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13th May  2004
AUSTRALIAN DIARY
IN AMERICA

- DRIVING IN THE USA -

I "borrowed" a car from Barbara in Texas, and drove to New Orleans.

Driving is tricky.  In the US everybody drives on the RHS of the road, (which is to say, the wrong side of the road).  This is especially tricky if the road is empty, because it is easy to forget when turning a corner, and to turn onto the LHS, only to be hooted at frantically by cars when they appear.

Another problem on US roads for drivers and pedestrians is that one always checks to the right for traffic, instead of the left.

A third problem is that, being on the LHS of the vehicle, one tends to drive too close to the RH kerb.

- New Orleans -

The US purchased Louisiana (along with a lot of other real estate) from the French circa 1800.  Most Americans consider Louisiana to be a completely different place to most of the USA.  (Even more so than Californians, and Texans, who seem to be extremes).   It is the only state in which it is legal to drive a car with an opened bottle of alcohol.  Although English is spoken, most Louisianans have a French heritage.  Architectual/Geographical features of Louisiana are the bridge across lake Pontchartrain, and the road that joins Lafayette to Moulin Rouge across the Mississippi swamps

New Orleans is famous for its cemetries and Jazz.  I am afraid I could not get enthused by the cemetries.

In the French quarter, along Bourbon Street, there are music clubs open seven nights a week.  Bourbon St. is about a kilometer long, narrow, (5 - 6 meters?) and closed to through (not cross) traffic.  It is lined with shops having balconies over the restaurants/clubs.  Music clubs open straight onto the street, and prospective clients can walk along the streets, and look in to sample the music & ambience.  Entry is free, but drinks start at around $5 for a glass of water, up to $10 for a red wine, and at least one drink per customer must be purchased.  Dissappointingly, not all of the clubs played "Blues".  There was a fair bit of rock.

Other entertainment on Bourbon is the watching of young ladies walking along the street obtaining beads from the customers on upstairs balconies.  By lifting the "top" a prize of beads will often be thrown down by enthusiastic watchers.

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