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Aquitaine
Towards the end of
the Victorian era, an attempt was made to build a
railway through New London, connecting the city the
CNIC railroad that links New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
However, the project failed spectacularly when recession
cut off it's funding, and much of the track disintegrated
or just sunk slowly into the bayous over the years
that followed. However, the station that was build
at the height of the project still stands near the
eastern limits of the city. With its semi-circular
frontage, its red brick walls and the glass and iron
domed roof that glints disconcertingly in the twilight,
the building looks like some kind of misconstrued
greenhouse.
For much of the twentieth century, the station lay
abandoned. However, in the early 1990's, it was bought
by a private buyer and converted first into a nightclub,
and then into an establishment offering not only music
and dance, but also services that cater to the somewhat
rarefied tastes of some of New London's more deviant
residents.
Today, only those that need to know, know where Aquitaine
is, although many people have heard rumours about
what goes on inside the old station at night, and
wondered why they've been turned away when they try
to enter it.
Stretched out underneath domed glass roof is a balcony
that circles the outermost wall of the club, offering
people a place to stand and watch the goings on on
the dancefloor below. The stars glint through the
melting glass dome, and the heavy iron lattice supports
half a dozen cages, chains and spikes that hang down
from the heavens over the dancefloor below. Opening
late into the New London night, and open until just
before dawn, Aquitaine's lights cast silver slivers
of light against the low, brooding sky, and the heavy
pound of the music can be heard streets away, all
under the ever-watchful eye of the club's owner, the
enigmatic Jánté Lescarde.
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