TILTING AT WINDMILLS - THE LEGSYBOYS' EURO ADVENTURE

THE DAZE BETWEEN.....

Monday, up early and back to Europcar, and we're off on the E10 looking for a brekky place. An hour out and our mission is obvious - try the iHop in Slidell!

It's not about the quality (obviously), it's about the experience, and we're not disappointed when our waitress explains that our eggs are made from liquid unless we pay a $1 extra for shell eggs, washed down naturally with bottomless cawfee that isn't fit for the most hardened cowpoke....perfect!

Very appetising - NOT!

Our destination is Mobile, Alabama, meaning we have to cross Mississippi to get there. We choose to go the coast road via Bay Saint Louis, Gulfport and Biloxi and there are some lovely spots along the way.

Time for another 'magic moment' and so we pull into the 'Circle K' petrol station in Pascagoula (worth it just to say we stopped there!). We don't have a zip code so we can't prepay at the pump; no problem, we'll organise inside. "I want to fill up"; "how much?"; "Full"; "Yeah, but how much do you wanna pay?"; "I don't know how much it will hold, can't I just leave my credit card with you and you can authorise the pump?"; "No, I have to authorise an amount"; "But if I say $30 and it only takes $20, will you give me my $10 back?"; "No, your bank will in 7 days time"; "Do I get interest on my $10?"; "I don't know what you mean"...and this went on...and on. It came to $28.73 and I'm still waiting for my $1.27 refund!

Mobile is not what one would normally call a "go to" destination, except that for the past dozen years it's been home for Australian music industry legend Keith Glass, and we're visiting him at his massive vinyl emporium rather craftily called "Mobile Records".

We have a great old chinwag, do a tour of the CBD (didn't take long), picked up a few choice album covers - Nancy Sinatra and Bobbie Gentry!!) and then ducked out for an early Mexican dinner (whereupon Don Legsy finds out that Mexican Spanish is not like Spanish Spanish!). Afterwards, the direct route home is only 2.5 hours and we get an early night after a great day.

Tuesday, and the plan is to head out early so's we can get back to see Zachary Richard performing at the Louisiana Music Factory; needless to say, it didn't happen that way! We're on the road early again, it's an hour to Gonzales and the massive outlet centre. Once again brekky calls, we turn our back on the local delicacies

Mmm mmm

and in desperation we drive down the main drag, and there it is - the Starlite Cafe, an oasis in a desert of culinary mediocrity.

Surrounded by Van Gogh wall murals (painted by the owner's mum) we tuck into the heartiest breakfast we've had, combined with steaming a latte and cappuccino. Abby provides us with service par excellence and for once we can say that someone deserved their tip. (Travel Recommendation: if you ever have cause to go to Gonzales, do not pass up the Starlite Cafe on Burnside Avenue).

Note - shell eggs!

Praising the Lord - a decent cafe

Time for some serious shopping, and I convince Tinno that Levis 511's are the real deal. He, like me, looks a million bucks and snaffles a few pairs and I get four (hey, at $35 who can resist!). Some new shirts and we're well satisfied with our expedition, but what's this....Boots Etc, a western gear store no less!

Cowboy boots as far as the eye can see, and sombreros for all occasions, all at very reasonable prices, but luggage space precludes any purchases this time.

These babies aren't cheap!

Never mind, the owner Leah is a fabulous lady who willingly shares her local knowledge (and even phoned her mum for some tips to pass on!!) about places to go, and suddenly, seeing Zachary is looking very shaky as we head down the road to Sorrento! We'll be back Leah!

Ten minutes later and we're at the Cajun Cultural Village.

Sorrento Cafe

The general store is a work of art,

The front....

...the rear!

and down a side track we encounter two biiiig gators, what amazing critters they are.

Bayou or swamp?

Afternoon tea consists of delicious iced coffee and some magnificent apricot beignets, as good as I've ever tasted.

Back in town we stroll Decatur Street pondering dinner, when we meet up with Mr New Orleans (Joey), the former spruiker for the Star Seafood & Steakhouse , now plying his trade for Frank's Italian Bistro.

Joey looked like this once

In we go and we meet the greatest waitress tag team in the city, Brenda and Cathy. Brenda has a story to tell about (and knows) everybody from Fats Domino to Trombone Shorty. We exchange feisty anecdotes when all hell breaks loose as the cook (he could hardly be called a chef) downs spatula and walks out. Brenda goes ballistic (Tinno's halfway through his meal and mine's at least 15 minutes away!!), yells at everyone - staff and customers - and in a magnificent piece of theatre gives the departing cook a mouthful and tells Don Legsy to "sit up and shut up!". Seriously, you couldn't pay for this kind of entertainment.

The truly unique Brenda

It's Wednesday, and we're heading to the heartland of Cajun country, Eunice (more than once we were asked "why?!").

This is Eunice

Any chance of a cawfee?

This sleepy little holler is home to K.Bon 101.1FM, the local community cajun radio station that embodies the ideals of the local community in preserving the cajun culture: "Let us, before we die, gather up our heritage and offer it to our children".

Inside we meet Angela (the owner's daughter) and Tiffany who regale us with stories about the area and are both delightful. There's some amazing memorabilia adorning the walls, a veritable "who's who" of signatures and photos (oddly, they didn't ask for ours, but we did get some cool merchandise and groovy caps).

Tiffany, Tinno and Angela

Across the street is Cafe Mosaic, "it's like a coffee shop in Seattle" (as if that's some kind of good recommendation!), and we retreat there for a well deserved bite to eat and cup of coffee - which just happens to be pretty good (I must go to Seattle one day!).

Delicious

About ten minutes away is the Savoy Music Center where Marc Savoy (now in his mid 70s) has his iconic accordian workshop. The Savoys are cajun music royalty and we ask if we could have a look at his work, only to be told in no uncertain terms "NO!". Thanks for nothing oh pompous one, and anyway, we think his wife Ann is the real talent in the family!

Back in town we go to the Cajun Music Hall Of Fame, full of interesting artefacts and an elderly curator who really knew her stuff - "Are you boys Cajuns?" she enquires..."of course" was the natural response!

"Y'all cajun boys?"

Thirty minutes south of Eunice there are rice fields and crawfish ponds (I never knew they harvested them this way), dotted with houses where crazy people who aren't scared of gators and water moccasins live.

This is where we find our next destination. At 5:00pm on the dot (opening time - we'd originally arrived for lunch only to be denied entry) we arrive on the somewhat austere doorstep of Hawks (Christine Ledoux's hot tip), the world renowned - but ridiculously difficult to find - purged crawfish restaurant nestled deep in the woods in the middle of nowhere.

There are no reservations taken and they serve the biggest, juiciest, and cleanest purged crawfish you've ever laid eyes on, or tasted - if you ain't interested in the little mudbugs then don't bother coming. We knock off a few pounds of the little critters and then, to our surprise, find out we've been doing it wrong all this time!! Although they're tiny, the sweetest meat is inside the claws and the maitre d' shows us how to extract the flesh...who'd have thought eh.

It's three hours out of Nawlinz, but Hawks is THE BEST!

The drive back to Nawlinz is eventful only for the storms that accompany us and the endless bayous and swamps, which means that it could be a little damp for the second weekend - little did we know just how damp!