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.  

Think Ringling Brothers Circus--then think again

An amazing miniature of Ringling Brothers Circuit.  Mr. Tabells spent 50 years building this miniature complete with railroad cars, thousands of circus goers, animals, acts, tents, every part of the circus.

No, this isn't the Doges Palace in Venice, it is the Ringling (John and Mabel) winter home in Sarasota, Florida

Stu looked like he was born to the manor as he enjoyed the warm sunshine, sitting on the terrace overlooking Sarasota Bay

 Mention Ringling Brothers and I have an instant image of the Freak Side show, the Fat Lady, Man with three legs, the tall man and the midget.   What an exciting day it was to visit the circus when it was in Madison Square Garden in the early 50's.
Today Stu and I visited the home of John Ringling and the Circus Museum that bears his name.  I will never be able to think about Ringling Brothers in the same way again.  John Ringling, one of 8 children, 7 sons and a daughter, born in a humble setting in Idaho.  By the early 20th century he was one of the 15 richest men in America.  You don't hear about him alongside of John D. Rockefeller, or Sinclair, or Hertz, or Vanderbilt, indeed, he probably didn't move in their circles although he was a real estate tycoon, a financier, owned oil and gas leases, dabled in railroads, and lived large.  It probably took more than money to get beyond your label as a Circus man who bought all of his extensive art collection and impressive home furnishings at auction--including the original crystal chandelier which hung in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York (the one that was torn down to make way for the Empire State Building), and which now hangs in the central room of their Venetian styled Ca'd'Zan (House of John in Venetian language).
The 62 acre estate, willed to the state of Florida and now under the control of the University of Southern Florida, consists of an extensive Baroque Art Museum whose collection includes Ruben tapestries, Baroque masters, an exquisite building  over 75,000 square feet.  In addition to the art museum, there's a learning and research center, a circus museum, the miniature collection (covering a space the size of two football fields--all in miniature), a museum shop, restaurant, cafe, and the amazing house overlooking Sarasota Bay and the keys which Ringling reclaimed from the Gulf.
Mabel and John didn't have any children (she was 30 when they married, he was 39).  They determined they would leave the legacy of their art collection to the state when they passed, because they loved Sarasota so totally.  There's was truly a love affair, a shared set of values.  The home and furnishings, although purchased second and third hand at auction, is opulent.  At the same period they were building this winter home, their equally wealthy peers (Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Crane, etc) were established on Jekyl Island on the east coast of Northern Florida.  Was Ringling not included on purpose or were his real estate and entrepreneurial interests in another location?  His initial money did come from the Circus--lots of $.25 admission tickets.
It is easy to understand the fierce divide between the wealthy and the poor.  At the beginning of the twentieth century, although the gap was as great as now, one didn't see the wealthy as much as we do now.  The gap was less visible due to lack of television, exploitive magazines.  Do so few people need to control so much wealth?  How much is enough?  Is it actually a benefit to humanity because without the very wealthy we would not have preserved much of the art from centuries ago?   I don't have any answers, just pondering.
Again, Stu and I have had an amazing day.  We are so blessed to have the experience of this trip.  Another day in St. Pete's beach, might even spend some beach time, and then off to New Orleans.
We give thanks for our trip and for our friends and family.    Adrienne & Stu

More Photos from Key West Florida

We had the speciality, Key Lime Pie on a stick, dipped in Chocolate.  Shirley and Bob, your key lime pie is much better.

Yes, these are sharks off the coast in Key West Florida.  And no, I didn't go scuba diving or snorkeling, I may never do either again.  These are lemon sharks, about 9-15 feet long each.

Amazing collection of bigger than life size statues in Key West Florida. This one is Rhett Butler and Scarlett, about 20 feet plus high.

Cruise ship towel photos

Anyone who has ever been on a cruise ship knows that the room stewart is going to leave a towel animal on the bed each evening.  We even went to a towel folding demonstration, but no we didn't buy the book, and no don't expect towels on your pillow to look like cute animals.  We'll leave the folding to you.

More photos

View from inside Dali Museum overlooking Gulf of Mexico.  Each of the 1100 plus panes of triangular glass differs in shape and size necessitating a schematic for installation of this structure that is designed to withstand hurricane 3 force winds.

Finally caught a sunset from the west coast of Florida.  We are staying in St Pete's Beach, beautiful island west of Tampa.  This is also the view from our balcony (if you lean way over).

Jamaica, on the river

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Jamaica. Rafting down the Marta Brae river.  This is our river guide Willy.  Just before I had jumped off the raft and was floating down river alongside.  Willy carved a gourd which we are bringing home as a souvenir.  Loved the time with him, in the river, enjoying the scenery and quiet, learning about Jamaica from our guide Vinton.

Gratitude

There's not been a single day when we haven't realized how blessed we are, and how much we have to be thankful for.  What an amazing seven weeks this has been, an opportunity to see the country, to meet so many people, to revisit old friends.  We celebrate every day that we have the health and the means to explore our wonderful world.   

I am not looking forward to rejoining the race, and am trying to figure out how to bring this calm detachment and engagement back with me to Trilogy.  True, Shea has another law suit against us (a counter claim asking the courts to set aside the judgement we won against them) and I'm not looking forward to banging horns against them again.  Just go away and leave me alone.

On the one hand, I want to be engaged, contribute to our community, our synagogue, our shalom club, AIPAC, various charities we are involved with.  But it is also nice not to be so involved.

If it is possible, and it is, I'm more in love with Stu, more appreciative of his sense of humor, understanding of the limitations that come with growing older together.  I do miss my friends, sharing with them what I wouldn't share on the blog, but the little I've checked in with the news makes it very clear that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Interesting that we have found the same complaints about politicians, leadership, education, just about everywhere, nothing unique to Phoenix area, or even to the states.  And, amazing, the world is getting along the same (for better or for worse) without me.

Big thing on my mind, writing a cook book, that is really a life style book, with my dear friend Lisa from Amelia Island (Lisa, are you paying attention?).

Life is good, photos to follow, home in two weeks.

Much love, A.

Catching up

Greetings Friends,
Can't believe how much time and how many experiences have passed since we last posted from Orlando Florida.
We traveled down to Lake Worth to visit old friends, Marcy and Kenny Bikofsky.  Marcy and I have been friends since junior high when we met and I tutored Marcy in Math, fell in love with her family, was totally accepted by all of the extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins.  Some of my best teen age memories are from Marcy connections.  She was miss popular in high school, I was always out on the fringe.  We've shared many of life's special moments throughout these past 58 years.   Kenny and Marcy opened their home, shared their table, beat us too many times in playing Hearts, we loved it all.
And then onto the cruise to the Caribbean with Stu's son Mac, his new bride Crystal, their friends, and Crystal's lovely parents from Hawaii, Mel and Cheryl.
As might be expect Mel and Cheryl were our dinner companions every night on the cruise while the 6 younger folks partied, ate at the specialty restaurants aboard ship (Holland American Eurodam) and did their thing.  Stu and I quickly settled into our usual ship board routine.  I walk several miles each morning, Stu goes to the gym and the jacuzzi followed by some time on the "hot stone beds" and the steam room. We truly do love cruising and have no complaints.  Our wait staff was particularly sensitive to my allergies (no shell fish or anything that touches shell fish) and I had no problems for the week which was a blessing.  The ports of call on this cruise were not anything special with the exception of Grand Cayman and Key West.  We managed to get in some snorkeling, which was as always wonderful, and in Key West went for a shark dinner party.  Only the shark were in the water and our boat captain was feeding them while we watched in awe and snapped photos (to follow).
As is our usual custom, we eschewed any cruise trips (always too expensive and too crowded) and did our own thing.  In Jamaica we docked at Montenegra because the sea at Fallmouth (our scheduled stop) was too rough.  Stu and I found a driver, went off for some river rafting--super time, no crowds, I managed to get overboard and float along with the rafts (no crocodiles or pirannahs in Jamaica).  Then it was an hour with the driver touring non-tourist Jamaica and learning about some of their history, the parts they don't teach you in school.  Doesn't make you too happy with the English and their colonial empire during which they hung several freed black slaves for daring to preach emancipation in 1864.  All of which makes me realize how little we know about world history (outside of Europe).
We sailed 90 miles from Cuba and wondered also why we don't have relations with the island inhabitants, our neighbors to the south.  Too much politics.  Learned from our Jamaican driver that, just as in the states, we are all suffering from political leadership that really cares for the people, not just about lining their own pockets.  Enough said, you all get it no matter who you vote or don't vote for.

Off the ship and back on the road again.  We are currently at St. Pete's Beach on the west coast of Florida.  The beaches are wide, fine white sand.  The surf is calm, the vistas long range.  We are staying in a condo on the beach until Thursday when we head for our final stop, New Orleans.
Yesterday, on our drive in from Marcy's house we made a quick stop to the Ringling Museum.  We did not expect that the person responsible for the bearded lady and the rubber man could also be the owners of an amazing, art filled, property on the beach.  A quick trip through the art (mostly religous representational) gallery corrected that notion.  We are returning for a full day visit to the Ringling Museums, art galleries, miniature collection, tomorrow.  Today we spent the day in St Petersburg visiting the Chihuly exhibit, various local art museums and shops, and the amazing Dali Museum.

The Dali Museum faces the Gulf of Mexico in St. Petersburg.  It is the largest collection of Dali outside of Spain and is the result of a couple, the Morris', who began to buy Dali on their first anniversary, developed a friendship with Salvadore Dali, has written books about the artist, and then donated their extensive collection to Florida in addition to funding the Dali museum.  What a day we have had, what an education.  We lucked out with our docent who turned the 30 minute guided tour into 90 minutes and kept us spellbound.  We saw figures and representations in the art work that we had never seen before.  We also learned that the surrealist art most of us associate with Dali is from a short 11 year period of his working life.  We learned of his 50 year relationship with wife Gali and how she appears in nearly all of his paintings.  And so much more.  It was an afternoon of how to look at art, what does it mean, why is the clock soft and weeping (because it is not time that controls us, but space), and so much more.  

The Dali museum also hosts a gift shop where we did some considerable damage.  We could have purchased even more as we loved everything, but did control ourselves.  We couldn't help but purchase a couple of signature moustaches.  There's a trolley that trolls around St. Petersburg ($.25 cents for seniors) and we used that to get around to the various sights.  Free parking made it all easy, a picnic outside the museum made it even more possible.  And then it was home for cocktails, sunset on the beach, a great salad in the condo, and time on the blog sharing with friends.
What a life.