Swinging Breaux Bridge

Next stop on our tour is Breaux Bridge, about 8 miles outside of Lafayette.


On entering the Bayou Teche B&B, the first lodging place we come across, we are met by the eccentric inn keeper "Miss Mary Lynn", who proceeds to tell us what is happening in the area over the next few days. After we have been filled in on the various dances that are taking place she tells is that Breaux Bridge is a swinging little town!" and raises an eyebrow in a manner that makes us both wonder whether it's safe to stay here.

We do stay here and next morning its an early start for the Zydeco beakfast at the Cafe Des Amis. The dance starts at 8.30am and the music is fantastic. The band leader entreats the patrons, many of whom are well into their senior years, to "Party like a rock star!"



Later we drive to St Martinville, New Iberia and Abbeville, eating aligator bites in Dupuy's, Abbeville. We also visit the locally famous music venue, Mulate's.

On the way out of town we stop at a Wal-Mart and the cashier asks us "Where y'all from?" When we tell her England she replies, "And what language do y'all speak there?" I cant help laughing.

next blog coming soon - a plantation tour by a Hollywood movie star!

Lone Star

Ok so we arrived at our first destination, Houston, in the Lone Star State. I cant say I know much about the place, apart from the fact that they have a basketball team called the Rockets, a baseball team called the Astros, oh and Destiny's Child are from here.

Immediately a problem arises from my lack of knowledge of Houston. I have booked the hotel next to the Astrodome so that we can walk to the baseball game that we have tickets for. Unfortunately baseball is not played at the Astrodome, a fact that becomes apparent as soon as we switch on the radio in the car we have rented. "The Minute Maid is one of the best baseball diamonds in the country," the radio tells us. "The what?....Fuck!" The Minute Maid happens to be on the other side of town to the hotel that we have booked. Thankfully the nice people at Holiday Inn also have a hotel near where the Astros do play so we are soon encamped near the stadium where baseball does in fact take place.

























The game itself is actually really enjoyable. While it was raining outside, inside the covered Minute Maid Stadium it was raining home runs early in the game. After going 1 down, Houston hit back-to-back homers to establish a lead which San Diego never look like closing. The final score is 7-1 to Houston, read a game report here. Our tickets were like $20/£10 for 2 1/2 hours entertainment. You would pay 3 times that to see a premiere league football game. They also play the organ and cool stuff like that. America rules.

This is what Houston looks like:









Finally here's some thing I like about America:

• bars
  
• ESPN
• bars that have ESPN (this I like best)