Blogs from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, North America - page 47

B4 i get in2 New Orleans, a little story about the train journey. We got on the train at Greensboro and due 2 the fact that it was busy me and Ben had 2 sit near strangers. The train emptied at Charlotte (wooooo). I found myself left with 2 seats and in need of sleep so sprawled out 2 get sum kip. Ben did the same aswell a dozen rows up from me. I actually had a reasonable nights sleep and woke up and began 2 got lost in the scenery outside the window when Ben came down and told me there was a seat spare next 2 him and that he had somethin funny 2 show me. I moved up 2 where Ben was and he showed me a note which had been left with ... read more

Posted by Onaxthiel: Lafayette isn't the most interesting city in Louisiana. I'm sure it would be on a weekend, or anytime we wanted to go out and party, but on a Tuesday night it's just not a hopping town. That's alright with us. All we really wanted to see in town was an old Catholic cathedral by the name of St. John the Evangelist. Luckily, that was easily found and we had the the unexpected opportunity to view the church's necropolis. As in much of the rest of the state, Lafayette keeps most of its dead in family crypts. This is due to the very high water table/very low elevation of the towns. If Louisianans just buried their dead like everyone else, every spring would bring slightly more decayed friends and family back for unexpected and ... read more

24th to 25th March - Chicago Two museums and a quick peek at the Art Institute finished the Chicago experience. The museum of Science and Industry had, amongst other stuff, a huge model train set depicting the ride from Seattle to Chicago with plains, mountains and rivers as well as the cities, people and industry; and a WW2 German U-boat captured off the coast of Africa and brought back to the USA to use in the breaking of the Enigma code. This museum claims that the US broke the Enigma code and my understanding has always been that the British broke it at Bletchley? Any information anyone? The Field museum the following day was fantastic - very varied exhibits ranging from the Ancient Americas through the Crow Indians, gem, mineral and meteorite galleries, and a huge ... read more

It wasn’t going to be easy for any city to follow Habana and give us the same level of fabulous experiences and enjoyment we’d had there. New Orleans did though, and then some!! As soon as we walked into the Arrivals Hall at Louis Armstrong Airport, we sensed we were in for something special. The task of getting there from Cancun had been a frustrating one as we’d had to change planes at Miami; security there, whilst understandably thorough, was painfully slow. Endless queues, finger print scans etc meant three hours of flying time took over eight hours travelling but we soon forgot this minor inconvenience. Music from Satchmo himself soothed us as we waited for our cases and left us in a much better mood. The cab ride into the city proved interesting in itself ... read more

We left the 3rd Annual Gravlee Reunion Care-A-Vanner Build with the same mixed feelings we experienced the last two years. It was with pride that the group completed the finish work in 14 homes during our 6 weeks of work. Finish work is hard and we repeated the same tasks - scraping drywall from floors, installing trim, painting walls, painting/caulking trim, painting doors, installing wood floors, building sheds, etc. We got to meet several family members who were so thankful and three families moved the weekend we left. What satisfaction that has given us! On the other hand we were leaving behind those families who will continue to wait for a safe and decent home. And then there are those great friends who go their separate ways. That's very hard. But our planning for '09 Reunion ... read more