November 26, Wednesday

Something I’ve learned from traveling is that the reality of a place often doesn’t match it’s reputation.  We’ve been to places I was very apprehensive about visiting that turned out to be spectacular, and we’ve been to places I expected to be spectacular that turned out to be disappointing.

Two summers ago we stopped in New Orleans near the end of our USA tour.  I’d been looking forward to seeing New Orleans and was viewing it in many ways as the last little cherry on top of our lengthy vacation.  It was going to be the last major stop before we ended up back home.

Nearly everything I knew about New Orleans came from Anne Rice novels and TV shows about vampires.  I thought it would be beautiful, sultry, glamorous; a gorgeous little jewel of a town maintained perfectly to retain it’s historical charm of a bygone era.  It wasn’t.

It was dirty, tawdry, rough and run-down.  Adam, who constantly accuses me of seeing danger where there is none, felt it wasn’t safe to walk around after dark.  (This, of course, immediately warned me that it wasn’t safe to walk around in the daytime, either.)

I view New Orleans much like Paris in this regard; a world-famous city with a rich history that was just grosser and more tarnished than I’d expected.  More used.  It was a pretty big disappointment.

I hated Paris on our first visit, too.  The city’s reality didn’t match the fantasy presented in literature and film.  It took several days of loathing Paris before I finally started to warm up to it … but by then it was time to leave.  I fully expected never to see Paris again because why, out of all the wonderful places on planet Earth I still haven’t seen, would I waste time and resources going back to a disgusting pit?  But two years later, we found ourselves driving through France.  We changed our route due to time constraints and ended up very close to Paris.  With our original plans cancelled, we didn’t have anything on our docket that day and made a spontaneous decision to visit Paris again.

The second visit was much better than the first.  We’d already been disappointed once, so our expectations were particularly low.  That may have helped us to see the nice things about the city that were obscured the first time by our disgust at all the things that fell short.  We enjoyed Paris the second time around.  Now, it’s actually started to grow on us.  We have reached that stage where we look back on it semi-nostagically and would not hesitate to visit again if the opportunity presented itself.

I’m hoping to experience a similar change of perspective about New Orleans.  The first visit was such a shock that all I really wanted to do was get out of the city.  I probably would not have chosen to come back, but Rita and Randy (longtime friends and our traveling companions this week) wanted to “do” New Orleans.  They are both avid photographers and New Orleans is a spectacular place to take photos.  The architecture is interesting, and in many ways the urban decay makes for far more interesting images than a pristine landscape does.  So, we’re back.

Yesterday we drove from Atlanta — we left at 7 a.m. and arrived in New Orleans around 4 p.m.  It was starting to get dark, so once we checked into the hotel all we had time to do was make a quick walking tour of the immediate area to orient ourselves a bit.  The city is just as stinky and rough as I remembered, but it wasn’t a surprise this time.

This morning when we headed out, it was actually quite cold.  The city has far fewer tourists today than it did during the summer, which makes walking around much more pleasant.

We walked over to Cafe Du Monde for a plate of their famous beignets.  We stopped here in summer 2013 and the place was so packed we had to wait for a tiny table, and then wait another 45 minutes to be served.  Today was much better.  The beignets were just as delicious, but we had a table big enough to fit all five of us adequately (we were all crammed at a table for two before) and the service was quicker.  This is definitely a place much more pleasant to visit during off-peak tourist times.

Having fun!

Giggling over an unflattering iPhone photo of Holden.

We didn’t think to take a “before” photo of the plate of beignets.  We dug in like a pack of wild dogs and only after they were gone did Adam turn his mind to taking pictures.  This plate of powdered sugar was all that was left.

Right across from Cafe Du Monde is Jackson Square, which is where the artists hang out.  This is one of my favorite places in New Orleans.  What New Orleans lacks in polish, it makes up for in a strong art scene.  While I was checking out some of the street artists, the kids found this toy store.  

Artists display their paintings on the fence around the park. 

Here I am buying yet another painting.  It’s one of the sepia-colored oils (mine was in the hole left between the others.)  I don’t yet have a photo of the one we purchased.  The artist is Anthony Bordelon, and the painting we bought is of a New Orleans musician named Dr. John.  (That’s Bordelon putting our painting into a recycled Target bag.)

Inside Jefferson Square park.  The kids were waiting for Adam to manage his camera gear.

Here is one from my phone.  (I was messing around with the filters.) Holden and Isabella never miss an opportunity to use their “technology.”  That’s their catch-all word for various phones, gaming systems, chargers, etc.  If we sit down somewhere, Holden will ask, “How long is this going to take?”  I’ll say, “About thirty seconds.  Josie is just tying her shoe” and he’ll say, “Oh good.  Plenty of time” and whip out whatever electronic gadget is stashed in his pocket.

As evidenced by this picture, they come by it honestly.  Here is Adam messing with his “technology” while I use my “technology” to document it.  Josie is a little more willing to live in the moment.  

New Orleans is gearing up for Christmas.  Decorations are going up all over the city.

Firemen doing routine valve checks over by Louis Armstrong Park.

A lovely pond in Armstrong Park.  

Architecture on the corner of Orleans and Dauphine.

After lunch, we met up with Rita and Randy.  We all bought $3 Jazzy passes, which allow for unlimited public transportation (streetcars, busses) for a day.  (A three-day Jazzy pass is only $9.  It’s a very convenient and economical way to get around the city.)  The streetcars are scrupulously maintained.  

We rode to the end of the red Canal line to the cemeteries.  

Chinese crypt in the Cyprus Grove Cemetery.  

Frat house going all out with the Christmas decorations.  That’s white flocking all over the shrubbery.  

It was mid-afternoon by now.  We hopped on the streetcar and went back to the hotel for a quick rest.  Everyone was feeling pretty footsore and naps sure sounded nice.

Late afternoon, Adam and I went out by ourselves just to walk around.  Here is a picture of a fountain.

Here are a few photos Randy took on an antique camera with b&w film.  He had them developed at a one-hour drug store and they gave him some low-res scans on a disk.

November 27, Thursday (Thanksgiving Day)

Not much is open today.  Rita found a yoga studio that was actually teaching a class this morning, so she skipped breakfast and headed off to improve herself while the rest of us stuffed our faces with free scrambled eggs at the hotel breakfast buffet.

Our big plans are to wander around and take pictures, maybe head over to the Garden District, and possibly go to a movie this afternoon.  We have reservations for lunch at a Mexican restaurant at noon, so that will be the anchor of our day.

A word about our hotel and showers:  we’re staying in the Residence Inn on St. Joseph’s Street.  It’s a pretty good hotel to use as a home base; it has full kitchens in the rooms and quite a bit of space so people aren’t right on top of each other.  The hotel itself is within walking distance (15 to 20 minutes) of the French Quarter and there are many other interesting things close by.  It’s the showers that really stand out, though.

Last night Holden took a shower and I could hear him yelling in the bathroom, “Ow, oh ow, the water hurts!”  He has a reputation for hating water in his face, so I just yelled back, “Turn the heat down a little and hustle up!”  This morning I realized what he was complaining about.  The water pressure is so high that a shower here is one step down from Bruce Willis’s decontamination in 12 Monkeys.  When you step out, you may be bald and your skin may be flayed off, but you can rest assured that all the shampoo got rinsed out.  If a good, strong shower is something important to you while you’re traveling, this could be the hotel for you.

We drove out to the Garden District.  They have a lot of very nice houses (some for sale in the $1.3-$2.5 million range) and a picturesque cemetery.  A resident walking his dog stopped to talk to us and pointed out houses owned by Sandra Bullock, John Goodman, and Eli Manning’s parents.

We found a Starbucks just in time for a much-needed potty break.

Holden had a headache from “all the walking around for no reason.”

Josie standing in front of a wall painted as an “Homage to Miro.” 

We had a reservation for lunch at Johnny Sanchez, a very nice Mexican restaurant.  

Lafayette Square.

After lunch everyone wanted to rest, so we went back to the hotel.  A Thanksgiving parade was set to start at 3:30 and go through the French Quarter, so we thought it would be nice to take naps and go back out to see the parade.  Adam and I started to go stir-crazy, though, and headed out by ourselves.  We ended up back at Jackson Square.

Royal Avenue.  

After all that walking, neither of us wanted to go back over for the parade.  Randy didn’t want to battle crowds and Holden didn’t want to see a parade, but Rita and the two girls wanted to go.

Rita, Isabella and Josie walked back to Canal Street to see the Thanksgiving Parade.   (All the Parade photos were taken by Rita.)

November 28, Friday

We did this Honey Island Swamp Tour in the summer of 2013 and it was one of the highlights of our whole trip, so we told Rita and Randy it was worth doing.  I am glad we did it a second time because it was a lot different during the fall/winter season.  The guy (Captain Charlie) told us that in the summer it’s all about the alligators, but in the winter the mammals come out while the alligators are hibernating.  The spring and early fall are transition times and full of wildlife drama, so this is something worth doing multiple times at different times of the year if you can manage it.

Waiting for our boat.

The swamp boats.

Raccoon in the swamp.  He came right up to the boat hoping for treats.  Captain Charlie threw him a marshmallow.  

Great Blue Heron.  These birds are so fierce that alligators won’t even try to eat them.  They have a huge old male gator in the swamp with only one eye … that beak is like a dagger and the herons have really good aim.

The one alligator we saw.  During the winter, the alligators bury themselves in the mud under water and come up every two or three hours to breathe.  They don’t eat during colder weather at all.  Their bodies only produce digestive acid when the water temperature is above 74F.  

Cyprus knees.  These are tree roots that grow big knobs above water for air.  They also intertwine with the roots of other trees to help keep them all stable in the boggy ground.

Randy wanted to get some evening shots, so Adam and Randy decided to have a big night out.  Rita, the kids, and I stayed back at the hotel.  Here is Randy waiting for Adam.

Jazz music at a club.  Adam and Randy said the guy on the trombone was exceptionally talented.

Street shots.  Adam liked the two dudes dressed in Dumb & Dumber suits.  (Check out Blue Top Hat guy coming out of the door behind Randy.)

I love this picture of Randy.  Adam said Bourbon street was filled with cops on horseback. There was a strong police presence.  

New Orleans is getting ready for Christmas. We all had a fantastic time in New Orleans.  It still isn’t one of my favorite cities, but I did like it better than I did before. It’s known for loud music, drinking, partying, and Cajun food … not really my cup of tea, but I can see why people who like those activities love New Orleans.  It has a lot of character.

Until next time!