New Orleans

We got back from New Orleans last night. It was a good trip! We heard that it was dryer than usual. This whole month has been pretty dry and the only day it rained was Saturday, our last day there.

Some highlights of the trip:
Bourbon Street: I know some people have been there and can't stand it. But we like that kind of thing. Well, some of it. It was a unique street. TONS of bars and some strip clubs throughout it, as well as souvenir stores and restaurants. And one of the best things about New Orleans in general was the fact that you can carry an alcoholic beverage around with you. And we forgot it's almost St. Patrick's Day, so this was considered a holiday weekend. It was pretty crazy! Probably the best drink was the Grenade, which had grain alcohol in it and was pretty tasty.

Preservation Hall: This, well, it was kind of a highlight for me because it made me feel like I was in the old days of New Orleans. My parents recommended that we go to a bar next door called Pat O'Briens to get a hurricane (the signature drink) so we would enjoy the music at Preservation Hall better. We went to Pat O'Brien's first and had a hurricane, but did some other things in between. Anyway, this jazz group played in the front and literally everyone was squished in, enjoying the music. They played three sets of 45 minutes each with 15 minutes in between to let people go out and new people come in. You could stay if you wanted (and there was a charge to get in). We were in for the 2nd set and decided to leave because it was so crowded. The music was decent, and the atmosphere was great. And yes, I say that even though I was annoyed by the woman behind me who kept touching my butt (Dave says with her purse so she didn't know).

Cemeteries: We took two cemetery tours. One of the Lafayette Cemetery No 1 in the garden district and the second of the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. The Garden District tour was themed with ghost tales and we saw a number of celebrity houses in the Garden District area, including Ann Rice, the Mannings (Archie, Peyton, and Eli), Nicholas Cage, and the house filmed in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. At each one the guide told us the store of the ghosts in the house. Well, with the exception of the Mannings' house. They didn't have a ghost story associated. Also, Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is the cemetery used in a lot of films: Interview with a Vampire, Double Jeopary, etc. It was closed when we were there so we only saw it from the outside. The St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tour was combined with VooDoo, which is actually the combination of the Roman Catholic religon and the South African religon. Also, the cemetery scenes from Easy Rider were filmed in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, which is what made the Catholic church ban films from being produced in that cemetery. I'll post pictures from St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 later.

We also saw the St. Louis Cathedral, which was beautiful, and walked the French Market near the Mississippi River. We didn't buy anything; it was a flea market.

And we saw a St. Patrick's Day parade Friday night on our way to Coyote Ugly, and got some free beads from the parade! And no, I did NOT flash for them.

We did a LOT of walking and because it was warm out, I of course sun burned. But I had sunglasses on so it was just my nose. I now look like Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer, lol!

I'll post pictures when they're on Dave's laptop and I can get online.