re. train to New Orleans

Hi everyone,

Well here we are in New Orleans.

The train trip from Memphis was great even though we had an early start from Memphis - 5:30 am to catch the train at 6:50 am. Fortunately it came in from Chicago half an hour early so we were able to hop on and find a seat (no allocated seating). The seats are very comfortable with plenty of leg-room and wide aisles. A tour group got on with us at Memphis, which included some Aussies, Kiwis and Pommies. We got waylaid by a very talkative Kiwi lady who gave us some tips for our stay in New York. We had lunch in the Dining car with some nice friendly Americans from Texas. The meal was good too. They knew about Southern Gospel Quartets, too! So we were able to compare our favourite groups.

The train arrived early into New Orleans (unheard of in Oz!) and we just had a short cab ride to our hotel in the French Quarter a block away from Bourbon Street, where we went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant called the "Red Fish Grill" (delicious seafood and very expensive). We are on the eleventh floor with a good view of the Mississippi River.

We walked to the Public Library this morning to use the Internet as the one in the hotel cost $1 for 6 minutes. It wasn't free here - $3 for one hour and we had to wait about 45 minutes to use it!

This afternoon we are going on a riverboat cruise

Love, Merilyn and Glenn