If New Orleans is Sinking...

Hello lovely people!

On Wednesday after we explored the Garden District we came back to our hotel and decided to head to the pool (we did bring swimsuits, after all). Although there are 2 pools here at the Hilton the one attached to our particular building is rather pathetic. It was strange to be in an outdoor pool with the air so warm outside. We struck up a conversation with a guy from Virginia/Florida and when Lisa mentioned how hot we thought it was down here, he said, "Where are you guys from, Canada?" like it was some kinda joke. He loved it when we told him we were from Vancouver because then he spent the next few minutes making cracks about how he would import snow for us. He thought he was hilarious. We didn't stay too long at the pool.

After that we got all dressed up in our finery and headed out to a rather nice restaurant for dinner. It was called the Bon Ton Cafe and we had a salad and shrimp etouffee (sorry, there should be accents on that but I just can't bother figuring that out right now). Etouffee means "smothered" down here, and yes, it was. (I took a picture; I have been taking lots of photos of food!.) Then we headed to our favourite store to get some snacks for tomorrow and called it a night.

For the next 2 days we were pretty derailed by the weather. We had an AMAZING bike tour booked (check it out here), but they cancelled due to the storm. I guess that was a good idea cause we didn't really want to be riding a bike around the city in the rain, but still, it was pretty disappointing - the bike tour was the only thing I really wanted to do, and it didn't happen. I guess I will have to come back. Anyone want to come with? :)

We had some lunch, did some shopping, and booked a ghost tour of the city for that evening. We went to Pat O'Brien's, got a famous Hurricane drink in a "go cup" and headed out, ready to be spooked. Our tour guide was Jennifer and she was kind of a riot. She had us cracking up pretty good. Or maybe it was the Hurricane. But in any case, we had a good time. :) After the 2-hour tour we had dinner at a pretty fancy place (that also happens to be haunted) called Muriel's. The best thing we ate had to have been the shrimp & goat cheese crepes. SO GOOD.

Let me mention that the food here has been fantastic. Almost every person that we've spoken to has talked about the food and how people have a misconception about it not being safe to eat due to the oil spill. As far as we can tell, it's totally safe, and extremely delicious to boot. People here seem quite upset that people think otherwise - and you can see why. They just start to get back on their feet after Katrina, and now the oil spill. Tourism is a big industry here, and so is commercial fishing. So, the food here is great. We are still walking up those flights of stairs everyday to justify eating so much of it. :)

We had rebooked our swamp tour for Friday morning and I am so glad that we did. I don't know what I was expecting - Lisa seemed to have a better idea about what would happen than I - but it was absolutely fantastic and worth every penny of that eighty-five dollars!! We were on a small, 6-person airboat, and our tour guide, Jay, was very enthusiastic (I got footage of him so I could remember him later).

Right away Jay sped us around in the airboat and it was awesome - it was also very, very wet. He sprayed all of us on purpose and had a good laugh about it. I knew it was coming when he asked me to cover up my camera. The poor Italian couple sitting next to me were pretty nonplussed about it at first, especially the wife since she didn't understand any English and had no idea what was coming... Anyways, it turned out to be a good thing that he sprayed us because for the next 20-30 minutes or so it acted like a natural air-conditioning and cooled us down as we flew around the water. Method to his madness, for sure. :)

As soon as we were out in the bayou an alligator swam right up to us. Jay called to her in French, and she swam up to the boat and Jay fed her marshmallows. Apparently alligators are attracted to white things. I got to feel her tail (rubbery & smooth!) and she entertained us by swimming around the boat. Once I got over being nervous I was pretty transfixed. Then in another part of the bayou a large male alligator swam up and Jay got him to jump out of the water for the marshmallow. He explained that his family, including his children, have a bond with these alligators that has grown over a number of years, and that there is a level of trust between them (although never forgetting that this animal is wild and that accidents can very easily happen when you are putting things in its mouth!).

We saw the hugest spiders I have ever seen (nobody needs that), herons, ducks, other birds and the best part was when we got to hold a baby alligator!! It was so soft and cute, I wanted to snuggle it and take it home. But, the rain was approaching and we had to get back to the dock, and fast.

Well, it wasn't fast enough.

The rain came down on us, fast and furious, warm and hitting our face like hail as we raced to get back to the dock. By the time we got there, we were soaked - and it was only maybe 5 minutes from start to finish. We thought we were wet from Jay spraying us before? Oh NO - this was sitting your butt in huge pools of water, soaked through to your underwear. Your shoes and socks are soaked, everything is soaked (our bags and cameras were okay cause they were wrapped up). We got off the boat, dripping and saturated from head to toe. It was like we went swimming with all our clothes on. All I could do is laugh. It was totally worth it! We had an amazing time.

Back on the bus with air conditioning. That kinda sucked. But we survived and once we got back to the hotel we rejuvenated with hot showers. Then we went out for lunch, had ice cream (yeah we earned it!), went shopping again (not much else to do with the weather being what it was). Then since we had no other plans, and it had cleared up, we decided to book another evening tour.

What tour did we book for Friday the 13th? Well, a Vampire Tour of course. Jonathan our tour guide was most entertaining and informative, and like the other locals we've met, loves this city and is pretty proud of it. Especially the dark history. It was creepy! I found this tour to be way more creepy than the ghost tour we had done earlier. We enjoyed it though, and it took us into parts of the city that we had not gone yet.

Once the tour was done Jonathan recommended a joint to eat called Coop's Place - he was the second person to direct us there. The service there is not terribly friendly, because they don't much like tourists. Locals eat there and we could easily see why - the food was pretty amazing. Yum!

Being Friday night, we decided to walk through Bourbon Street on the way back to our hotel. Oh, my god. Can I just be honest for a minute and dub it the Bourbon Street Nightmare? I can see why the locals don't go there - it's a total mess. Here are some words to describe it: beads, balconies, drunks, strippers, bars, music, cops, trashy, neon, garbage, crowded, loud, smokers, and signs denoting "Huge Ass Beers" and "Barely Legal Girls." Again, I got footage so that I can remember just how bad it was. I guess it'd be good if you were 19 (oops, I mean 21) and here with a stag. Other than that it was just obnoxious and kind of gross. I feel old for saying that. :P

One thing you should know about New Orleans is that it's pretty old, and the streets and sidewalks are not flat. This is important to keep in mind because you will likely do a lot of walking, with or without a "go cup" in your hand. There are many holes that cannot be described in any other way than "treacherous." Hospital-visit kinda holes. Maybe they do that for sport - obnoxious tourists do get tiring after all...

The day that we had gone to the Garden District, we took a cab home and the driver was thrilled to hear that we were Canadian - so much so that he asked us to sign his "book"; a veritable compendium of all the out-of-town guests he's ported around the city. He also told us about the Red Dress Run, which is basically a charity event where groups of people (and especially men) put on red dresses and go bar-hopping for charity. So as we were making our way around the city Friday & Saturday, we'd see these groups of people all in red and totally outrageous. I can't imagine what Mardi Gras would be like here! Crazy!!

Some random last thoughts:
- Humidity means waiting for your camera lens to become unfogged. This takes a while. Most inconvenient.
- Humidity also means never being dry. Also inconvenient.
- After a while, getting the "uh huh" response to my "thank you"s really started to bug me. I know, I know... it's an American thing...
- We had a celebrity sighting! Della Reese! Oh, oh, and we sat next to a guy with a Green Lantern t-shirt! Does that count??
- The pineapple is a symbol of southern hospitality; we saw it everywhere - mostly carvings and ironwork.
- Child hustlers attached the tops of pop cans to the bottoms of their shoes and tap-danced for money on the street.
- Rats. Roaches. Need I say more?

So today was our last day in New Orleans. At the airport, there was a mix-up with my reservation because someone had entered me into the system as a man. So when I tried to check-in as a woman, they couldn't do it. Hmmm... anyways after some stressed looks from the agents, and subsequent worrying on our part, it was all sorted. Except for maybe inside my own head, as is illustrated by the fact that right after, I went in the men's washroom by accident. I quite confused and upset a young ESL boy when I did that. Oh well...

We flew into Vancouver this evening with an amazing sunset over the mountains and Pacific Ocean. It's good to be home!

Cheers & love,
E!

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!

Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree

Hello everyone,

I can't believe it's only Monday and I have only been here for 2 whole days (well, not counting Saturday...). We've already done so much!

Saturday night after I last wrote, Lisa & I had dinner at the hotel restaurant, called Drago's. Apparently it is famous for crabcakes so we made sure to order that, some salad, and some "surf n' turf" to share for dinner. It was fabulous. Our waiter, Richie, filled us in on the places to go in the French Quarter (which our hotel is right beside).

We also decided that each night we would walk up the stairs to our hotel room, which is on the 18th floor. No really, we think it's a great idea since we'll be eating rich food every day. Right?? Right?!! Riiiiiight....

Yesterday we had breakfast at the hotel and booked some tours. We went walking along the Mississippi River, past the Holocaust memorial, Moonwalk promenade and ending at Washington Artillary Park. Then we headed down into Jackson Square where the famous Cafe du Monde is located and we had beignets and drinks. Beignets are French donuts - square and deep fried and served with heaping powdered sugar on top. It's quite an ordeal to eat them; we got pictures.

Then we headed into Jackson Square where there were tons of local artists and psychics and people selling their wares all around. Music everywhere. Hotter than hot. Humider than humid. We explored Pirates Alley and walked throughout the French Quarter. There were streets blocked off to cars and bands playing really cool music. We looked in some shops and wandered around a bit until the start time of our first tour!

We chose to go on a Cocktail tour. Now before you go thinking that this is some kinda pub crawl, think again. Drinks are not included, and the tour guide took us around the French Quarter talking about the history, and yes, stopping in several establishments to tell us about the drink specialties. A bunch were highlighted: Pimms Cup, Fleur de Lis, The Green Fairy (made from absinthe), Bayou Bash and the Sazerac. We tried a few but I refused to drink the ones that tasted awful. Yech!

And do you know about "go cups"? You can drink in the street here. So you can get your drink to go and walk around with it. Very handy.

Our tour guide was named Joe and he is a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Katrina is everywhere here. You see it all around and the locals all have stories about where they were and what happened and how it affected them. Most (that work in tourism) are pretty happy to have people to tell stories to - they are glad that we came. :)

Joe lived in Gentilly, which according to him, had the largest death toll of all the New Orleans' neighbourhoods. He said a wave of water came at him and lifted him up high enough and he had to scramble to get on top of a roof. All of his neighbours one street over were elderly and died. He and others stayed on their roofs for 5 days, with no food or water, swimming from house to house to scavenge whatever they could. Sometimes they had to break through roofs to rescue people stuck in their attics. He said that they spent so long up there and nobody had any news, obviously no TV or radio, and they didn't know if anyone even knew that they were there. When they were finally lifted out by helicopter, they were put on a bus and spent 7 hours trying to cross a bridge to get out of the city (along with just about everyone) and he said that people died on the bus, but there was nothing anyone could do about it. You just had to ride the bus with people that were dead & dying.

Let me just say right now that I am so happy to live where I live. Katrina aside, New Orleans isn't the place I would choose to live. Those of us on the west coast are SO LUCKY. Okay, I'm done. :)

After the tour was over, we had jambalaya and shrimp remoulade at a restaurant in the Quarter and it was delish! Then we went to another bar of Lisa's choosing.

Today is Monday and we spent most of our day at the Oak Alley Plantation. It is this totally awesome plantation that lies on the Mississippi River and there is a walkway from the river to the big house that is lined with 28 Oak trees. We got AWESOME photos - Lisa especially cause she has the skookum camera! It was gorgeous there. Our tour bus driver's name was Bryan and he was basically like Eddie Murphy, the same huge laugh and cracking jokes and being comedic all the time. It was funny at first and I must admit, got a little tiring by the end.

Okay, that's enough for now. This internet cafe is about to close! Tell you more later. :)

Cheers

E!