New Orleans

Ten years ago, this happened...

To celebrate our anniversary, we went to New Orleans in April.  I had never been to New Orleans, but had wanted to go.  Jim had been several times and was excited to show me around.  My parents kept the kids for the 3 nights (and 4 days)!

We were supposed to get into New Orleans early Saturday morning and were planning to spend the day at the Jazz Festival.  As we were flying over Lake Pontchartrain it began to lightning so our plane was diverted to Gulfport, MS.  After several hours, we made it into NOLA late Saturday afternoon.  When we arrived at our hotel, the Omni Royal Orleans, this was waiting in our room: champagne, flowers, and chocolate-covered strawberries!

We quickly dropped off our bags and took a cab to the festival.

We arrived just in time to see The Who.  It was crowded!

While we were in Gulfport, it was pouring in New Orleans.  So, the entire festival grounds looked like this...

We walked through a nearby neighborhood after the festival and saw many groups of locals playing music on street corners.  It was a festive atmosphere.

We took a bus back to the French Quarter where we were staying and explored the nightlife.

The next morning, Jim and I attended Mass at St. Louis Cathedral, a short walk from our hotel.  It is the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States.

Cafe Du Monde was close by, but the line was quite long.  We decided to come back later for their famous beignets.

We walked back to our hotel to take a bus tour of New Orleans (that's Jim in the red cap out front). 

Our hotel was huge!

Our bus tour included seeing the Lower Ninth Ward, an area particularly hard hit by Katrina.  On this pole, you can see the water marks from the flooding.

Here is an example of a home that was flooded.

The writing on the wall of the house was a code left by responders to record when they entered the house and how many victims (living and dead) they found in the house, among other things.  

Jim is standing outside of Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, which is supposedly the oldest structure used as a bar in the United States.

Sunday night, we got ready to hit the town.  Just because it's Sunday doesn't mean things slow down in New Orleans! We went out to dinner and then to the Rock n' Bowl, a local place with live music (and bowling) far from the French Quarter.

 

After the Rock n' Bowl, we had beignets at Cafe Du Monde.  The wait wasn't nearly as long late at night!

 

Monday morning, we enjoyed the views from the hotel rooftop.

There was a rooftop pool that we swam in briefly, just to say we did.

We had lunch reservations at Commander's Palace in the Garden District on Monday.  The food was superb, and the martinis were 25 cents each (limit of three per person - not a problem)!

 

Monday evening we went to Preservation Hall.  

Each night they play 3 jazz concerts.  The hall opened in 1961 and I don't think they have done anything to preserve it since then.  It is a small venue, but every show is packed.  You feel like you are in someone's living room listening as they improvise without a sound system. 

On Tuesday morning, we flew back home and were thrilled to see our 4 beautiful children.  My how our life has changed in the past ten years!