Since Day 2 of our trip was all tourist stuff and no escapes, I decided to combine Day 2 and 3 into one post!

New Orleans is indeed still a very cool city. We took tours of the Garden District, Lafayette Cemetery, and the French Quarter. The history here is so interesting and rich I am pretty sure I could spend a year here and not have learned half of it.

This is a restaurant that apparently appeases a ghost that haunts it by setting out a table with bread and wine. If I were a ghost, this is how I would want to live out the afterlife.

At the same time, seeing the severe dividing line with the more poverty stricken neighborhoods is striking and a little unsettling. I thoroughly enjoyed hanging around the more tourist friendly areas but am glad I get to see more of the city.

Canadian Bumpkin Status: 70%

Crosswalks appear to be more of a very earnest idea here. Sometimes they exist, sometimes it seems like they haven’t quite decided if they should exist, sometimes they are not there at all. Whichever it is, it is never quite clear where you should cross.

I thought I had experienced a true thunderstorm in Canada. I have not. Our thunderstorms are the whiny little brother of southern thunderstorms, at least as far as their persistence.

I walked down Bourbon Street to say I walked down Bourbon Street…it lives up to its reputation. I shall not do it again.

I drank a hurricane. It is about ten times stronger than any other drink I’ve had.

Everyone said it tasted like juice. And it did if juice had a quarter of a bottle of booze poured in on top of it.

I also drank said hurricane outside on the street. Despite knowing it was fine to do this, I still kept glancing around nervously waiting for a cop to arrest me.

I still can’t get over that Americans still have pennies. I now have five useless pennies I somehow need to get rid of.

I looked up the shoe scam: apparently if someone walks up to you and tells you “I bet I can tell where you got your shoes”, and you happen to take them up on this they will say “One’s on the left foot, one’s on the right”. Then they will demand money for guessing correctly. Hurray scams!

It is shockingly easy to get alcohol in the US. There are convenience stores with shelves of booze! CONVENIENCE STORES.

Speaking of which, convenience stores also seem to double as food stands more often here. On a friend’s recommendation, I got a fried shrimp po’boy from a decrepit looking convenience store in the French quarter. It is amongst the best things I have eaten here.

Magic in a bun

It is a bit depressing to know that a mansion in New Orleans is only just a little bit more expensive than a bungalow in Toronto.

I saw John Goodman’s mansion. I tried not to hang around like a loser. It sort of worked.

I also heard the horrific story of the Lalaurie mansio …just..look it up… it’s horrifying…

Here is the ominous door though…

I continue to insist on taking Ubers at night instead of walking. It may make me a bumpkin toursit, but I at least feel safe.

The fried food here is amazing. But gosh, I want a vegetable now.

A lot of New Orleans history can pretty much be dwindled down to: Things were pretty okay when we were on our own. But then the US decided to buy us and things kind of sucked after that.

The Escapes!

Today was our first big escape day with all four rooms at Escape My Room! So far this has been my favourite experience of the trip.

All of Escape My Room’s experiences focus on the DeLaporte family, a fictional New Orleans family who inhabit a mansion in which the escape rooms take place. The attention to detail on the world building is really what makes Escape My Room stand out. From the moment we walked into the lobby, we were launched into the experience and immersed into the world. I wish I could say more, but I don’t want to spoil it. Just show up early. It’s a fun time.

This is part of their lobby!

The rooms themselves have great flow and narrative. For my personal order of favourites from best to not so best, it would have to be: Inventors’ Attic, Jazz Parlour, Smuggler’s Cave and Mardi Gras. All of them tie together in one way or another. I actually look forward to learning more about the antics of the DeLaporte family.

Honestly, I can’t stress enough how great this room is for narrative lovers. Even the GM’s are constantly in character as curators of the DeLaporte museum. Your role for all the rooms is as the DeLaporte’s investigators. The rooms have so much detail stuffed into them yet it’s always obvious what is important and what is not.

We still failed at almost every search puzzle, but….that’s just standard with us.

The end photo is probably amongst the more fun ones I have seen in an escape room. We took one for each room.

I am mad because my portrait painter made me look as short as I am.

If you are in NOLA, Escape My Room is an absolute must. It captures the atmosphere I have been feeling in the city since I got here and has solid rooms with a rich backstory. I am sad I am going to miss their theatrical event coming up!

Gabriel Knight Locations

Yeah, I’m doing this. Here are all the places I found that were in the Gabriel Knight game. I wanted to recreate game scenes, but most times we were walking by really quickly. Still, here is what I found!

Tulane University!

Jackson Square!

St. Louis Cathedral!

The voodoo musuem!

Tomorrow is more Clue Carre! Fun times!