Some Of My Favorite Things

When we travel the we buy a lot of stuff.  The Wife is very practical.  Most of what she buys can be used such as table clothes, shawls, scarves, and small tables.  I tend not to buy much but I too have purchased things on our travels.  This used to mean T-Shirts.  I have since moved away from collecting T-Shirts.  Looking back I think I cherish things given to us as gifts.

I've mentioned a few of these things before.  In Peru I was given a glass llama and a small reed boat made by the Uros Indians.  The boat is one of my favorite mementos of my travels and has hung from my desk lamp ever since our return.  From our Jordan trip we were gifted two small camels - they sit on my computer speakers.

From our last big trip to China, Nepal, Bhutan, and India, we received gifts in India.  We received little carved elephants - one intricately carved with an elephant within an elephant and another colorfully inlaid.  In Tibet I bought a small stone with the Buddhist mantra on it.  In Bhutan I bought a small mask of Chagna Dorje, a deity signifying power and looking quite evil even though he is said to be benevolent.

But my favorite, after the Peruvian boat, is the one I bought in New Orleans: A Sugar Skull bobble head.

Sugar Skull Bobble Head from New Orleans.

I'm sure he was made in China is is just made of plastic but he makes me smile.  He has a prominent place on my desk next to my computer monitor and when I type with extra force he looks like he is agreeing with what I'm writing.  I think I'll keep him.

New Orleans Adventure: Museums And Monuments

After an incredibly delicious and filling breakfast we said our goodbyes to the Wife's Aunt and Uncle and headed into Dallas to visit the Sixth Floor Museum.

The Sixth Floor Museum is located in the book depository building where Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John Kennedy.  The first impression upon arriving is just how small Dealey Plaza is.  The films you see make everything look much bigger.

Waiting for the elevator to go to the Sixth Floor.

We entered the museum, picked up the audio tour thingamajigs and took the elevator to the sixth floor.  The audio tour takes you through the early 60s examining the state of the country and the election of President Kennedy.  It briefly covers the ups and downs of his presidency. Then it goes in detail about the events on that November day almost fifty years ago.  The museum was very well done.  You could see as much or as little as you wanted.  There were several optional audio tracks covering interesting side issues related to the Kennedys and the 60s in general.  They also covered the conspiracies surrounding the killing.

Parts of two mosaics:  The President made from a portrait of Jackie

and Jackie made from a portrait of the President.

Looking out the window next to where Oswald shot from, seeing how small Dealey Plaza is, and taking into account the fact the car the President was in has to slow down to get around a sharp turn, I think it would have been an easy shot for someone who was moderately skilled at shooting a rifle.  Not conspiracy needed.

We took our time walking through and listening to the commentary before heading out into the plaza and walking around.  There are exes on the street marking where the car was when the three shots were fired.  People would run out between street lights to get their pictures taken by an X.  We never really could determine which of the knolls was the "grassy knoll".  The three pictures posted here are the only ones worth posting in my opinion.  They did not allow pictures in the museum and I had a hard time getting good pictures outside.

We left Dallas and headed north.  We left later than we expected and only reached Oklahoma City that night.  On the way in we passed through Moore, OK, the location of the devastating tornado earlier this year.  You could see some of the destruction from the freeway.  This is turning into a bad habit.  First when we went to Kansas we went to Greensburg, wiped out by a tornado in 2007.  Then in 2011 we drove through Joplin, MO also devastated by a tornado.  This year it was Moore.  I swear these visits are not planned.

When we drove through Oklahoma City in 2011 during our Route 66 roadtrip we forgot to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial, commemorating the bombing of the Murrah Federal building.  We corrected this oversight by visiting on our way through the city.  The memorial is one of the best I've visited.  In the footprint of the building, chairs are set up for each of the victims.  The chairs light up at night.  The street in front of the building is now a reflecting pool.  Either end of the pool are walls with the start and end time of the tragedy.

A panorama of the memorial.

We arrived at the memorial fifteen minutes after the museum had closed. Fortunately pamphlets explaining the memorial's symbolism were available and we were able to tour and appreciate the memorial.  It was hard to walk through it without being moved.

Empty Chairs.

Pictures can be found in my 2013-06-24 Oklahoma City Memorial Google Photos album.

We ended the day in a hotel just north of the city.  It was an interesting day visiting the locations of two national tragedies (Three if you include the drive through Moore).  Both have been remembered in wonderful ways.

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The next day was our last vacation day and was solely a driving day.  Our travels through the middle of the country and in New Orleans were very satisfying in so many ways.  We both learned so much.  We experienced so much.  We enjoyed being with family so much.  One of the more fulfilling vacations I've had in a long time.

New Orleans Adventure: Wrapping Up The Odds And Ends

The last full day in New Orleans was filled with odds and ends - things we'd wanted to do earlier in the week and just couldn't manage to do them.  This resulted in a slightly eclectic but busy last day in New Orleans.

We started the day by sleeping in late.  We left mid morning and headed to the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium.  We stopped at a subway to buy a soda.  An older man was sitting at a table and ask the Wife if she was going to finish her soda as we were leaving.  She asked him if he wanted a drink.  He said yes and asked if we could buy him an orange juice.  I was happy to help the man since at least he was picking a healthier option.

We reached the Insectarium right after a school field trip had arrived.  This enhanced our experience immensely.  It was hilarious listening to the oohs, ahhs,  and AHHS! that came out of the kids as they went from one display to the next looking at all the creepy, crawly insects, millipedes, and spiders.  We stopped to watch the short 4D movie which included seats that moved like there were things crawling down there.  I have to admit the buzz of the bees felt good on my butt.  Everyone, child and adult alike, screamed and jumped when the seats squirmed.  The last stop was the butterfly garden which reminded me of the one at the Omaha Zoo.

A butterfly at the insectarium.

From the insectarium we walked the block or two to the Canal Street ferry station and caught the free ferry (free for pedestrians) to Algiers.  We stopped at a small restaurant near the Algiers ferry terminal to have lunch before walking around the historic neighborhood.  It was nice to visit a normal neighborhood without any of the glitz and tourism.  I could see myself living there.

An iconic New Orleans water meter cover.

Our stay in Algiers was fairly short.  We rode the ferry back to the other side of the Mississippi and caught the shuttle to Mardi Gras World.  We took a tour of one of the fifteen warehouses where Mardi Gras floats are built.  Most of the figures on the floats are carved styrofoam covered in paper mache.  Others are fiberglass.  As we walked through the warehouse we passed artists carving, covering, and painting the various figures for the 2014 Mardi Gras parades for one of the krewes.  Building of next years floats starts the day after Mardi Gras.  One of the floats we saw costed close to $1.1 million and was over 300 feet long.  These floats are serious business.  Despite all the Disney and Marvel characters, among others, no corporate sponsorship or advertising is allowed on the floats.  All the funds come from the krewe dues and krewe fund raisers.  It was fun walking around the giant figures.  After the tour we stopped at the Mardi Gras World cafe and had a free piece of  King Cake.

Mardi Gras World float figures.

Mardi Gras World was the last stop of the day.  We took the free shuttle back to the ferry terminal and then walked back to the hotel.  It felt like one of the hottest days yet by the time we got back to the hotel.

That evening we had a light dinner followed by gelato (two scoops for me - dulce de leche and dark chocolate).  Before we called it a night we wandered around a bit to complete our New Orleans magnet collection and listened to street musicians (This is Tanya and Dorise - an awesome duet).  It turned out to be an early night.  Being Friday night, staying in was a good option considering the crazies out in the street partying.

The day turned out to be a full but quiet end to our stay in New Orleans.  Tomorrow we start our trip home with a few more stops along the way.

Pictures of the last full day in New Orleans can be found in my 2013-06 New Orleans Google Photos album.

New Orleans Adventure: Gator Bait

Our luck, in terms of the weather anyway, ran out on day four.  We walked to the Camellia Grill for our second excellent breakfast there and it started to rain while we were there.  The rain would be on and off for the rest of the day and this on a day when our main activity would be outside.  Today was swamp tour day.

We paid extra for a pickup at the hotel and for a ride in a smaller airboat.  The tour van picked us up on time and, after a couple more stops to pick up more people, headed just outside of New Orleans to the town of Jean Lafitte.

Now, I have to talk about my expectation for this swamp tour.  I expected to ride an airboat and to see a swamp - no brainer there.  I thought that if we were lucky, we might see alligators at a significant distance from the boat.  I was going to take my DSLR camera because it has a better zoom and I expected it would be needed to get any salvageable pictures of alligators.  When the rain started coming down, bringing the DSLR became impossible.  The DSLR camera is not waterproof.  So I carried my smaller waterproof camera with the mediocre zoom and hoped for the best.

We arrived at the tour office and we examined the live alligators in the pen including an albino alligator.  Right before the airboat tour was about to start the skies opened up and it began to really pour.  The crowd swarmed the gift shop as we all bought ponchos.  One side note: the gift shop didn't have any magnets.  What's up with that?!?

An airboat on the way to the swamp.

We put on our ponchos, followed the guide out to the boats, and the Wife and I got in the front seat of our airboat.  Our small airboat carried six passengers but we only had five when we cast off.  The captain of the boat explained what we were going to do.  He explained that noise restriction stopped them from going top speed until we were farther out.  After a short run we would leave the lake and enter the swamp.

We puttered across the lake for a while as the rain poured.  We reached the noise restriction limit, the captain asked us to put on hearing protection (we used to call them mickey mouse ears when I worked on ships), and the captain revved it up and off we went.  The boats go about 50 to 55 mph (80 to 88 kph).  This is when I learned my lesson of the day: raindrops, hitting your face at 50-55 mph, sting ... a lot.  It was hard to keep from looking down to protect your face but I managed to do it.


This is where my waterproof camera came in handy.  I had the camera in my hands taking video and pictures in the pouring rain without a worry.  The guys behind us only had cell phones which, most of the time, were under their ponchos doing no good.

Entering the swamp.

We slowed back down and turned into a channel.  We'd been on the channel maybe a minute before we saw the first alligator.  It wasn't far away or on shore as I'd feared it would be.  It was in the water and it swam right up to the boat.  It didn't take long to find out why.  When the gator was close the captain tossed something in the water.  They sometimes refer to it as alligator crack.  We call them marshmallows (MARSHmallows ... we're in a swamp ... that's a marsh ... there's a joke in there somewhere or at least a bad pun).  Turns out the alligators are hooked on sugar.  The guides feed them sugar so when the alligators see a boat they head straight to the boat for a treat.


We ended up seeing quite a few alligators while we were in the channel.  It was much better than I expected.  I got a lot of pictures and we learned a lot about alligators and swamp flora and fauna.  The captain pulled out a baby alligator and passed it around.  The things was just over a foot long and was very used to being handled.  One of the guys behind us let it bite his finger.  The little guy seemed more irritated than mean.

Me holding a baby alligator.

We returned to the dock and got back on the bus.  The whole bus load of us were sopping wet and the driver was nice enough to not have the air conditioning on.  We got off the van a few blocks from our hotel when it hit some traffic.  We got back to our room and, like all of our afternoons, after putting on some dry clothes, passed out on the bed.

That evening we went out for another awesome dinner - we didn't have a bad meal while in New Orleans - where the Wife continued the theme of the day and ate alligator.  I shied away from it when I heard it tasted like sausage.  I'm not a fan of sausage.  We topped off our eating for the day with a stop at Café du Monde to try another mandatory New Orleans activity: eating beignets.  Beignets are fried dough, kind of like doughnuts, buried under mounds of powdered sugar.  We each ordered the standard order of three beignets.  I have to admit we were both a little underwhelmed and about one and a half beignets were left uneaten.   I'm not much of a fan of doughnuts either.  Having said this, I'm glad I tried them.

Beignets: pretty but not that awesome in my opinion.

We hadn't watched much television this vacation until game six and seven of the NBA finals.  After our beignets, we retreated back to the room and watched game seven.  Tomorrow we would finish all the little things and complete our stay in New Orleans.

Pictures of the fourth full day in New Orleans can be found in my 2013-06 New Orleans Google Photos album.

New Orleans Adventure: Into The Ninth Ward

Our third full day in New Orleans only have one event planned, a bicycle tour of the lower ninth ward.  We walked the eight or nine blocks to a park where we met up with a guide from Ninth Ward Rebirth Bike Tours.

There were a total of four of us and a guide.  The bikes were the old pedal-backward-to-brake kind with large tires.  The bikes reminded all of us of our childhood as most of our childhood bikes braked this way.  We started by pedaling around the park to familiarize ourselves with the bikes.  The large tires made the steering a little squishy and I weaved around like a drunk until I got the feel of it.  Not being able to back pedal made it a bit hard to get started and there were no gears to make the riding easier.  Fortunately our tour would be relatively flat and the skies were overcast so it wasn't too hot.

We followed the guide down mostly residential streets.  The rules, as he explained to us, was to pretty much ignore most stoplights and stop signs as long as it was safe to cross.  This struck us a little odd but it did make staying together a little easier.  Along the way we briefly rode on Desire street, inspiration for Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire".  Another stop was to see the markings left on houses by search and rescue teams after Katrina.  Some of these markings are being repainted as a combination protest and memorial to those lost during Katrina.

The ninth ward is divided by a canal.  We crossed a drawbridge to get to the lower part of the ninth ward and rode on a levee along the Mississippi river for a while until it was time to ride into the streets of the ward.  Our co-tour people were Canadians who had been told by their hotel concierge that they absolutely should not go to the ninth ward.  People would chase you, rob you, and hurt you.  She even refused to make a reservation for them so they made it themselves.    Our guide found this mystifying and, after our tour, I am mystified too.  Our ride was quiet, peaceful, and felt very safe.  Everyone we saw either ignored us or, more often, waved.  We were not chased, robbed, hurt, or harassed in any way.

River Boat's Captain's House seen from Mississippi river levee.

There was only one incident during the entire ride.  The bikes we were riding, as I've mentioned before, were sometimes hard to get started.  At one point, as we all tried to get started, the Wife ran into a parked car.  The car was fine.  The Wife's leg was bruised as was her ego.

The destruction we saw after Katrina was no longer visible.  The only thing that remains are overgrown vacant lots where flood houses and businesses had once stood.  The guide pointed out that before Katrina there were few, if any, vacant lots in the lower ninth.  Now there are many (This picture shows the destruction - Red areas are now vacant lots).

We stopped for lunch at a local sandwich shop run by a vietnamese family.  New Orleans and Louisiana have a large Vietnamese population who had been invited over by churches.  I ordered a pulled pork Po-Boy which is basically a pork sub sandwich.  We took our food to go (our bicycles had baskets naturally) and we rode a few blocks to the house of Ronald Lewis and his backyard museum the House of Dance and Feathers.  We ate our lunch on the picnic tables outside the museum while we waited for Mr. Lewis.

Ronald Lewis is a member of a Mardi Gras Krewe.  A Krewe is a social club that puts on events and Mardi Gras parades.  He runs a small museum displaying handmade costumes and awards he and his krewe have won.  He told us stories about Mardi Gras and how his organization works.  He answered our questions and I think we probably could have spent all day talking with this fascinating man.  We all donated to the tiny museum and bought a copy of his book ("The House of Dance and Feathers: A Museum").

Hand bead work on Mardi Gras costume.

The next stop on our bike tour was Fats Domino's home followed by a ride through the streets to see all the vacant lots.  This last part really gave you a sense of just how much was lost after katrina.  Our tour of the ward ended with the new houses being built by Brad Pitt's organization.  They are a bit controversial as they are so modern and don't quite fit in with the old architecture of the ward.  I liked them.  They were raised off the ground to protect against flooding.  They all had solar panels to provide electricity in emergencies.  They collected rainwater for later use.  Most importantly, they were all different.  Each painted a different bright and happy color.  It would have been so easy to build a bunch of identical square cookie cutter boxes on stilts.  These all had character and, in a few years, I think they will fit right in once people have added personal touches.  It's also nice that they are only sold to former residents of the lower ninth.  They are not trying to bring new people in but to revive those who are already there.  They also have contracts that prevent short term flipping of homes.

Brad Pitt's New Homes.

Drinking in New Orleans is ... common.  Many bars had sidewalk walk-up windows where you could buy drinks.  Walking around with a glass of beer, or something stronger, was not a rare sight ... at any time of the day.  With this drinking culture in mind, our last bike tour stop was, naturally, a neighborhood bar where we relaxed and had drinks.  There was a slightly drunk patron in the bar who, after hearing our guide telling us about the history of the area, decided he needed to fill in a few details while he played video poker.  He was entertaining and his language was ... colorful.  Our guide said that riding your bike with a glass of beer was encouraged though only he actually biked home with a beer in his hand.

The bike tour, which was supposed to be four hours ended up being five and well worth the money and time.  I would encourage everyone to do it the next time they are in New Orleans.  Part of the tour fee is donated to lower ninth ward charities.

The day ended with another good meal (blackened chicken on a bed of pasta alfredo) and me wandering around a little bit taking more pictures.

Pictures of the third full day in New Orleans can be found in my 2013-06 New Orleans Google Photos album.

New Orleans Adventure: Second Day Shenanigans

On our second full day in New Orleans we had a number of things to do.  The first was get an awesome breakfast and the Camellia Grill turned out to be the place.  As a matter of fact, the Camellia Grill is the only restaurant we ate at twice during our New Orleans stay.  The counter-only diner sits everyone elbow to elbow at a serpentine counter.  The staff is engaging, funny, and helpful.  The chefs stations are on one wall and visible to the diners.  The staff yell orders to the chefs and you get your food hot and fast not to mention good.

Today was also going to be trolley day.  After the filling breakfast we walked to the Toulouse trolley station and caught a trolley down river.  We missed our first transfer which ended up not being a big issue.  After transferring to the Canal street trolley and then the St Charles Trolley we made our way to the garden district.

The St Charles Trolley in front of the Robert E. Lee memorial.

The garden district is the historic American sector of New Orleans.  Canal street separates the French from the American areas.  They are so separate that streets that cross Canal street change names.  We walked a couple blocks from the Trolley stop to Lafayette Cemetery where we would meet our walking tour guide.  This turned out to be Katy.  Katy was an 80-something New Orleanian in a lovely blue caftan.  Right away she looked like a character and she turned out to be a hoot and a half.  She started the tour in the cemetery giving us a lot of history and explanation about New Orleans burial practises.  We learned about the saying "giving you the shaft" which has to do with the dumping of decomposed remains through a hole in the back of the tomb to a pit in the bottom so that the tomb could be re-used.

After a lot of cemetery talk, and right when we were worried that the whole tour would be in the cemetery, we left and headed through the streets of the garden district.  Katy pointed out different homes owned by celebrities (Trent Reznor, Nicolas Cage, Sandra Bullock among others).  Katy told interesting and often funny stories of people and houses in the district.  It was well worth walking in the heat and humidity.

A home in the Garden District of New Orleans.

After the tour we hopped back on the trolley and headed back toward Canal street getting off at the national World War II museum.  We ate at the restaurant in the museum.  This was the first museum restaurant I've ever eaten at with the chef's name on the door.  The chef, John Besh, has appeared on Top Chef Masters and other television cooking shows.  The food was pretty good.

A bomber on display at the WWII museum.

After the excellent lunch we toured the museum and watched a forty-eight minute movie about WWII.  I was surprised what was left out of the movie.  I guess you had to limit it because of the length of the movie.  The movie was 4D meaning it included motion and special effects in the theater to enhance the movie.  It was fun.  The other thing that I found nice was the number of WWII veterans that were in the audience.

After the museum we got back on the trolley and headed back to the French Quarter.  We staggered back to the hotel and nearly passed out on the bed.  I think the heat snuck up on us and, combined with all the great food we'd eaten already that day, we both bloated up.  You've seen bloated roadkill by the side of the road on a hot day?  Well, that's what I felt like.  We decided to skip dinner that night and ended up just snacking and drinking lots of fluids.

The lights of Bourbon Street.

I recovered a bit by early evening and went out with my camera and wandered around a bit.  My first destination was Bourbon street.  The Wife really didn't want anything to do with Bourbon street and I can understand this.  It can be a bit chaotic and full of drunken people.  I decided that it would be wrong to come to New Orleans and not see Bourbon street at least once.  I got there before the unclean masses reached critical mass so it wasn't too bad.  I watched street performers and listened to the rock, jazz, and zydeco music wafting out of the bars along the neon lit street.  I got my fill and heading off the street and made my way to canal street, down to the ferry station, and walked along the river.

I wandered around until I was sweaty again and headed back to the room.  We hadn't done everything we'd wanted to do that day but we did learn to pace ourselves.  There would be plenty of time to finish what we'd skipped. We also learned that two meals were our daily limit.  A third meal and I think I would have exploded.

Pictures of the second full day in New Orleans can be found in my 2013-06 New Orleans Google Photos album.

New Orleans Adventure: On The Way In And First Looks.

After leaving Jackson, MS we drove the last three hours to the New Orleans area.  Since we couldn't check into our hotel until 4PM we changed our itinerary slightly and headed for the plantations.

There are four plantations that are close to New Orleans, close together, and show the diverse types of plantations.  We chose two sugar plantations: Laura Plantation and Oak Alley. (One little side note.  The plantations are located in Saint James parish ... a little Camino coincidence.)

Laura Plantation is an example of a Creole plantation.  Creole means anyone born in a French colony.  Laura was built by a French criminal who was granted his freedom if he would emigrate to the French Louisiana territory.  He accepted the offer, emigrated, fought the British during the American Revolution, and was granted land by President Jefferson.  Soon after building his plantation manor house, he died and his wife became the "president" of the plantation.  From then on the plantation was run by the women of the family.

The colorful Creole Laura Plantation manor house.

The plantation is a typical Creole plantation.  The manor is brightly colored as opposed to the customary white of American plantations.  French was strictly spoken on the plantation.  If you did not speak French you would not get past the front porch.  The more they liked you the deeper into the house you could go.

An engagement fan and portraits of some of the women of Laura Plantation.

Our guide walked us around the manor house and the surrounding gardens and grounds of the plantation.  He explained the history of the Creole and how their culture slowly faded after the American acquisition of the Louisiana territories.  He explained this through the history of the family who owned the plantation.  The last owner, Laura, was not really interested in the Creole lifestyle and prefered the new American ways.

Pictures taken at Laura Plantation can be seen in my 2013-06-16 Laura Plantation Google Photos album.

After Laura we went to Oak Alley plantation.  This example of an American plantation is named for an oak lined path leading between the manor and the Mississippi river.  We ate lunch at the cafe before touring the manor and the grounds.  The old oak trees that form the alley predate the current manor house. No one is sure who planted them.  The view through the tunnel formed by the ancient oaks is spectacular.

Oak Alley's namesake oak alley.

Pictures of Oak Alley Plantation can be found in my 2013-06-21 Oak Alley Plantation Google Photos album.

After finishing the interesting tour ... and finishing the ice cream I bought ... we got back in the car and drove the hour to New Orleans.  I don't like driving in strange cities but I managed to find the hotel with only a relatively minor hissy fit.  The hotel, the French Market Inn, is located in the French Quarter not far from the Mississippi river.  It turned out to be in the ideal location to walk everywhere.  For places too far to walk to, there was a trolley stop a block away.  After getting the car valet parked (your only choice) we never needed the car until we left.  The Inn is actually four buildings combined into one.  This results in odd configurations.  Our room was a cheap inside room.  The room had two windows that open out into a hallway.  The hotel also has a house cat named Patrick who roams the courtyard and greets the guests ... when he isn't sleeping.

Our first evening was spent orienting ourselves, eating dinner, and walking along the river.  This evening was one of the cooler ones.  It would be hot and muggy the rest of the time ... exactly what I expected New Orleans to be in June.

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We were awoken by the phone ringing.  It was a call to confirm our reservation for a French Quarter walking tour later that morning.  We got up, stopped at a coffee shop to buy some breakfast snacks, and walked the couple blocks to meet up with our tour guide.

Saint Louis Cemetery Number One.

The walking tour was a continuation of our Laura Plantation tour of the day before.  The guide explained, through the eyes of the Laura Plantation owner, life in old New Orleans.  We visited old homes, an early pharmacy, and an opera house.  We visited the oldest cemetery, Saint Louis Number One, where we visited graves of Laura's family and other New Orlean notables.  The cemeteries are built above ground due to the high water table that would normally flood any holes dug in the ground.  The cemeteries are very similar to what I saw in Spain on my Camino.  Each tomb holds multiple generations of the family.  When there is a need for a new burial, the last burial remains are simply dumped into a pit at the bottom of the tomb.

One thing I learned on the tour is that the architecture in the French Quarter is not French.  The old French city burned to the ground while under control of the Spanish (Did you know the Spanish once controlled the French Louisiana territory?  I sure didn't) .  The city was rebuilt in a Spanish style which explains all the balconies and the spanish street name plaques on some of the buildings.

The tour took two or three hours as we walked from one air conditioned area to another (The guide wasn't stupid).  I learned quite a bit about the history of the city.  The guide, as would several other of our tour guides, shared his harrowing Katrina survival experiences after his house was completely flooded.

After the tour we went to lunch before walking through the Saint Louis Cathedral.  The Wife was not impressed and I have to admit, I've seen better.  The Wife did get a rosary and I got a magnet.

Inside the Saint Louis Cathedral.

Next was a visit to the Ursuline Convent.  The building in not used as a convent anymore but it still has a long history and the museum items were interesting.  As you enter the chapel it's hard not to miss the shell motif in parts of the entryway.  No one could tell us the significance of the shells.  I doubt it has any connection with the Camino (Saint James' symbol is a shell) but it is another Camino coincidence.

Inside the Ursuline convent chapel.

We left the convent and walked through the french market area.  The market was full of the usual tourist chachques.  Unfortunately it was much hotter and more humid than the day before and we had to retreat to the hotel room to cool off, rehydrate, and to take a late afternoon nap.  This first day made me understand why most tours in New Orleans are in the morning.  This would also be the start of the napping-in-the-afternoon ritual.

Rested, we went out and had another good dinner before going to stand in line at Preservation Hall.  Preservation Hall is a jazz venue where they try to honor and protect New Orleans jazz.  The place is tiny.  It holds about one hundred and only about thirty of those get a seat on hard backless benches.  This being said, the band, which changes members depending on who is available and who is in town, was incredible.  They played a lot of classics and got a lot of people in the audience singing with them.  Their set was short but, with the heat in that small box of a place, we couldn't have stayed much longer I think.

Preservation Hall drum.

After the live jazz we crossed the street to a voodoo store.  The Wife was hoping to get some good information about authentic voodoo but we found it hard to find anyone who would talk about it.  They would talk about the tourist voodoo but not the real stuff.  Voodoo is strongly connected with Catholicism.  When african/haitian slaves were brought to New Orleans they were forced to convert to Catholicism.  Voodoo was the result of the slaves combining their animist beliefs with the christian ones.  Each catholic saint had an alternate name that corresponded to an animist god.  This way they could pray to their old gods while appearing to be good Catholics.  Only Mary was kept whole without an alternate name.  The store was full of ... interesting things.

This first day and a half were full ones.  The rest of the week would be less packed but just as enjoyable.

Pictures of New Orleans can be found in my 2013-06 New Orleans Google Photos album.  The pictures in the set are roughly in chronological order.  As I post I will add pictures.  New pictures will be at the bottom of the Google Photos page so you may have to scroll down to see them.

I'm Back!

The Wife and I had an awesome vacation over the last twelve days.  Our main destination was New Orleans with a few smaller places on the way there and back.  It was one of the shortest of our recent vacations but it was jam packed and very satisfying.  I plan to start posting about it early next week.

For now ... here's a picture.

Gator.