Blogs from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, North America - page 14

Geo: 29.9537, -90.0778We were once again awake early this morning, our body clocks still on Nevada time, and used to the 6am starts on the tour, our eyes pinged open at 8am. We had nowhere to be until 11am, and so we took our time getting ready and then made out way out onto the streets of the French Quarter. After strolling around some of the curiosity shops and art galleries of Royal Street, we passed through Jackson Square again. Here we were treated to impromptu jazz performances by two sets of buskers. One pair singing and trumpeting, while the other substituted the trumpet for a huge euphonium. New Orleans truly is the city of Jazz, with musical performances not confined to the jazz bars of Bourbon and Frenchmen streets, but where is is not uncommon ... read more

New Orleans has always been a city that has captivated the imagination and taken the visitor over layers of the most fascinating episodes of New World history. Its history reads like a novel where the city does not serve only as the setting, it serves as its own protagonist. The town has so much character and is so confident in itself, it does not need to impress the visitor (parallels I drew with my beloved Chicago). It does not need to prove anything. You change to be a part of its story. That, I realize, is what I love most about places I encounter. New Orleans is … Unique. Classic. Original. Scent of musky rose seeps from the antique buildings Soft jazz and gentle ragtime float from block after block of open bars The French Quarter ... read more

I woke up to a hangover headache but I had to get up because my first tour was 10AM. I struggled out of the bed and showered before heading to the streetcar. The hostel is right on the streetcar line which runs up and down Canal street. I paid $3 for my all day pass and headed into the French Quarter. FYI the French Quarter is actually quite small and makes up only a portion of New Orleans. First tour of the day was a Voodoo tour near Louis Armstrong Park. It was a free tour organized by Free Tours on Foot. The tour guide named Melissa told us about the history of Voodoo which is a blend Catholicism and African religions. As it turns out they were fairly easily blended and they worked on their ... read more

Geo: 29.9537, -90.0778 In the middle of hot July my youngest daughter and I took a little vacation on her time off between jobs. I love being in Maine during the summer months, and prefer to travel to warm places when it's cold here, but the chance to travel again with her was too wonderful to pass up so, after much decision making and consideration, we made plans to go to New Orleans, and then on to Puerto Rico. We had wanted to go to Guatemala together, but there is a very strange requirement in many countries about passports being valid for six months beyond the time of travel, and my well-used passport will expire in early January of next year, so we were caught in the trap of my either buying another passport 7 months ... read more

Woke up early this morning to head off the New orleans! On our way there we drove through the Jackson from the J.Cash song and mysteriously out of nowhere the passenger side window in our van exploded!!! Took a little bit of time to get it covered so we could get to New Orleans but it wasn't too much of a hassle and didn't cause too much of a delay! We got to New Orleans in the early evening and we starting in our first hotel of the tour :) we checked in and got ready for our first night out on the town and a ghost tour! We had dinner at a nice restaurant and Christine took us on the ghost tour (she previously gave these tours when she lived in NOLA!) the city seems ... read more