259 days since selling up, 145 until the big return. David Jones recording.
Well we have successfully left Central America and arrived in the US. It was quite a relief to not worry about what to eat and drink. The greatest joy was to be able to brush your teeth with tap water. It's amazing how much you take for granted. Well let's talk about New Orleans. One of America's party towns, but it seemed like quite a quiet place in early January, everybody had done partying. But what they say is true, it is the Big Easy: everyone's laid back, things move slowly and there's the sound of a saxophone always floating down street. And there were some gorgeous buildings, although we found out the famous French Quarter is actually mostly Spanish. And the famous Mississippi on a grey January day could be mistaken for the Thames at Deptford.
Although we were way too early for Mardi Gras, we did help the good people of New Orleans celebrate Joan of Arc's 598th birthday. Apparently the Maid of Old Orleans is revered just as much in the new city. As soon as the sun set a troop of citizens dressed in medieval garb processed through the French Quarter to the golden statue of our Joan with the rest of us following with 598 candles, which kept blowing out in the breeze. There was even a group of minstrels to help us along the way (not the chocolates!). Joan looked like she stepped out of the High School Prom, but it was fun and Paul got lots of pics. See the album some of the least blurry ones.
From New Orleans we caught Amtrak's famous Sunset Limited train through the bayous and across the desert to Los Angeles.This was my first sleeper train and I was excited. We had two nights and two days in our bijou roomette! Everyone in the sleeper car got to know each other as we crossed America, sharing our life stories over breakfast, lunch and dinner in the dining car. It wasn't quite like a cruise where you go on as passengers and come off as cargo, but we were certainly kept well fed. We spent the days gazing at the scenery and trying to stop ourselves from dozing off. Oh and and Agatha got on with more of the book - first draft nearly done, apparently.
The train was good fun. The scenery was stunning. And it was all very relaxing, even if it was quite difficult to sleep! We arrived at Los Angeles Union Station an hour late. We had a few hours in the gorgeous Art Deco station and the boarded the Coast Starlight - the pacific coast train to San Francisco. No roomette this time for the 10 hour journey up the coast, but we did have two lovely recliners on the ocean side of the train and did a lot of chilling, watching the beach, surfers, pelicans, cliffs and waves go by. I sent Paul down several times to the see the out of work actor in the snack bar to keep us fed and watered, and we arrived at Oakland just before midnight. It was freezing - really! It was only just above zero, and the bus driver who was to take us across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco didn't turn up. So we broke the budget and got in a taxi to whisk us across and settle in to our Travelodge not far from the Golden Gate - home for the next four nights... such fun!
Hello, spending the summer in Aus with Malcom and Lesley. Enjoying watching your travels.
Posted by: sarah harkins | 01/21/2011 at 09:35 AM