Filed under: New Orleans
I’m always slow getting the last vacation post online – especially if the vacation ends with a bumpy flight home. The amazing thing about our time in New Orleans was the little rain we saw. Given that there were predicting a tropical storm a few days earlier – we got lucky. We spent the day walking. The girls like to shop and see voodoo museums. I’m happy to just walk. So that’s what we did with most of the day.
We did a walking ghost tour at night. The tour guide was very good – very enthusiastic and she knew so much. I should make the girls type up the stories for me; they remember them so much better than I do. I know it was our second time hearing some of the stories and still I barely remember. New Orleans is/was very Catholic. It’s interesting to hear how often that’s a factor. The church has so many rule and then so many rules to get around the original rules but mostly designed to keep comfortable people comfortable and keep other people keeping them comfortable by basing laws on race, color, gender and religion. We heard stories of immigrants working as domestic help being tortured mercilessly and a woman being dying naked and cold to convince her boyfriend to marry her. (He got drunk and forgot that she was out on the roof proving her point.) So many sad stories in a town where the live between living and dead seems so blurred.
We are back. The girls love New Orleans. I love any walking city. Kate is very happy with the vegan options. The girls took me to a lovely Cuban-Brazilian restaurant last night and it was very tasty. We have a fun lunch at the French Market.
We are all happy with the people watching and music everywhere. We are staying in a really nice place near the French Quarter. Also apparently conveniently near to Bourbon Street, since the girls seems happy to walk by in any time day or night.
We have popped into shops and voodoo places and today we might do some tours but honestly the girls regale me with what they remember from past tours as we walk places. I feel like they could be the guides at this point.
Kate, Lily and I walked down Bourbon late at night to Frenchmen Street to bars that are more music than party-focused. We saw some awesome music, as you can see the in the videos below. I snuck a video of the girls and talked them into letting me post it on the promise that they would be happy to see it in 10 years time. And they will!
While we love New Orleans, it’s hard to say anything without a nod to the huge number of people experiencing homelessness. Lots of people sleeping outside. I saw a young woman asleep in a doorway holding a mean looking dog last night. Many folks will know that I’m terrified of dogs and subsequently don’t like them much – but it seemed like a solid move to get a dog if you’re sleeping on Royal Street. There’s almost a romanticism of young people living on the streets. There’s clearly a community among people. Even from a distance you can see camaraderie and concern for each other. That romanticism does not age well. I noticed a couple of old men, on benches, shoeless with feet that were painful to see from a distance. They were altered – maybe drugs, maybe mental health, likely a combination of both. Makes me wonder where that tipping point is. What is the Ven Diagram of substance, mental health, having fun and finding yourself in pain and on the streets. And the better question, how can we support people into healthier transitions for the long term?
We spent four nights in New Orleans with everyone – cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa. (Everyone else was smart enough to fly!) We stayed out near Tulane, a couple miles from downtown. It wasn’t very far but it was a pretty sketchy walk – Katie and I tested in out. SO it was fun to learn that area (Freret) although we spent more of our time in the French Quarter.
We took a couple of tours – a ghost tour and a cemetery tour. It was fun to learn little bits and pieces about New Orleans. I now understand why the street all change names at Canal Street. (After the Louisiana Purchase, the Americans came in and renamed everything and the locals weren’t having it.) I learned that a corpse will cremate in those creepy mausoleums given the heat in NOLA. That is why the tomb must be sealed for a year and a day – before it can be opened (if need be) for the next resident. I saw Nicolas Cage’s tomb – waiting for him. (Some people kiss it. The guide thought that was funny since he’s not in there. I think it’s weird either way.) I heard a few gruesome “ghost” stories that I wish I could unhear.
We spent a lot of time walking around – from Jackson Square to Bourbon Street. We visited a few voodoo shops. So be nice to us, at least until you think our positions have run out! One of us got our fortune told. We visited a Tomato Festival. I got us close with some modern art – very realistic looking women in swimsuits.
We ate a lot. We went back to brunch at the Court of Two Sisters and we were very happy there again. We went to a place called Purloo, where we saw Randy from My Name is Earl. It was a thrill for us. If service had been better we might have had enough liquid courage to talk to him as it was, we played it cool. We did learn the difference between Southern hospitality and Northern efficiency. It could have been an opportunity to learn patience – but we don’t have time for lessons like that! The food was great; we ate shrimp, gumbo, jambalaya, catfish, oysters, poboys, and Aine’s favorite deep fried peanut butter and jelly.
We loved New Orleans. In respect to population, it’s about the same size as St Paul. But it’s much more like European city, with a great buzz in town all day and night. It rained while we were there, which was actually nice in terms of heat management. We did notice that the water doesn’t really go anywhere after the rain. The puddles linger. I can only imagine what that’s like in a hurricane. But given a chance to return to NOLA – we’ll take it! Lily says she’s moving here but she says that about a lot of places we visit. Good thing she’s young, she can live in them all at some point!
Filed under: New Orleans
Easter Sunday we woke up and went to the swamp for an alligator hunt on an air boat. Remember the big swamp boat with the propelling fan at the back from that old 70s show Flipper? Well that’s what we were on. It sat about 15. Aine scored the seat of honor at the top near the driver. I was very jealous and must learn how to cute it up for next time.
Kate was really the driver for checking out the alligators. And it was a really good call. It was so much fun! Not necessarily cheap, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. The swamp we visited was family-owned and used primary for the tours. We were one of about 6 boats that seemed to be out on the swamp. But it didn’t feel like Disney ride or anything – I think we all felt that we were on a hunt of sorts. We saw tons of alligators and some turtles, bald eagles and cows!
I learned a few things about alligators – so I have my fingers crossed for it being an upcoming Pub Quiz topic! Here are some of the more interesting (or at least memorable) facts:
- A baby alligator has 1-2 percent chance of making it to 6 feet (adulthood)
- Alligators like white food – like marshmallows
- An alligator egg is worth $18-22
- It takes a 6 foot alligator to make a boot (a pair of boots starts at $1200 – I wear 6.5 if you’re shopping!)
- There are 3.3 million alligators in Louisiana
- A bayou is a path through the swamp
But mostly the trip was just really cool. It was fun to be in the boat thing. It was fun to see – and hold – an alligator. It was fun to see terrain so different from what we’re used to seeing.
After the swamp tour we quickly got gussied up and headed out to the Easter Parade in the French Quarter. We thought we’d see it for a few minutes but the parade wound its way around the French Quarter as we snuck in out last must-do activities before hitting the road. Aine got a ton of necklaces. The floats toss out beads and other trinkets. And we finally got to try the beignets – which were delicious! And we soaked up the last of the fun spirit and sunshine of New Orleans.
Our funny last look was the fact that we had almost no gas when we got back into the van. Something we didn’t pay enough attention to – until we found ourselves on the raised highway above the swamp. There are no off road locations when you’re between a lake and a swamp. Also everyone melted down a little once we got into the car. So we have people spraying perfume, complaining about plugins (mobile wifi we can share, plugs, not so much), whining about being hungry (delicious as they are apparently beignets aren’t really lunch), a big rain storm started and we’re worried about running out of gas. Luckily it didn’t happen. We got gas, food, power, sleep and remembered rain isn’t like snow even if everyone in Louisiana seems to drive like it is.
Filed under: New Orleans
Our second day in New Orleans started with a tour of the Voodoo Museum. It was pretty cool – in my favorite vein of creepy but cool. We learned a lot more about top Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. We saw a working alter and lots of paraphernalia. We learned that many Catholic Saints have sort of become Voodoo symbols – or maybe it mostly has to do with the statues of the saints. Either way I sort of liked the connection. Lily had a great interest. Aine was a little nervous in the museum. The woman working at the museum was very nice.
What was cool was that we could take pictures – so I took a bunch. The girls were *not* interested in being in the pictures since Reverend Zombie’s Voodoo shop had made a point of saying that taking pictures was entirely forbidden.
After the Voodoo museum, we couldn’t pass up the cemetery where Marie Laveau was buried. Well, buried isn’t the best term. Entombed is a much better term. Burying the corpses doesn’t make sense when the city is built on swampland. One good flood and you could see where the idea of zombies could spread. The tombs are different. We saw one modern-looking tomb that was shaped like a pyramid; mostly they look like European tombs. I have some pictures of Marie’s tomb, although there seemed to be some dispute about which was actually hers. It sounded as if both the contenders were family vaults, but unclear which was hers. As you can see from the pictures, people leave keepsakes by the tomb. You make a wish, leave an item and if Marie likes the item, she’ll grant your wish.
We also stopped by the Louis Armstrong Park. Very nice area with great fountain and modern art all around. Really it was just to be a little hot for a change.
In the afternoon we took the free ferry to Algiers, which is really just a hop and skip over to the West side of the Mississippi – but who can turn town either free or ferry! It does give some really nice views of the city. And it seems as if Algiers did not have the flooding that the rest of New Orleans had during Katrina – so the houses are beautiful and unique with beautiful gardens. And cats. The number of cats actually got a little creepy. (In fairness, I can find one cat creepy – and never cool!)
On Algiers we found a British Pub. It had something for each of us – the front door was a TARDIS (that’s the time travel machine from Dr Who for those who went to the prom), Dr Who played on the TVs inside, they had nice pints and Wotsits, which are my favorite British crisp-type thing. (They’re like cheese puffs.)
After the super quick trip on the ferry, we went to the 11th floor of the Westin for another great view of the city. You can sneak up to the 11th floor from the shopping mall beneath (very near to our hotel). On the 11th floor is the hotel lobby, which they seem happy to share with non-guests. The view was gorgeous.
After that we seemed to roam the city aimlessly for hours – eventually finding a fancy dinner at the Hotel Montelone.
Filed under: New Orleans
Dad and I started the day in New Orleans with a good walk around while girls caught up on sleep. We checked out the French Quarter and picked out some good places to eat. We even crashed a Good Friday parade.
We started with an amazing brunch at The Court of Two Sisters on Royal Street. The have a live jazz brunch every day. The food was amazing. Tons of peel and eat shrimp and some other stuff. Actually while I could be happy for a long time with peel and eats – everything was really good. And the jazz was just the perfect amount. We were about 5 feet from the musicians – but it was fun, not overwhelming.
Then we checked out the French Quarter. We saw some buskers. Aine was selected as the magician’s helper, which is always fun. She did a good job. We saw tons of shops – including Reverend Zombie’s House of Voodoo, which caught Lily’s eye. We saw some great musicians. There’s not a ton to report – but we had a great time. It was nice to be warm and at times actually hot. It was easy to see why New Orleans is called America’s best foreign city. It’s a good city for walkers. There are lots of nice places to eat – inside and out. Stuff feels old.
Not having visited before Katrina, it’s tough to say if anything was different. There are places that are boarded up – too many really but I can’t say for sure that’s all Katrina-related. There are many super gorgeous balconies and intricate ironwork and flowers hanging from above – despite frost warnings earlier in the week.
Patrick flew in Friday night. So we all checked out Orleans Grapevine Bistro, which was another amazing meal. We walked back around Bourbon Street, so the girls got a flavor of the scene – but not too much. The Patrick and I hit the town. We ended up on Frenchman Street watching a great band. Their encore was a great version of These Boot were Made for Walking. And one of us got asked to dance several times. I won’t say which one.
I do have to note one of my favorite pictures – Aine in front of the St Louis Cathedral with the big shadows!
10 Questions About... 