Ever since playing Gabriel Knight, I’ve wanted to see New Orleans… and now I’m finally here.
New Orleans has a vibe unlike anywhere else I’ve been. There’s a constant thrum of energy. It’s jazz, literally and figuratively. It’s a carnival of the human spirit. First stop was the Carousel Bar (pictured below), that slowly rotates while you’re drinking.
Then it’s on to the food, and never have I ever consumed so much on a trip: Seafood gumbo, shrimp po’ boys, blackened gator tail, muffuletta, crab and crayfish. Every bite gently burns with Creole or Cajun seasonings. Wash it all down with glasses of Sazerac: whiskey, absinthe, and bitters. Then step outside and find oneself in the midst of an impromptu parade.
Visiting a gator sanctuary was exhilarating and informative. The reptiles spot our boat and swim right up to it, eager to feed. Wild pigs and a family of raccoons scamper along swampy embankments as the gators get their fill of raw chicken. The marshland looks straight out of the Triassic. Then it’s on to a plantation.
In the evening, we hop aboard one of the last remaining steamboats in the country. I was a teenager when I read Twain’s Life on the Mississippi, and it instilled in me a fascination for that bygone mode of transportation (as well as an appreciation for how wildly challenging it was to be a steamboat pilot: those guys had to memorize every inch of the river, every twist and turn, every depth, and account for how that data changes at different times of the year).
