Laurie Falls In Love With New Orleans

HOUSE star HUGH LAURIE took a “pilgrimage” to New Orleans, Louisiana in a new classic car this summer (10).

The actor treated himself to a 1966 Ford Galaxy and decided to visit the city which has been lashed by oil spills and hurricanes in recent years.

Laurie says, “They started making that car… the year I was born - 1959 - and the one I’ve got, the body shape changed a lot, but then my body shape has changed a lot too, so it seemed fitting.

“It’s fire-engine red and I got it in Texas and I drove… down to New Orleans, which, to me, has always been a holy city really, for musical reasons if nothing else… The music of that city has meant more to me than just about anything else.

“I never dared go before because I always had this worry… either with people or places, you have this worry that it’s gonna disappoint you and it’s gonna just be Starbucks and CitiBank and like every other city, and it’s not; it truly is a magical city and it exceeded my wildest expectations. It even smelled right.”