NOLA

On a slightly lighter tone than my last blog … we experienced New Orleans, (Nola) another first for me and we arrived just in time for Mardi Gras! I was looking forward to it with equal parts excitement and trepidation … but with complete anticipation. As most of you know, I'm not a big fan of crowds, or noise or smells or bright flashing lights … all of which I thought could be quite likely at the parades, et.al. But I was very much looking forward to seeing the architecture and the iron work, art and history, the balconies, houses, parks, streets and alleys.

I also wanted to experience the music and Jackson Square, Preservation Hall, the great Mississippi River, beignets …

This blog will mostly be pics, because I think that's the best way to experience Nola. If you can't be there in person, do it through pics!

To the pics:

Nola. Street views

Nola is such an interesting city, a juxtaposition of the old (it was founded in 1718) and the new vibrant city that it is today.

I may not stray far from my Vermont roots with my dislike of billboards, but I love these painted advertisements and murals on the sides of buildings.

Mardi Gras. The celebration seems to last for about a week with more than 30 parades, bands, a Lundi Gras festival, specials in all the stores and eateries and with nearly all of the houses, balconies, trees, light poles, fences and every other thing decorated to celebrate the event.

Here's a crowd waiting for a parade. Check out these step ladders with seats on them. They can be rented (or purchased) from hardware stores around the city and they have wheels so they are easy to transport. Leave it to New Orleans to come up with an elevated, transportable, parade-viewing seat.

But, of course, the really big thing about Mardi Gras parades are the “throws”, the beads, trinkets and do-dads that the float “krews” throw to the crowds. Below, a participant on a Shriner mini-car, has all her throws, especially the beads, lined up in easy reach to toss as the parade progresses down the route.

A few of the floats. These floats certainly were not as spectacular as the Rose Parade floats, (or the Green Mountain Union High School Alumni Parade floats, of course 😂) but … sometimes they were satirical, sometimes politically relevant, sometimes irreverent, sometimes traditional, always interesting and filled with krews throwing out all sorts of “stuff”.

The krews always wore a "fez style" hat with material attached to the back draping behind it to about their shoulders and masks. (Not being of this tradition, I thought they looked more creepy than benevolent, 😬 just sayin‘)

The spectators were involved in the revelry and costumes as well. Who knew there was such a thing as a Mardi Gras chicken hat??? (BTW, I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but for those of you who are not aware, green, purple and gold are the official Mardi Gras colors and they were everywhere!)

We made it through one parade during the day and now another one has started up. Several of the beads, that were thrown, lit up so now that it was dark, they were the cool ones that everyone wished they had caught. (Note the kids are in their elevated seats.)

Here's Martin sporting some of his swag (And yes, the hat was a throw)

The parade is over, we're headed to our cars and take a look at the streets. They were like that for blocks, maybe the whole parade route, I don't know. I found the trash and litter pretty revolting.

To tell the truth, I really had some trouble understanding this whole event. I try to be open minded about the different cultures and celebrations that we've encountered in our travels, but I had a hard time with what seemed like a wanton display of overindulgences of all kinds. But, I must say, that the very worst part, was that I, too, was standing on the side of the street jumping up and down, waving my arms shouting, “ME! ME!! ME!!!” Thrilling over every “throw” that I caught ... So what does that say? 🤔😂 I can't decide if it's a good time (that has gotten a little out of control, what with all the tourists and all) or if it promotes and celebrates the excesses that a more sober, respectful and environmentally conscious world can no longer afford. And who gets to make those choices? Certainly not I.

I have two final notes to add: kudos to the city maintenance crews, all the streets were cleaned up, swept and washed down by the next day. It was remarkable how efficient and thorough they were at cleaning up (I guess they've had some practice 🙄). And my second, is that despite the fact that it was super crowded, people were indulging in all sorts of things and we'd heard many tales of how dangerous it was to be downtown, (pickpocketing, mugging, assaults…more) I never felt in any personal danger. There was no roughness, people were being polite, everybody was just celebrating and having a good time. It was crazy crowded, and noisy and smokey and smelly and I don't ever want to do it again, but I felt safe.

The infamous Bourbon Street. All the streets in the French Quarter not only had their names on typical street signs, but they also in the side walks

and at the corners there were fancy tiled signs listing the street name when Louisiana was a Spanish Province. (Yes, a Spanish Province … more on that in the next blog)

This is a morning picture of the street. Again, I was so amazed at how the bars, restaurants and streets were all so clean. As we walked by some of the establishments I could see them hosing down the walls, bar, tables and floors and then the sidewalk, pushing the water out the door across the sidewalk and into the drains. I guess you can do that when everything is tiled or cement and nothing freezes.

Mardi Gras museum. It was full of the most amazing costumes. I couldn't imagine trying to walk around with that on my head! They had a special display of one designer and for several of his pieces they showed his original sketches next to the finished piece. Having an interest in costuming, I found this particularly fascinating.

Jackson Square: St Louis’ Cathedral in the background with the statue of Andrew Jackson in the foreground. Andrew Jackson is a hero in Nola. He saved New Orleans from a British invasion in the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.

St. Louis Cathedral inside

We did all the appropriate touristy things… our pic in front of the square

beignets at Cafe du Monde

checked out ship traffic on the Mississippi

and went to the French Market.

But mostly we spent a lot of time walking around the streets. the French Quarter: with its grillwork everywhere

some hiding secret gardens

(the view through the grillwork in the pic above)

some in unexpected colors,

unexpected sights waiting at the stoplight

and oranges from someone’s garden.

We finished our day in the city with a steamboat dinner cruise aboard the Natchez on the Mississippi.

The menu had all sorts of great things on it ... for Martin, lots of spice, lots of peppers, lots of blackened items, lots of Cajun 🙄. I mean, even the rolls had peppers in them! The food of southern Louisiana is a melding of West African, French and Spanish with some new world additions and substitutions. Here I am, decked out in my Mardi Gras earrings, giving the jambalaya a very suspicious look. Haha. Next to the dessert it was the best thing on the menu. Haha!

Another day we decided to take a streetcar. As the streetcar pulled up and we got onboard it was hard not to think we had been transported back to the ‘40s. It gave a very old-timey feeling, such a beautiful car, a museum piece

and inside the streetcar, shades that pull-up and down, wood trim and

… all wooden seats. So gorgeous.

A colorful city block

more walking and observing I loved the way the Mardi Gras beads hung from the fences

a stately old section of the city, brick sidewalks, horse head hitching posts, graceful old trees

and the pic below was one of my favorite “spots”, a dog, on the front step of a grand house, perfectly positioned to watch the street, with the Mardi Gras bead bedecked dog statues on either side. Haha!

camellias

house ornamentations: stained glass window accents and decorative roof finial

All the houses, no matter their size, had tall windows and doors (usually with transoms) as well as large pillared verandas with the pillars supporting the overhanging roof.

iron gates

a horse head hitching post and mounting block or carriage stone to aid in mounting/dismounting from a horse or carriage.

more beads

Even the French Embassy was tastefully decorated with Mardi Gras beads

cemetery views

We ended our combination walking and streetcar discovery by getting off at Loyola University New Orleans and wandering through the park where we encountered:

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks (they had the funniest sounding call)

(And I couldn't decide if I thought this guy looked super athletic or super goofy balancing on one leg)

a giant egret with reflection as seen through the fountain

turtles! reflecting while basking

and disappearing.

“bead trees”... We encountered many of these on our journey. Trees draped with beads. Some had a just a few …

and some were literally covered!

Many houses were decorated as well.

We toured a cemetery. Nola has developed some interesting ways of dealing with, how to put this delicately 🤔, “our earthly remains once the spirit has left us” or less delicately…”what to do with the bodies of people who have died”. Why is this a problem? Why can't they just bury them like everyone else? It has to do with the water table being so high, being located in a sub-tropical zone and no one wanting anyone's coffin randomly popping up (which they really did for a while, even when they put weights in the coffins!😱). As a result a most interesting process was developed to avoid such problems. They use above ground crypts, don't embalm the body and put it in an upper space and seal it, ie mortar the drawer shut. After a minimum of one year and one day (during which time nature and climate have worked together to decompose the body and some of the bones as well) the “top drawer” can be opened and the remains moved to the second drawer, if the crypt has one, or to the bottom where the bones continue to decompose and mix with their ancestors, family, whomever else is buried in the crypt. Typically the crypts are owned by families but can be groups, teams, social clubs, etc. St. Louis Cemetery Number One, below, is the oldest, still active cemetery in Nola today.

More elegant ironwork along a second floor veranda. I totally fell in love with the corner buildings that had wrap around second story verandas. Be still my beating heart, they were just luscious

with beautiful light fixtures, windows and ironwork railings

St Louis' spires against the night sky

We went to Preservation Hall one evening, a tiny little space with wooden benches, about five rows deep and a bit of standing room behind and to the side. We heard a small jazz group and were practically close enough to reach out and touch them. It was great!