly and some water melon before walking out to find somewhere for dinner. We wandered down to Frenchman Street which is full of shops, cafes, bars and restaurants. We found a small place with a nice courtyard and sat listening to a pretty good blues singer/guitarist while we had a beer and shrimp jumbalaya - both very good! We then walked back up the street and ended up at a place called Maison who had a good band playing with a great female singer. We stayed there for a good while enjoying some wine and the music (I'm afraid I had to get up and dance - impossible to sit still!) before walking home for a good night's sleep.

Tuesday 11th October

Today after a continental breakfast downstairs (and they had marmite!) we decided to take the Hop on - Hop off bus tour around the city which was good. The guide was very informative and we drove around the French Quarter, CBD, waterfront and Garden District. We hopped off at the French Quarter stop in time to have some lunch (Gumbo - very tasty) listening to live music before joining a short walking tour of the area. Some of the houses are very beautiful - especially those with wrought iron galleries (with supports to ground level) or balconies.

We have booked a swamp tour for tomorrow afternoon and we will need some insect repellant, so we walked along Decatur Street (on the river side of the French Quarter) until we found the pharmacy. We then visited the Cathedral

and walked along the waterfront. After some difficulty we found the stop for the Hop on - Hop off bus which we took back to where we caught it this morning. I think we were both ready for a rest and a nice cup of tea (or coffee)!