Nope it’s not a moto post, but I figured my readers would enjoy the photos of New Orleans!!
Actually 15 if you count the unmarried years, living in sin while raising two smart and cunning lads. Yep, it was our 10 year anniversary Sept 21 and we had talked about trying to take a riding tour of the south and then realized it was more than likely a pipe dream since Gary had a fairly new job with Cisco and there was no way to take the necessary unpaid time off. So instead we opted to fly to the deep south of New Orleans and spend a week enjoying the sights and sounds and humidity. :icon_rolleyes: And man, was it humid!! The only thing I kept telling myself, was that it had to be good for my skin. Yep, I’m sure it was replacing all that collagen, that my waning estrogen was leaching. Regardless, it made for some hot walking and some necessary “hurricane” stops along all our planned routes. We were gonna see NOLA, one way or another.
The trip began with a pause. We took off outa Sacto only to turn around within 15 minutes and the explanation that we were losing fuel, not a good thing when flying in a jet. It’s odd because we were sitting over the wing and I could see this sort of cloud coming from the end of the wing. Uh…hon, what’s that?? Within moments, we knew as we circled back to the Sacto airport and ahead we could see the ground littered with fire vehicles. I must admit, not enjoying this setback! Once on the ground they made us sit on the plane while they checked it out and made a decision whether or not it was safe. ARE YOU KIDDING ME…i want a new plane!!!!
When we finally got off, we headed straight to the agent and asked to be switched to another plane routed through Salt Lake City, which would get us into NOLA about an hour later than planned, but 10 pm in New Orleans, can’t be late and we discovered we were correct and after checking into our awesome hotel, we walked to [URL=”http://www.coopsplace.net/index.html”]Coops Place[/URL] a locals watering hole serving authentic Creole delights. I swear, we never had a better meal. First a Sazarac, followed by TurboDog a dark been and the best Jambalaya I’ve ever eaten, loaded with shrimp, rabbit, sausage, and tasso. Uh…wow!!
From Coops we wandered around Frenchman Street where the locals go for music. We found some amazing music, but most of the bars were too crowded to even get into, so we listened from the street and drank from plastic cups and wandered. It was an awesome first night.
Our hotel interior…small with a huge balcony overlooking Ursuline St.
Despite the humidity, I fell in love with New Orleans. The city alludes perfume from the past, some sweet some pungent but all oozing with lively tales of fact and fiction. The city is wrapped in a sort of historic melancholy, an ode to a jaded ornate past constantly revitalized by a people that refuse to allow their city to perish. I was constantly taken by the passion I encountered in the locals. There are people who hold NOLA next to none in the hierarchy of civilization. It’s a city bursting with pride and as it should. It has risen out of the ashes more than once in history.
Our entire stay was amazing. We wandered the French Quarter nightly, passing the haunted tours, chuckling at the rhetorical blather of the tour guides and the unsubstantiated “facts”. We passed Tarot readers that parked in front of St. Louis Cathedral and marveled at the irony. We observed train hoppin’ kids, music from the swamps, jazz on the streets, and those needing a handful of change for their next liquid meal. I did my best to document the sights, sounds and smells through the hungry lens of my Kodak. Here are the highlights…
Amidst the squalor and the mediocre is the sublime.
I’d hate to bum a squirrel on this baby…
Love the looks from the bar…
Rising from the ashes…
BMC
Marie Leveau’s tomb (or so some believe) in St. Louis Cemetery #1
Placed in cemetery #1 solely for the film National Treasure. Looks pretty silly, imo, but hey, it generated money for restoration of the old tombs.
From cementery to mansions…
An oncoming St. Charles Trolly from our trolly car.
Locals…
To put the next two photos in context, I’ll start with the very famous Blue Dog series by George Rodrigue
A couple days after seeing his gallery, we found this on the sidewalk and we both burst out laughing…love the parody.
This pretty much summed up Bourbon St. I’m sure in its day it was amazing. Now, it’s sort of jaded and worn.
These guys were playing in the middle of the day and were fun and good. They told us to return that evening for the entire band. Sadly they weren’t much.
Lunch anyone?
One of my favorite new snacks!
Of course as luck has her way, Gary noticed one evening while bar hopping that he had a scratchy throat. By morning he had a full fledged cold, and was hoping after a few extra hours of sleep, that he might be well enough to carry on with our carnival week. With that in mind, I decided i’d leave him to our room and a few hours of quiet while I toured the Presbytere of the Louisiana State Museum. I knew they had a display of Mardi Gras finery from the early years as well as Hurricane Katrina presentation. Both were pretty amazing and I spend the better part of 2 hours there. I guess there weren’t many interested in the past of NOLA as the museum was empty. Who sez you can’t mix your Ramos Fizz with a bit of cultural history?? Sheesh, heathens.
The Katrina exhibit was pretty intense with a room filled with monitors, fans, and sound. They simulated as best they could, the chaos of the storm sans the wet. I could easily imagine the power of the real thang. I feel fortunate, I wasn’t there but in the end, it was a tribute to the phoenix rising from the ashes of disorder and once again New Orleans redefined itself.
The artist cast glass hands amidst the chaos of messages in bottles and glass etched with names of those dead. I don’t know how many bottles were in the exhibit but many.
This piano was Fats Domino’s. It was swept out of his house along with most of his belongings some of which are on display here.
The upstairs held the Mardi Gras display. Here are a couple of my favorite costumes. The seahorse from the 1920s.
Another I can’t even imagine trying to wear.
From the museum, I returned to the teeming streets, decided a gin fizz was in order and some minor shopping for trinkets for the grandboys. After a little libation, i returned to the hotel to check on my less than festive husband, but upon awakening him, he seemed much improved. He decided to rejoin the living and have a beer! We were off.
One of our favorite street players. We saw them more than once while we were there, hanging on the same corner of Royal Street. These girls were awesome! Meet Tanya & Dorise. ( I loved the roller blades and the dog on the lap!)
My first New Orleans Ramos Fizz that gained fame in this very hotel, the Monteleone, Carousel Bar.
Hmmm…wonder if this shot will actually work…yep!
Nola Neon
Halloween anyone?
The following day we went to visit a couple of plantations. One, Oak Ally Plantation, known for it’s beauty and the other. Laura, for it’s history. Both were interesting, but I believe I enjoyed Laura because so much history had been documented.
Here are shots of both.
Oak Ally a typical Greek revival style plantation.
The porch
i loved this map of the slices of plantations surrounding the Mississippi. Not a great shot, but you sort of get the jest.
Laura plantation with a 19th-century Créole-style raised big house.
They tried to say this was a water container, but those of us that have sampled Absinthe, know it was for the water added to the drink!
The spooky image in the frame of Laura. Love the man’s reaction on the far left! hahahaha
The plantations finally are beginning to talk about slavery and the effect it held on history. There were some pretty cruel stories, most of which I am certain were true. In the turn of the century all the slave cabins at Oak Ally were torn down and are now in the process of being rebuilt to allow for authenticity on the plantation. I didn’t really need to see them to imagine what it must have been like.
Original Laura slave cabin.
Aside from sugar cane, Laura had 22 different kinds of banana trees. I honestly had no idea there were that many different kinds of bananas!
The sights from the tour bus window heading back to NOLA.
The mighty Mississippi. I gotta admit, i was impressed with the size of the river, being described as BIG with no exaggeration.
Back in New Orleans we had to seek out another historic hangout for Ramos Fizz. We found the Sazarac Bar within the historic Rooseveldt Hotel. The bar was covered in awesome murals from 1938, but you can see what I found more important.
For our final night’s meal and the celebration of our actual anniversary, we went to dinner at Arnaud’s an old NOLA establishment and had a wonderful meal followed by Bananas Foster and the artistic production of this delectable dessert.
Arnaud’s jazz band.
Gary and I spent years never even remembering exactly what day we had been married, but this year we did it up right. Like everyone we work on having success in our marriage, and we definitely have fun together. We enjoy one another’s company, but like the mighty plantation oaks, we are both able to stand alone and still grow. Here’s to the next 10, hon!!
