New Orleans, overview

Joel celebrated a big birthday so we went for a long weekend to NOLA, wow! What a city. This is just the overview, I’ll be sharing more in depth photos and observations.  First day, having lunch on Bourbon street. Taking pictures of the roof tops.  Worst meal of the trip, least favorite street, but it is a must to go see.All the  wrought iron, cast-iron railings, balconies and fences!  Incredible iron work, none of which was made in NOLA.  When you are a busy port city, it’s easy to bring in whatever you want. This is a legacy of the Spanish control of the city but of course has become a symbol of the French quarter.  Notice the beads hanging on the side?Little did we know that Mardi Gras season starts right after Epiphany and ratchets up to Fat Tuesday that will be early February this year. So there we were on Bourbon Street at night and music trucks rolled in. Noisy, happy, fun. Yes we got a haul of beads, glad to have experienced this without the complete mayhem of the season.Mardi Gras decorations are all over!  Christmas comes down and these go up. Our guide mentioned that the color combination of green, gold and purple is awful, but it does make Mardi Gras very recognizable and is the one time a year where the fashion challenged are the norm.

We heard great music on Frenchmen’s Street as well as the street musicians, so many styles of music. This is one of the things that make the French quarter so much fun.

Taking the ferry, I looked back and got this great photo of St. Louis Cathedral with Jackson Square in the foreground.Here he is on his horse, saluting the crowds below him.I bet traffic was always bad here, today it’s cars, but in the 18 and 19th centuries it would have been horses.  The mighty Mississippi is running very high, even flooding up north. New Orleans are worried as they should be. Hopefully the river will subside. The cemeteries are a big tourist draw, cities of the dead.Food is extremely important here. Yes, friends recommended Commador’s Palace. We didn’t make reservations long enough in advance and we didn’t bring fancy clothes. So this is it, a view from outside.We ate extremely well, so no complaints here. Obligatory beignets at Cafe du Monde.It was cold!!  I’m glad I brought my warm coat, what I forgot was a hat for the sun. So we popped into one of the many souvenir shops, Joel got a real souvenir hat, me, I found this great red hat that will be very useful here in LA. People even commented about it on the street.

That’s it for now,  I have so many pictures and stories, I’ll be spreading it out over time.