New Orleans

Ahhh, New Orleans. I'm not sure whether it is my history of having read all of Anne Rice's books or just the interesting contrasts of the city that makes New Orleans so attractive. I stayed at the Wyndham Belle Maison resort, and it was the perfect place. It's in an old building about a block and a half off Canal Street. Technically, it's not in the Quarter, which turned out to be a positive. It was nice to have that short walk out of the French Quarter into the relative peace and quiet of Magazine Street.

I walked all over. I walked almost every street in the quarter reliving memories of my time there with Marta some years ago. I saw the antique shops and the historical spots. I took a carriage ride which was wonderful because I got a real grounding in the architecture of the French quarter. I also took the trolley out to the Garden District, which fortunately was not damaged in the hurricane. The houses there exude Southern charm.  I walked all over, and got lots of excercise.  Here are a couple of examples:

 When I had been there several days, Karen arrived. We had some wonderful New Orleans food. We ate one evening on a balcony and I had crawfish étouffée, and she had red beans and rice. We felt like we had arrived, and giggled a bit about the fact that the four guys at the next table were all eating cheeseburgers.

Given Karen's interest in jazz, she had a magazine from the 1940s which was a jazz yearbook. It had the layout for Storyville, which was where all of the jazz clubs were at the time. We decided to see if we could find any of the old buildings.  We went down Rampart Street, and did find a few buildings from that era. Karen was snapping pictures, and fortunately her skills with a camera far outshine mine. Most of that area however has been plowed over and now has huge bank buildings. Since I had been on my horse-drawn carriage ride, I was aware of where jazz is now being played off to the side of the French quarter. So we walked through the quarter and went to that area. It was a little too early for the music, and since we had been up early that day, we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to stay up late enough to go there for the evening. Instead we walked down Bourbon Street and found an outdoor patio with music playing. We listened to Steamboat Willie. While not perhaps a terrific singer, he was an excellent trumpet player and very enthusiastic, with a great sense of showmanship.

Karen and I also had the opportunity to play some golf at a place called Lakewood. It was a really nice course, but different from what we would experience when we got to Alabama for the Robert Trent Jones golf Trail. While we didn't play our best golf, it was nice to start getting loosened up. After Karen had been two days in New Orleans, we left to drive to mobile to meet Kit and Jim.