Blogs from Louisiana, United States, North America - page 7

We arrived safely in New Orleans after some very bad roads on the way in. I don't think I have ever driven on worse roads anywhere in the world than those in New Orleans. I once thought the roads on I-81 in PA, NY, CT were bad, but nothing had prepared me for the roads here. Thought the RV was going to come apart in the pot holes big enough to swallow my pickup. French Road coming to our RV park, Pontchartrain Landing, was the worst! Iron bar-covered windows/doors and graffiti throughout the surrounding neighborhood was its most noticeable feature. My confidence was a little shaken driving in, but the RV park was OK and seemed safe enough. The park was basically a gravel/dirt parking lot in an industrial area, but was only 15 minutes from ... read more

This morning, Renata and I headed over to Louis Armstrong Park for the start of our Voodoo tour with Free Tours by Foot. We did not know much about Voodoo, except that it was misrepresented in the media. Our guide, Robi, a Plantation Voodoo Priest is very passionate about advocating and providing awareness to correct misconceptions about his religion. He was very entertaining, and also involved the group in a typical Voodoo Ritual. Like Christianity, Voodoo has one God, and saints like spirits called Ioa (intermediaries). In a Voodoo Ritual, the whole community gets involved. I was the second mama in command. I organized the meeting and made sure all the supplies were available. The ritual involved drumming, dancing and drinking (rum for the papa, for spirit possession). Spirit possession is believed to have occurred when ... read more

Mardi Gras, the famous carnival celebration that occurs in New Orleans takes place on the Tuesday before Lent; or so Renata and I thought. Actually, Marti Gras is a month long celebration that starts just after New Year’s and ends before the beginning of Lent. Renata and I learned this news when we visited Mardi Gras World. Mardi Gras World is a working facility that makes over 500 floats per year for the Mardi Gras season. On the Mardi Gras World tour, Renata and I learned about the history of Mardi Gras. There are no corporate sponsorships or media involved in Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans. The money involved in making the various floats come from membership fees from the various Krewe members. Krewes are organizations that host Mardi Gras balls, ride on parade floats ... read more

The last day of the trip had arrived. Today we would try to do some of thing things that were scheduled for other days, but didn’t happen as we ran out of time or things were closed. The day started as each day before had; get up, go get the coffee (an interesting discovery made at the end of the day about daily coffee), feed and pet Tarragon and get ready for the day. Coffee Service In an earlier post, I mentioned that there was no coffee service in the room. Well it turns out that in fact there is. Buried in the guest information book is one line about evening ice service and complimentary butler style coffee service in the morning. We discovered this the last night of our stay. So, as I ... read more

The only thing on the itinerary today is a walking tour in the garden district. Self-Guided walking tour. You can pay for a guided walking tour, but there is so much information online that you can print out your own map and walking guide, which is what Jerry did before we left home. Another trip on the St. Charles line to the stop just after Washington Street. Our tour was to start at a place called Grocery, where you could get an authentic po boy. However, it apparently had closed and in its place was a women owned bakery called Gracious. They had a pretty eclectic menu, with a slight southern flair but not really, more your standard hipster kinda place, quinoa, etc. They did have some good sandwich offerings. Jerry had a Tarragon Chicken Salad ... read more