The coloured houses, the different neighbourhoods and the banana trees, it’s so nice to walk the streets of New Orleans. It has so many different faces. Beside of the variety of sceneres it’s also a city where you can party all night long if you want to. Because festivals and live music are an ongoing thing.

The ninth edition of Praise Fest was walking distance from my Hostel. The park was transformed to a small festival, it felt like the organization took the church outside. Saw some nice gospel choirs and got surprised by two Christian rappers. They spread some good energy and got the crowd singing with them even though it wasn’t an easy task.

Next up was the Halloween parade called ‘Krewe of Boo’. I had no idea what to expect because Halloween is not that big in Holland. The only thing I knew was how to get to Canal Street with the Streetcar. I got out and mingled in the crowd, everyone was waiting for the same thing. It started off pretty tame, the police gave the ‘go’ sign by driving very slowly in front of the parade. A line of small cars came by while throwing out candy to the kids. Who went ballistic and there parents too by the way. After that people were parading by while dancing and scaring the public. It was pretty amusing. When the big floats arrived, the party got started. People on there were throwing the mardi-grass beads, crisps, all sorts of candy and plastic cups. Some of the visitors took a whole stack home. And I couldn’t help it, I got greedy, also wanted my beads. It took a while before I got the hang of it with the partners in crime that I met in the crowd. But when we got it, we got it. We left the parade behind with our necks filled with beads.

I didn’t eat anything yet so I met up with Dan and Jihad. Lovely guys that I got to know through a friend in Amsterdam. I ate my first Philly Steak Sandwich and oh my god, it was nasty but oh soo nice. After that I was ready to go to the AllWays Lounge, a bar where The Josh Benitez Band was playing and topped the night off with some Burlesque at the same place. That was something special, I can tell you that.

Next Up: Great Gospel & Art in the City Park