The next day, I booked a swamp tour. Louisiana is known for swamps and you can see alligators on the tours! I booked something early so I could still make use of the rest of the day. The bus picked me up near my hotel around 8:30 am.

On the way there, the bus driver gave us a mini-history lesson and recommended some restaurants. For the rest of the weekend, it was my goal to try each of his recommendations. They were as follows:

• Jacomas for Alligator Cheese Steak
• Cotterie for Po Boys, Oysters and Jambalaya
• Drago’s
• MRB Bar & Kitchen
• Coup’s Place for Gumbo
• Armantine
• Royal House
• Didee’s
• Daisy Duke’s
• Parkway for Po Boys
• Neyows for Oysters, Jambalaya and Gumbo
• Café Beignet instead of Café Dumont in Jackson Square
• Café Dumont in City Park

He also recommended Frenchmen Street instead of Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street did feel like a tourist trap and Frenchmen Street is where the locals go - I made it a point to go there later that evening.

A few historical notes taht I picked up from the driver on the way to the swamp:

• New Orleans still hasn’t fully recovered from Katrina. The reason why they were hit so hard is because it’s shaped like a soup bowl, so water pooled in the city.
• The lower 9th ward used to be one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods of New Orleans but since Katrina destroyed it (including hospitals that were never rebuilt), it has become one of the poorest and riddled with crime.
• 6flags New Orleans is used for movies. Jurassic World was filmed there!
• There are no public schools in New Orleans, they are all charter schools (since Katrina). But apparently the education is terrible, and most kids just don’t go to school.

We eventually arrived at the location where they docked the boats for the tour - it was about 45 minutes outside the city. The tour itself was awesome! We saw a ton of wildlife, including an alligator vs. racoon standoff.

When we got back around lunchtime, I got off near Louis Armstrong Park instead of by my hotel. I decided to try to go to Neyows because of the raving reviews from the tour bus driver. Turns out, I underestimated the walk… it must have been about 45 minutes of walking when I was already starving. It was also a bit further from the heart of the city. The place was at the end of a residential street and was buzzing! I ordered the seafood platter which I thought would have a mix of fried fish and grilled or boiled. However, it is New Orleans, so everything was deep fried! It was still… delicious. I ordered one beer and then got directions back to the city. I took one of the trolley streetcars (like what you see in San Francisco) along Canal Street back to the main part of the city.

On the ride back, I met a couple who had quite a few to drink at Neyows and they gave me the extra Bow Wow they ordered. A Bow Wow is a mix of rum and fruit punch. The hangover if you had a few of these would be insane! I felt it by the time I got off the streetcar.

I got back to the hotel and decided to shower (and nap) because it was so hot, and I had been walking a ton. The weather in New Orleans in August is not the greatest. It is just above 30 degrees Celsius and super humid, so you are sweating as soon as you leave home. In fact, there is constantly condensation on the windows.

After that, I explored the French Quarter and tried a few other restaurants. At night, I went out to Frenchmen street! This is where the locals go on a Friday or Saturday night, and I’d highly recommend it over Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street has a lot of tourist traps and is super crowded. It’s fun and there is live music but can feel a bit gimmicky at times. Frenchmen street has a real New Orleans feel and they have much more live music! I went to one bar where I saw a group called the Andre Lovett Band. They did covers of popular HipHop and R&B songs. They did some Lil Wayne songs too and the whole bar went crazy whenever they did.

After them, another Jazz band came on. The members were from all over: New Orleans, Chicago, New York. They were awesome! I stuck around for about half and hour before heading home.