Tropical Opulence

Hello lovelies,

Did you know that New Orleans is on the same latitude as Cairo? That explains a lot. Plus, it's interesting since I was in Cairo this time last year, and can confirm that the heat here is pretty darn oppressive as well. The humidity makes it hugely different, but the uncomfortableness is still the same. In fact, I don't actually mind the humidity that much except for the fact that you are always sticky and usually downright doused in rivulets of sweat. When you are so wet all the time, and then step into air conditioning, then you freeze your butt off. It's a bit of a challenge.

Bourbon Street in New Orleans reminds me of Las Vegas. There are palm trees everywhere, neon lights, bars, tourists, drinks, and general mayhem. It's not the part of New Orleans that I love best, but it's certainly busy and no matter what night of the week it is, it's fulled with activity. Probably mostly tourist activity - I don't think the locals go there at all.

After we got back from Oak Alley on Monday, we decided that we would take a streetcar up to a local cemetery to take some photos but as we were waiting there we heard a great ruckus coming our way. It was a parade! Complete with marching bands, throwing of beads and other paraphernalia, Mardi Gras floats, police and fire escorts and wonderful music. Quite the sight! We got some beads, and even a t-shirt. The parade was to celebrate the kickoff of the football season, as the Saints are the current Superbowl champs! According to a few locals, the city has not stopped celebrating since the win. :)

Once the parade was done it was too dark to get any good photos at the cemetery, but we jumped on the streetcar anyways and at the end of the line, the streetcar operator was kind enough to let us get off, take a few (probably not very good) photos through the gates, and ride free of charge back into town. We headed to Walgreens for snacks because we are finding that we need to have liquids on us at all times, and eating at the hotel is quite expensive, so... snacks are handy. And besides, we're still climbing the stairs to our hotel room every day! We can eat what we want, right?? Haha...

Yesterday we got up and walked a few blocks to visit a client of Lisa's whose office is just down the street from our hotel. Then we took a streetcar and walked up to the most famous cemetery in New Orleans, which houses the tombs of Marie Laveau, Homer Plessy, Daniel Clarke and Ernest Morial. The grave of Marie Laveau is covered with XXX's everywhere, and there was obviously tons of pilgrimmages made to her grave. She's the only one who I had even heard of before reading up on the history of New Orleans.

After that, we went to the St. Louis Cathedral and saw the Mardi Gras museum in the Presbytere. It must be absolutely crazy to be here during Mardi Gras! Just based on that tiny little parade we saw, I bet it's totally nuts! Then we had lunch at Napoleon House, where they are famous for their Pimms Cup and Muffuletta. Then we headed to the Pharmacy Museum, and took pictures at the famous Cornstalk Hotel. Then we saw Beauregard-Keyes House and went by the Old Ursuline Convent, which is reportedly the only remaining French building in the French Quarter (all the rest were built when the Spanish ruled).

Then we went to the Old US Mint, which is now a museum and looked at a few exhibits including a fairly serious one called Target America and was all about the devastating effects of drug use. Then we walked through the French Markets and took in the ambiance before heading to our big-ticket item for the day: an afternoon Mississippi cruise on the Steamboat Natchez. Two hours to relax, re-hydrate, chat, and take in the sights is exactly what we needed considering the exhausting morning we had had in the heat.

The people here are especially friendly. I am not quite used to striking up conversations with strangers - I am always immediately trying to figure out what their motives are for talking to me. But down here, you have to let go of all that. People are friendly and welcoming, and love a good chat. We've had really favourable responses when we tell people that we are from Vancouver.

On the way from the dock back to our hotel, we struck up a conversation with a busker (okay, he struck it up with us) who was playing the trumpet. In fact, he played Stevie Wonder's "Isn't she Lovely" just for the two of us! Quite the charmer. He invited me to sit next to him while he played and as Lisa went to take a photo he swung my arm around him and we looked quite cozy. Like I said, people down here are friendly! Even the old, busking trumpet players have moves.

Hardly believing that we packed that much into one day, we got to our hotel and passed out for a couple of hours. Then we had dinner at Mother's - we'd been hearing about their famous Po' Boy sandwiches. We got one called "Debris" which was shredded beef, gravy, cabbage, & mayo. All that plus a root beer was YUM. We have a list of local foods that we want to try before we leave here, and there are only a few things left...

Today we had booked a swamp tour but the thunder & lightning at 8am clued us in to the tropical storm that is approaching, and alas... it was cancelled. We rebooked for Friday. Tomorrow we have a bike tour booked but fear that it will be cancelled too. In the meantime we are struggling to find activities that we can do mainly indoors. This morning we went to the Aquarium and then went to visit another client of Lisa's. The rain had slowed to just a little spitting, and so we ventured out into the opulent (and I mean OP-U-LENT!) Garden District. Holy crow - these are dream homes in a dream neighbourhood!

We saw a few famous homes including Anne Rice's former residence. Then we treated ourselves to cheesecake, a cab ride back to our hotel, and some shopping. Cross your fingers for us that the storm dissipates and we can head outside again soon!

Hope all of you are well,

xo

E!