More New Orleans--and it just got so much better

This is our first day in New Orleans.  I am second line dancing during the Treme Gumbo Festival in Louis Armstrong Park.  So in the moment, I love it and don't want to stop.

One of the many bands that played during the Treme Gumbo Festival.  They were great, young, spirited, talented, and multi ethnic as well. 

It took us a while, but we finally got to Antoine's Restaurant, the oldest continually operated restaurant in the US.  Operated by the same family for 167 years.  Now, that's tradition.

Dinner at Antoine's can be pricey, but lunch Monday to Saturday is $20.13 for a price fixed meal.   We began with salad, Oysters Rockefeller, or Alligator bisque, followed by a choice of three entrees (Chicken Toulouse, stuffed fish, or shrimp and grits), then dessert (pecan bread pudding, chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce, or pumpkin cheesecake).  And--all the martinis you could drink for $.25 each

Pecan bread pudding

Interior of St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square.  New Orleans was a catholic city until 1803.  Strong influence of the church remains.  Under the church's rules slaves were treated much better than they were under the Americans.

National Historical Jazz Park free concert in the former US Mint.  Had a taste of Zydeco music as well as more standard New Orleans sounds.

Copy of the documents for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.  This purchase from Napolean ($15,000,000 borrowed from the British and the Dutch) doubled the size of the US.

Chicken Toulouse

Street Music in Jackson Square--and there's lots of it.

Contrasts in New Orleans

Just sitting here waiting for Stu to return from a visit with our concierge, a nice young Jewish man, Michael, and thinking.
We have decided to leave New Orleans one day earlier than planned.  We are done with the city, have seen and experienced what we wanted to and what New Orleans offered us--perhaps very different than what someone else might have gotten from the city.  Perhaps different than we might have experienced had we been here earlier in our 9 week journey.  We are getting ready to be home, with our friends and family, our routine, even the troubles we have to face.
We learned that New Orleans was a Catholic city.  You couldn't even own land in New Orleans prior to 1803 unless you were Catholic.  And Catholic slave owners, and non Catholic slave owners had to baptize their slaves Catholic, allow/encourage them to marry, not permit unmarried slaves to cohabit.  Thus at Laura's plantation there are many slave quarters, each built according to the Catholic code of conduct re slaves.  In some ways, it was much more humane than the American code that later came to be which permitted the breeding of slaves, inhuman living conditions, and worse.  Here the church protected its slaves, provided 16 x16 homes, meals brought from the main house, Sundays without work for 24 hours.
At the same time there was a thriving red-light district in New Orleans where every woman was named Jezibel.  The blacks who played music in those night establishments, those who played for the Jezibels and their clients, became Jazz musicians and the music became known as Jazz.
New Orleans is a city of contrasts.  There is a thriving Jewish community with long established roots, Kosher markets, Jewish artifacts on Royal street.  The hospital is named after a Jewish philanthropist, Touro and the community college after DelGado, a Sephardic Jew.  The Jews contribute to the education and health care of this community, but poverty continues to exist in high numbers.  Taxes are high but not put, at least not visibly, put to good use--is it the long-standing acceptance of corruption among its officials?  I haven't spent the time to learn more deeply so can go by what I see and experience and what I hear in casual conversation.
It is time for us to go home.  So we will complete some "musts" in New Orleans, including lunch at Antoine's, a visit to the museum to see where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, a stop at the National Jazz museum along the water front in the Latin Quarter.
This has been a wonderful journey for us, for me.  Stu and I bonded even closer, I looked into myself more.  I don't have more answers, however, but do have more questions, and perhaps some acceptance.
I am thankful for my friends and family.

Possibly my best moment on the trip

The next day after we arrived in New Orleans we attended the Treme Gumbo Fest in Louis Armstrong Park.  Bands played all day long while the crowds grew every larger.  One of the all brass bands got down off the stage and led the crowd on a traditional New Orleans funeral march.  We followed by the hundreds in a dance (any way you wanted to move your body, feet, arms) called Second Line.  I joined in.  After 30 minutes I didn't want to stop.  I was totally in the moment, right there in every part of my mind and body, and I didn't want it to end.
That's the feeling I want to bring back with me as we leave this wonderful vacation trip behind.  To be more of the time, in the moment, and much less worrying about tomorrow, the local politics, those who like to gossip, and anything else unpleasant--just give out the love.

That said, if all of us dropped out we might be a city more like New Orleans where corruption is taken for granted, but not liked.  Where the pot holes on the side walks don't get fixed, the streets don't get regularly cleaned, the vacant office buildings sit unattended to.  This is an open container city, and there is drinking throughout down town, especially around Bourbon Street.

We thought there would be more jazz, like we had in Nashville and Memphis (country, Dixie, blue-grass), but the best jazz, it seems, begins later than we are out and about, or so it seems.  We did hear some good jazz at Legends park yesterday evening and then strolled down Bourbon Street again.  There was a lot less people traffic Monday night than there was Sunday evening when the party goers were celebrating, in advance, the Saints vs Cowboys football game, so it was easier to maneuver.  We heard more rock, some karaoke, and a bit of Jazz, before we left the district.  I'm afraid our late night party going is over.

Good adventures today as we found the battlefield site, Stu got his National Parks passbook stamped, and we drove toward plantation row about half way to Baton Rouge (formerly the site of about 400 plantations of all styles and conditions, some preserved and open, others not quite meeting the Scarlett O'Hara image).  Long driving day, worth the time out.  We got to see the lower 9th of Hurricane Katrina fame and the 100 or so houses that Brad Pitt has built and donated to citizens in the area.  We also saw some beautiful, higher end suburbs, built of brick, high sloped roof lines.  The suburbs could be small town anywhere, but very green.  I know that we are in for a shock as we head back to the very dry, very brown, South West.

Adventures in and around New Orleans - with photos

We've enjoyed these beautiful live oaks (live oaks stay green all year, the new leaves just replace the old ones, hence the term "live oak" throughout the south.  The Spanish Moss doesn't kill the trees, it's related to the orchid family.  Henry Ford used the moss to fill the upholstered seats of the Model T leading to the first automobile recall.  Seems the chiggers in the Spanish moss caused lots of unhappy, itchy, riders.

Laura Plantation, an unusual example of a Creole Southern Plantation House.  This one was occupied 9 months a year, during sugar cane growing and processing, afterwhich the family moved back to New Orleans for the social season lasting 3 months.  Fully restored main house.

Slave quarters.  Several of the buildings were occupied by slave descendants until 1976!

Fine example of what we think of as New Orlenas architecture in French Quarter.  (Omit the cars.)

Had the strangest instructions on our GPS today when the voice in the box instructured us to drive onto the Ferry.  We did.  For $1. we were able to ferry across the Mississippi river. Were we surprised.

Look at the crowds this street entertainer troupe drew as they performed opposite Jackson Square in New Orleans French Quarter.  We estimate they took in between $800 and $1000 and were worth it.

Took a ride on the Mississippi to the site of the 1814 battle between the US and Britain (we won).

Beautiful Jackson Square, New Orleans.  Catholic Church in the background.

To own property you had to be a Catholic until 1903.

You may have heard the rumor that Stu and I are thinking about moving.  How do you like the house we bought.  It does need a few things, like indoor plumbing and electricity, but it is a stone's throw from the Mississippi and abuts a sugar cane plantation.  Very picturesque and peaceful.  Y'all be sure to come down for a visit.

Some musings on the city

Just finished our second full day in New Orleans and have observed that which the city wants to show off, all the tourist spots, and that which is not so pretty.
7 years after Katrina there is still much work to be done.  We were surprised by the number of vacancies in the office area.  There's a 14 story building--the entire building--on the waterfront for sale for $200,000.  Unfortunately, it has mold and asbestos and has been vacant for 7 years.  Anyone want to buy a building?
The warehouse area has been usurped by the new containerized port so many of the former warehouses are in disrepair, vacant, graffiti plagued, and an eye sore on the water front.  There's an entire housing project in the city ready for demolition, but the work is going very slowly.  Can't implode the buildings for fear of upsetting the cemetery next door.  Most streets have no lighting.  Given that the sidewalks are broken, concrete needs major repair, roots have wrecked havoc, and there's almost no street lighting, getting around is not easy.
There seems to be a city that the tourists see, which is lovely, and vibrant.  But if you look closely, the infra structure leaves much to be desired.  One of our many tour guides said that the city is coming back, and perhaps it is, but much needs to be done to create a vibrant, job growing city.  Each tour guide commented on the corruption, the ease with which city officials are 'bought'.  We were at first surprised that the tour guides would say this to us, but it was pretty universal and a microcosm of what is happening with leaders around the country and world.
Everyone we've met has been very friendly.  There is real integration here with no distinctions, on the surface.  There's lots of laughter.  This weekend the New Orleans Saints are playing the Dallas Cowboys and it seems everyone is in Saints' garb.  We saw tail gate parties set up, cooking begun, at 10 AM this morning even though the game didn't begin until 7:30.  New Orleans loves its football team.
We are enjoying getting around using the local Trolley system.  It's only $.40 for seniors--we'll take it.  Plenty of public transportation which is a good thing as traffic is difficult, parking is very expensive.  I'm enjoying leaving the car in the hotel parking lot and using the bus.
We had a super day today beginning with a brief tour, then attending a Louis Prima tribute concert in the WWII National Museum (excellent performances), a movie retrospective on WW2 narrated by Tom Hanks in 4-dimension (chairs move, lights, sound, etc).  Early evening we tried Bourbon street looking for a place to hang out, listen to some music.  We have decided that we are too old for this neighborhood and will try a more legitimate Jazz scene later in the week.  Very noisy, lots of drinking (New Orleans is an open drink city, you can take your drink to go everywhere), not much Jazz early in the evening, too much rock music--loud and not very good.  Most of the more legitimate performances don't begin until 8:30 or 9 PM, way past our going home time.  We are definitely early night folks.
We are still enjoying the people watching, learning about the city, looking beyond some of the tourist sites.  There's lots of potential here, worth a return trip several years down the road.
Tomorrow we may try to get to the Mississippi Battleship tour.

Photos from New Orleans

Early Sunday evening on Bourbon Street. This was my sorry attempt to be a pole dancer.  Sadly, no one put any dollar bills in my thong!  

This is our New Orleans limousine.  Been using it to get around town, every tour guide has his/her own way of telling the New Orleans story.  That's Stu upstairs above the "t".  The bottom right is a painted coffin.  You may be aware that cities over the US chose a theme and then had artists paint the same thing in a new way.  A town in Oregon, for example, had painted bears.  LA had 6 foot angels.  Well New Orleans has coffins!

This is a miniature mock up of the city of New Orleans.  The area  of the French Quarter is really quite small, an easy walk around.  

Street entertainment along riverwalk in the French Quarter.  There were about 500 persons watching the hour plus performance, lots of interaction with the crowd.  The performers brazenly said that if you didn't give $20, it was almost an insult.  And, they collected plenty of $20 and more.  Stu and I think that they picked up close to $800 based on their announcements and people passing $20 bills.  We're thinking of getting an act together, what do you think?

We're in New Orleans!

Arrived in New Orleans Friday night amidst our first rush hour crunch since we left California!  Great Wyndham hotel resort in the Garden District on famous St. Charles street.   Put away our stuff and then headed for the Cheesecake Bistro (not connected to Cheesecake factory, this one is local hang out).  Discovered Happy Hour and the best martinis--we indulged.  Couldn't finish dinner, but did finish our two martinis each.  I tried the specialty of the house, a herb crusted Southern Fried chicken, Stu had Jumbalaya which he loved.
Unfortunately, we couldn't eat the cheesecake that came with the coupon the hotel gave us, so we put that in the frig in our room as well.
AND we had cheesecake for breakfast!
We're off and running.