Nola #1

So we're back, here's what we did (sorry for spelling errors, this is a lot to type):

Thursday
Up around 4:00 AM after a late night at Man Ray and ate home-made apple bread pudding before Gaelen took us to Logan. There was increased military presence, took about 2 hours to check in and get through security and then we boarded the plane. Stopped in Charlotte, NC and had my first Krispy Kreme donut (yum) - the airport was amazing, kind of like a mall and they had lots of neat sculptures there. We boarded again but got stuck in the last seats on the plane which could not recline and continued the 2 hours to NOLA. My left ear was bothering me along the way due to pressure changes.
K's dad picked us up at the airport and we headed to the family home for some shrimp, oyster and roast beef Po-boys. Her mom bustled around getting things ready including the king cake, chocolate dobache torte and bread pudding for dessert. The place was all decorated for the fall and she gave us large fall coffee mugs to take home with us. We got the tour of the house, plants, fish pond in the back yard and met the dog.
K drove us then to the inn passing by Audobon zoo and then over to St. Charles Ave. http://www.stvincentsguesthouse.com/ was very pretty on the outside and the immediate rooms and courtyard were very nice. Our room was OK, the bed was big and comfortable but our bathroom needed some rennovations and I found a squished mosquite on the wall. Still, the price was good and the location was very convenient.
B and I headed out in the rain down Magazine Street a bit to explore - we stopped at http://www.bushantiques.com/ and I got an old rosary for my Grandmother for Christmas. I bought some sexy cuban-heel seamed stockings at http://www.houseoflounge.com/ and a cute little bat hat for my nephew at Winky's (2038 Magazine St.). We had a yummy and very atmospheric dinner at Juan's Flying Burrito were we were served by alternative, punk rock and goth people and heard old Iron Maiden while the cook banged his head in the background. Here's an accurate review: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/cuis/restreviews/juans.html . After dinner we headed back in the rain before napping and heading out to an 80's night at http://www.shimshamclub.com/ but at around 9:00 the group decided to forgo it for more sleeping through the night.

Friday
A free breakfast started the day - the food was good but we only had the same three options each morning: scrambled eggs, bacon and grits or pancakes and bacon or cereal. We took some pix around the house (in particular the Virgin Mary on the side of the house next to the plantain tree) and then headed down the other end of Magazine to explore. We walked down to the Business District (at the D-day museum) and then got a call from K that they would be around in 1/2 hour to pick us up. We cut over to St. Charles Ave and walked back in the direction of the Inn, stopping at City Hall to photographe some funky sculpture. Before heading back to Magazine we took a break at http://www.smoothieking.com/ - apparently they have one in Boston somewhere.
K and H picked us up and we headed off to the http://www.honeyislandswamp.com/ . We saw St. Louis #2 cemetery from the highway on the way surrounded by housing projects. I think the most frustrating thing about the trip is how not-safe some areas are hindering the things we could do a bit. We arrived at Honey Island and covered ourselves with bug spray for the swamp tour; we got to see a couple of gators (one was huge - about 14 feet long), lots of snakes, turtles and egrets and got some good background information on the swamp environment. After the trip we headed over to K's grandparents house to clean up for dinner and share some tea and cakes.
Dinner and dancing to Zydeco music was to be had at http://www.mulates.com/ - I had a great time (though I always will when it involves dancing) and had catfish, crawfish and jambalaya for dinner. After dinner K, H and B and I split off from K's parents to wander the quarter a bit before heading back. K had to sing in the morning and needes some rest.

Saturday
We started again with the free breakfast and walked out toward St. Charles Ave through what we ended up naming 'the dog park' (per K's dad it was Colleseum park). We took the http://www.neworleans.com/cgi-bin/oracle/hs.cgi?search=CAT&Category=GETTING%20AROUND%20N.O.%3AMaps%3ASaint%20Charles%20Streetcar%20Route down to Canal stret and walked through the Quarter to the river to get to the http://www.auduboninstitute.org/aoa.htm . It was amazing! We got to pet a baby shark and see many many of them. After the aquarium we headed to lunch at http://www.napoleonhouse.com/ where I finally tried my first Muffalette (mmmm)! From there we did a bit of shopping and headed on foot to the http://www.superdome.com/index2.html to see K sing the national anthem and Tulane Alma Mater song. After both were done (half-time) H, B and I headed out (this time in the POURING rain) back to the quarter for a bit more shopping, eating and exploring. We went to http://www.gargoylesclothing.com/ and their associated other stores for shoes and leather for a bit of browsing and then sopping wet made our way to http://www.luckychengs.com/ for dinner and the show - it was VERY entertaining to say the least! By the time we were done (three hours later!) we walked over to http://www.celticnationsworld.com/oflahertys.htm to meet up with K and her friends for some drinks and dancing (I've never done it before but got some compliments from the teachers for picking it up so quickly). From there we headed to the gothy night, "Insomnia" at The Crow Bar (formerly known as the Crystal). Things didn't pick up until late and the club was small (about 1/4 the size of Ceremony) but it was a nice group and the music was wonderful. We met a few Nola goths and the DJ actually walked around asking people what their requests were! We hooked up with a couple from CA and continued from there to check out http://www.originaldungeon.com/ . It was great! We heard Danzig, old Iron Maiden, gothy and industrial stuff and newer rock-rap favorites, it totally brought me back to my hardcore days! At one point a random NOLA goth told our CA companion that she thought I was very pretty and the two of them watched me in my grrrrrrl glory . . . I found out about it when we left and walked over to http://www.cafedumonde.com/ for the famous cafe au lait and beignets with our friends from CA. Our waiter was a gamer that just relocated from Seattle and was asking K about gaming opportunities in the area. After much giddiness (in particular, H doing lounge-singer versions of Iron Maiden songs) we split from our CA friends and headed home - I think it was around 5:00 AM. K headed down Tchoupitoulas to drive us home for some reason and commented on how it was a scary neighborhood "if your car ever breaks down here abandon it and run as fast as you can for help". A few minutes later we saw around 16 cruisers and cops walking around looking for something/somebody (eek) . . . we still never did find out what was up but B noticed a van crashed into some kind of construction equiptment with the back doors open. We got back to the inn and changed into warm dry clothing though the cold was a nice break from the 90 degree weather we had had during the past couple of days.

Sunday
After a late breakfast at http://www.bestofneworleans.com/cuis/restreviews/ruedelacourse.html and headed back to the St. Charles Streetcar and into the quarter for lots of shopping. We checked out the tacky and touristy Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo and surrounding shops on Bourbon. We went to the Mardi Gras Museum at the Presbetiere. Other places hit were: Trashy Diva, the French Market, a neat pet store where I bought an "Beware of attack rabbit" plaque and a little lace store where I picked up some crocheted gloves for my halloween costume. http://www.darkentry.com/ has a really cheesy entryway but had the larges selection of PVC clothing that we found (still no luck with something for the dancer). We also hit Second Skin and Esoterica.
After lunch at http://www.gumboshop.com/welcome.html of (you guessed it) gumbo and po-boys we poked around in St. Louis Cathedral and heard some music at Jackson Square. We checked out a couple of the strip clubs on Bourban too! Rick's Cabaret was pretty unexciting and was supposed to be classy joint of the quarter - we went it, got a drink and then left when done. Then we headed to the ultra tacky Big Daddy's (the one with women's feet coming out through the wall made to look like she's on a swing). Within 10 minutes B and I were propositioned by a dancer to do basically whatever we wanted to her (and her to us) in a private room for $50, she proceeded to tell us how lots of the dancers have sex with customers in the private rooms and then commented on B's Evangelion T-shirt and how her "old man" and she watch anime. She was not very attractive, was very pushy and we were sqicked out by the whole deal. We were told later by a tour guide that "sex is a game" for a lot of the clubs and this thing wasn't all that uncommon.
After that we headed to Pirate's Alley Cafe, near the http://www.wordsandmusic.org/ and the place where the local goths hang out before clubs or when there isn't any clubbing going on. We ran into a NOLA goth who introduced herself to us earlier in the Gumbo Shop and had some yummy turkey on Croissant sandwiches (pulling bits of meat out for the stray cat that came by to visit). After getting some tea to go we headed back to St. Vincent's to sit in the courtyard and make a phone call to home before bed.

To be continued . . .

Nola #2

continued . . .

Monday
Free breakfast and streetcare to the http://www.voodoomuseum.com/ where we met up with K and H and did a tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1, related stops along the way (the burial chapel, the site of Marie Laveau's house, a Voodoo Temple and Congo Square). Our guide was amazing - very down to earth, informative, knowledgeable and funny. When he found out that K was from the area he yelled into the other room "GIRL, WHAT'S YOUR MOMMA'S NAME". After the tour we got a walk through of the voodoo museum itself and watched a 'voodoo 101' video.
We split for lunch, K and H heading to http://foodfest.neworleans.com/sponsor/menu.html and B and I heading to http://www.petuniasrestaurant.com/ (according to K owned by the same people that run http://www.commanderspalace.com/ ). I would have liked to do the fancy dinner thing but B doesn't really have the clothing for it and is a bit morally opposed. The food was wonderful (I got fried catfish and okra) and then we headed back to the burial chapel (Our Lady of Guadalupe) for some more pictures. After that we decided to head down to the streetcar again and head into the Garden District for more walking/shopping. Cutting through Audubon Park to Magazine and hopping on and off the Magaine Street #1 bus we hit various shops along the way - unfortunately the Westgate and Zoo were closed so we would need to wait for another day to do that. We did check out http://www.biglifetoys.com/ and Ragin' Daisy. By this time we were pooped and took the bus back to St. Vincent's to relax a bit before dinner.
We took a cab into the Quarter and stopped at http://www.clovergrill.com/ (they cook the hamburgers under a hub cap and Frommer's rates them the best burgers in the area) and I had a grilled cheese w/tomato and fries. We were going on a ghost/vampire tour with Magic Walking Tours (voted the best by Frommer's and others and one of the first walking tour groups in NOLA). We met up with the guide at http://neworleans.citysearch.com/profile/4428903/ and had time for a drink and pictures before the piano guys started singing "how much is that doggy in the window, woof woof" (God, it was horrible) and the tour begn. It was really nice to be out in the cool air. This guide was good too and we saw some neat places; the only drawback was that the group was left on North Rampart Street at http://www.funkybutt.com/ . It was nice to hear the music (one of the Marsalis brothers was playing) but it was not nice how the guide just dumped everyone there and left . . . the street itself was safe enough but according to lots of sources and our own observations walking back to the quarter from there was definately NOT safe. We advised people to take cabs home and stayed for a bit for drinks and some bananna's foster. At around midnight we caught a cab home and got into bed since the next day we'd have an early morning!

Tuesday
After breakfast K and her mom picked us up at 8:30 to head out for plantation tours. First we hit http://www.destrehanplantation.org/ , they planted first Indigo (which would kill the slaves working with the chemicals after 5 years), then sugar and then finally Oil before the plantation fell to ruins and was then renovated in the 1960's by a historical preservation group. We drove a bit and ended up back at K's house for a quick bathroom break and then went to a nice local place for lunch where I got some paneed chicken with rice and gravy; out waitress had a wonderful accent and the place was right out of Alice's Diner! From there we headed off with K's dad who joined the group to http://www.oakalleyplantation.com/ and then for a quick stop at the gift shop at http://www.lauraplantation.com/ so that K could look for a particular book. After that we drove a bit getting lots of random facts about Louisiana from K's dad stopped at http://www.sonicdrivein.com/ for ice cream shakes and floats. Then they dropped us off at the inn for some relaxation so that K could get some errands done before we met for dinner. It is here were we saw our 'substitute' orange and white cat again which promptly jumped up into my lap and started purring and drooling on my leg. We then went inside for a bit before K picked us up to head to http://www.bestofneworleans.com/cuis/restreviews/mystic.html for dinner. Dinner was followed by a drive around the Garden District to find Trent Reznor's house, Anne Rice's primary residence and other properties and to look at cemetary gates (Lafayette was the one we found before getting lost on the other side of town and giving up). More cemetaries were to be seen on the next day.

Wednesday
This was the day to squeeze in all things we had set out to do and hadn't yet. We took the bus down to http://www.auduboninstitute.org/zoo.htm after breakfast and after a few hours headed to http://www.westgatenecromantic.com/index.htm . While waiting for our bus one drove by with "emergency, call police" on its scrolling sign that would normally indicate the bus number and route. Since we had no idea how to call the police in NOLA we waited a few minutes until the next bus came and told the driver about it - she was no help "ah, someone will call" and closed the door behind us. We stopped to have another meal at Juan's Flying Burrito (this time the waitstaff was mostly hippy). We headed back to the inn to pack and wait for K and her mom while chatting with an older couple from RI that was having issues checking into the inn (they lost their deposit). The evening was spent first taking pictures at http://www.yatcom.com/neworl/naborhud/midcity/metairiecemetery/metairiecemetery.html and the nearby pauper cemetery. Then we headed back for the evening to K's family home for a cook-out, yummy desserts and some hanging out and packing before the early morning trip to the airport.

Thursday
Our day to return to normal life - we woke up around 5:15, gathered our things together and then K's dad drove us out to a real, stand-alone http://www.krispykreme.com/ to get breakfast and see how the donuts are made on the little conveyer belt with the curtain of glaze. We were a bit sleepy and scatterbrained and the woman behind the counter got a bit irritated with us (she gave us free donuts just to go away). It only took about 1/2 hour to check in and go through security clearance at the airport (though B's stuff was more thoroughly searched compared to other airport times) and we had about one 1/2 hours to nap before boarding the plane. We took another stop-over in Charlotte and then onward to Boston, the three of us reading most of the way and B reciting excerts from "Our Name is Melancholy" - the Westgate's main book. Our adventure ended with Lachesis waving and waiting to escort us home in the lobby.

Whew, so it was lots of fun, we got lots of neat pictures at http://www.shaghaus.org/albums/vacations_and_special_events/new_orleans_2001/

But its nice to be back :)