** New Orleans: PHOTO journal @ Western Caribbean & NOLA post-cruise (Sept. 2012) **

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

It is easy to spot the colorful plants and ferns that people use to decorate those historic buildings @ New Orleans' French Quarter.

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

The French Quarter balconies look great with the hearty plants or hanging ferns... wrought iron and French doors!

 

Those decorative details make the New Orleans French Quarter a more livable and beautiful place to visit.

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

"I see a sea of smiles

I see a haunted city reachin' out

I see hope in all their faces!

 

Behind the mask of Mardi Gras

Where the good and the righteous walk

And the wicked as well"

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

"I wanna get a room in New Orleans

I wanna sing in the streets of the French Quarter!

 

I wanna dress up

I wanna wear beads

I wanna wear feathers and lace

I wanna brush by the vampires"

 

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

"Within these rooms

I go up to my balcony

And I hang the paintings on the wall

And I open up my gallery

 

And I open up my doors

I stare at the city" (of New Orleans)

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

"I wanna dress up, ooh yea

I wanna wear feathers and lace

 

I wanna brush by Anne Rice

And go down Bourbon Street

Mmmm, go on down Bourbon Street"

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

"I wanna get back to New Orleans

I wanna sing out in the streets of the French Quarter

 

I wanna dress up

I wanna wear beads

I wanna wear feathers and lace

I wanna brush by Anne Rice

Go down Bourbon Street

 

Go down Bourbon Street

Go on down Bourbon Street

Go on down Bourbon Street

Go on down

Go on down

Go on down

Go on down Bourbon Street"

 

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

Sometimes you just have to revisit some of your favorite places and neighborhoods.

 

 

 

“New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.”

― Mark Twain

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

“But during all these years I had a vague but persistent desire to return to New Orleans.

 

I never forgot New Orleans.

 

And when we were in tropical places and places of those flowers and trees that grow in Louisiana,

 

I would think of it acutely and I would feel for my home the only glimmer of desire I felt

for anything outside my endless pursuit of art.”

 

― Anne Rice, "Interview with the vampire"

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

“Everybody here has a story.

 

New Orleans was always a place where people talked too much even if they had nothing to say.

 

Now everyone's got something to say.”

 

― Chris Rose, "1 Dead in Attic"

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If New Orleans is not fully in the mainstream of culture, neither is it fully in the mainstream of time.

 

Lacking a well-defined present, it lives somewhere between its past and its future, as if uncertain whether to advance or to retreat.

 

Perhaps it is its perpetual ambivalence that is its secret charm.

 

Somewhere between Preservation Hall and the Superdome, between voodoo and cybernetics,

 

New Orleans listens eagerly to the seductive promises of the future but keeps at least one foot firmly planted in its history,

 

and in the end, conforms, like an artist, not to the world but to its own inner being--ever mindful of its personal style.”

 

― Tom Robbins, "Jitterbug perfume"

 

 

[daliflor]

“The minute you land in New Orleans, something wet and dark leaps on you and starts humping you like a swamp dog in heat,

and the only way to get that aspect of New Orleans off you is to eat it off.

 

That means beignets and crayfish bisque and jambalaya,

 

it means shrimp remoulade, pecan pie, and red beans with rice,

 

it means elegant pompano au papillote, funky file z'herbes, and raw oysters by the dozen,

 

it means grillades for breakfast, a po' boy with chowchow at bedtime, and tubs of gumbo in between.

 

It is not unusual for a visitor to the city to gain fifteen pounds in a week-- yet the alternative is a whole lot worse.

 

If you don't eat day and night, if you don't constantly funnel the indigenous flavors into your bloodstream,

then the mystery beast will go right on humping you,

and you will feel its sordid presence rubbing against you long after you have left town."

― Tom Robbins, "Jitterbug perfume"

 

Though 613 Rue Royale is named for Emma and Bertha Camors, sisters who once owned a notions and fancies shop here,

the Court of the Two Sisters has a long and interesting history.

 

Emma and Bertha belonged to a proud, aristocratic Creole family;their “rabais,” or notions,

outfitted many of New Orleans’ high society women in formal gowns, lace, and perfumes imported from Paris.

 

With a larger courtyard than its neighbors, the residence lent itself to visitors, and the sisters’ shop received many.

 

 

"We will continue what the two sisters and our father did best...

entertain visitors in the largest courtyard in the French Quarter with a memorable dining experience."

 

-- Joseph Fein, III

 

 

"New Orleans is a destination for food, history and music. The Court of Two Sisters offers an authentic blend of all.

 

Guests from all over compliment us on the quality of all our food... from the hot and cold buffets to our gourmet Creole dinners.

 

Our picturesque old-world courtyard with original gas lights and flowing fountains and

our three differently styled dining rooms add to the unique history of our French Quarter building.

 

We are proud to be the only historic restaurant in New Orleans to offer a strolling trio

playing real New Orleans jazz 7 days a week during our world-famous Daily Jazz Brunch.

 

My brother and I are committed to maintaining the reputation of the

Court of Two Sisters as one of New Orleans' premier restaurants."

 

- - Jerome Fein

 

 

 

"There is no gradual sliding into the (French) Quarter,

 

you go there to find something you cannot find elsewhere."

 

 

 

There is... "a mystique,

 

an ambiance as indefinable as a scent you once smelled and long to smell again."

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

"For Quarterites it is the great love affair.

 

Light and music pour from doorways into the street,

here the carnival and there the quiet of candlelight.

A celebration of flesh, and an acknowledgement of the spirit."

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

Shopping (and window shopping) in the French Quarter... Monday, early evening - October 1st 2012

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

The main street for art in the French Quarter is Royal Street.

 

The galleries run along Royal from Canal Street to Esplanade,with the most

concentration being between the 300 and the 800 blocks.

 

 

(If your taste in art runs more toward contemporary,

try the art galleries on Julia Street in the Warehouse/Arts District)

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

“Louisiana in September was like an obscene phone call from nature.

 

The air--moist, sultry, secretive, and far from fresh--felt as if it were being exhaled into one's face.

 

Sometimes it even sounded like heavy breathing.

 

Honeysuckle, swamp flowers, magnolia, and the mystery smell of the river scented the atmosphere,

amplifying the intrusion of organic sleaze.

 

It was aphrodisiac and repressive, soft and violent at the same time.

 

In New Orleans, in the French Quarter, miles from the barking lungs of alligators, the air maintained this quality of breath,

 

although here it acquired a tinge of metallic halitosis, due to fumes expelled by tourist buses, trucks delivering Dixie beer,

 

and, on Decatur Street, a mass-transit motor coach named Desire.”

 

― Tom Robbins, "Jitterbug perfume"

 

 

“New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.”

 

― Mark Twain

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

“Yes, a dark time passed over this land, but now there is something like light.”

― Dave Eggers, "Zeitoun"

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

Back to the hotel on Monday evening... met our friends and

headed to the "GW Fins" Restaurant to celebrate our friend's Birthday...

 

Unfortunately, we never made it to the 8PM dinner celebration @ "GW Fins..."

We were close to the restaurant that evening when our Birthday girl had her bag snatched.

 

Long story short, per the police report, it was a "simple robbery..."

 

Bottom line: despite having all her docs taken away (passport, IDs, credit cards, iPhone etc.),

our Birthday girl was eventually able to make it past this unfortunate event and

ALL of us were there for her, providing unconditional emotional and financial support along the way.

 

 

Good night, New Orleans!

 

Tomorrow is another day... hopefully a much BETTER day!

[mafig]

Can you describe how the bag snatching happened? Where?

[daliflor]

Can you describe how the bag snatching happened? Where?

 

I rather don't get into many specifics...

 

As briefly mentioned earlier, we were on our way to dinner; left the hotel on Magazine Street and crossed the Canal Street

to get to the GW Fins Restaurant.

 

It happened fast; we actually flagged the Police car at the street light - 4 minutes after the incident -

very, very close to where it happend.

 

They did basically nothing (outside taking their sweet time writing a report for "simple robbery")

despite us showing them exactly the area where the robber fled to.

 

It was very unfortunate but again, we tried to move on and helped our friend recover,

contact the Consulate, all the credit card companies overseas, insurance company etc.

 

Few days later, she eventually made it back home ok but it was a rather painful and complicated, beaurocratic process

as several essential docs had to be replaced and others to be submitted for the insurance claim(s).

 

A special note to the hotel assistant manager in charge that night. He was awesome -

extremely helpful and efficient (i.e. provided first aid assistance, free drinks, guidance etc.).

 

 

Anyway, Tuesday was a better day and even the SUN came out, so life goes on and so are we!

[daliflor]

Tuesday morning, for the first time in 3 days, the SUN came out in New Orleans!

 

It was a glorious day and we had a GREAT TIME!

 

 

All of us enjoyed a complimentary Continental breakfast at the hotel

(before going our separate ways: our friends left for their Laura Plantation Tour that morning).

 

 

One more sip of coffee and the van came to pick-us up @ the hotel!

 

Unlike our friends, we decided to go with a highly recommended tour company used by various CC fellow members.

In addition, as we booked the tour directly online, we got a discount and the best price available at the time for

a COMBO TOUR (same day Swamp Tour and Plantation Tour too)

 

This full day tour was the best post-cruise experience we had this time around! Great FUN and wonderful memories!

 

For $83.00 USD/pp, we were picked-up (and dropped off) at the hotel and opted for the Swamp Tour first and then

chose the Oak Alley Plantation Tour (for the second part of the day).

 

OFF we go!

[daliflor]

 

 

 

The drive to the boat that took us "swamping" was smooth and uneventful.

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

As we're getting closer and closer to the meeting point to start our Swamp Tour,

I had flash backs to my first glimpse at Louisiana's swamps as we were touching down in the New Orleans airport,

the embarkation day of our 2012 Western Caribbean cruise:

 

VIDEO (arrival in NOLA's Airport via a Jet Blue flight, 09/23/2012):

 

 

 

 

New Orleans is surrounded by water. Lakes, rivers, swamps and marsh.

 

To get the real feel of what makes New Orleans so geographically isolated, you have to take either an aerial tour or a swamp tour.

 

Either one will take your breath away as you begin to realize that New Orleans is a giant Venice,

 

an island city, built on wetlands and held hostage to the forces of water all around it.

[daliflor]

 

 

 

Once the van driver dropped us off at the meeting point for the boat, the check-in process was a breeze:

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

 

Got our colorful boat tickets and stayed in the waiting area for couple of minutes,

mingling with the rest of the gang and chatting over refreshments.

 

 

 

 

[daliflor]

 

 

 

Taking a Louisiana Swamp Tour was the best way for us (first time NOLA visitors) to see

the environment that both besieges the city with the threat of inundation

and blesses it with a bounty of seafood, waterfowl, lumber, oil and natural gas.