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LJ Post on New Orleans

I spent the weekend of April 26-27 with my high school friend Ian in New Orleans, celebrating his first dissertation defense and distracting his wife from studying for her second-year law school exams. Sorry for the late post, but I've been awfully busy the past couple of weeks.



I flew down Friday afternoon after working half the morning. I technically took a vacation day (we can only use entire days at a time), but I worked out a deal with my boss whereby I'll comp myself the half day later in May. Working was actually much nicer than sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting to fly or flying later that night. Also, the tickets were cheaper early. I got delayed in the Dallas airport by two hours, but aside from that, the trip was pretty uneventful. Glad I didn't try to take a later flight, though. Ian and I went out after for a bit, for beers at the Bulldog and so he could get some dinner. I just ate some of his fries, as I had eaten in the airport while waiting.

Saturday we went out with Laura and got breakfast at the Camellia Street cafe, which was excellent. I had an omelet the size of my head, which was nice and greasy and full of onions, peppers, and ham. Then Laura took off for her study group and Ian and I went down to the Vieux Carré for beers and to see the sights. We spent a fair bit of time just wandering around, talking about stuff and Ian told stories about the various landmarks he was familiar with. Eventually we wound up in Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar, one of the oldest surviving buildings in New Orleans. We also went by the open-air French Market, where I picked up some scented soap for my mother (patchouli), Renee (clove and rosemary lime), myself (lemongrass aloe), and others.

Lunch was at this small bar in the Quarter, I forget what it was called. Ian had heard they had the second-best burgers in town. I don't know about that, but the fresh jalapenos on mine were extremely potent and the mini-cheesecake (baked by the bartender herself) afterwards was excellent. However, the decor was quite, uh, interesting. The downstairs looked like a normal bar, but the upstairs was all in red and black lights, with risque artwork and decorations (handcuffs hanging from the ceiling, high heels on shelves), and a stage with a brass stripper pole. I asked if they had dancers later, but was told no, just amateur ones. Whoever felt like making an ass of themselves. Like me.



Here's a sample of the artwork.







On the way back, the rain started to come down pretty hard. Ian stopped and bought an umbrella, but I refused because I already have one; I just didn't bring it with me even though I had looked at the weather and saw the high chance of thunderstorms. So instead I got soaked through to the point where I gave up and just strolled in the car. My soap started to get slippery and eventually the bag tore. However, we also stopped in at the praline shop and had some pralines to help ourselves feel better about life despite being soaked. I actually still had one several weeks later when I went to visit Renee. We ate it even though it was horribly stale and half-crushed by then.

I have a couple of pictures from Bourbon Street in the rain. One of them I sent to my coworker Cindy with the message "Im here where r u?" the same way she did to me all during the Datatel conference. While I was in sessions, she and her friends sent me pictures with that message from the zoo, from the Lincoln memorial, from the bar, etc.





We went back to Ian's place and dried off and fell asleep. Kind of lame, but I'm old these days and naps are nice. We eventually woke up after a while and went out for "New York-style" pizza with Laura. The pizza was good, crispy and well-made, not too greasy, but not really New York style. (I actually liked it better, hah, but it didn't scratch the same itch that a greasy pie here does.) That night we watched The Departed because I'm dating a Boston girl (by the time I put it back in the case it was the Depahhted, hah).

I have more pictures from the next day. Ian and I went out for breakfast to another greasy spoon cafe, Ian's favorite this time. I forget what it's called. I waited too long to write this up so the sequence of events is a little hazy now. Afterwards, we stopped by Audubon Park which was really quite nice. I have a bunch of pictures from this one.

The park itself.



A couple of pictures of me.




The gator we saw swimming in the pond.



A swan I got really close to, almost arm's reach.



And a picture of Ian and me we got some nice passersby to take.



The last picture didn't quite capture the setting behind us, which were several large trees out in the pond brimming with wading birds of all kinds. In addition to the usual herons and egrets were many exotic birds, supposedly breeding pairs that escaped from the New Orleans Zoo when Hurricane Katrina came through. From what I can tell, that's a myth. Still some awfully unique and pretty wading birds out there, though.

On the way back, we also stopped off at the Audubon riverfront park and stood on what Ian called the highest point in New Orleans, right near one of the levees. Here's a couple of overly dramatic pictures of myself on top of it.




And one from the top looking back at the river, which you can just see through the trees.



That afternoon we went back to Ian's place and I kicked into tourist mode and picked out some stuff to go do. Turns out my proposed schedule was a little aggressive, but oh well. I'd rather try to do too much than sit around and have extra time on my hands. First up was a free tour/walk on the levee about the history of New Orleans and the Quarter from the park service. Ian and I parked by the World War 2 museum (which we had planned to go by afterwards) and walked the rest of the way to the quarter. We were early for the tour and went out for beers, which we then brought with us. I was actually surprised we were the only ones with drinks.

The tour was quite interesting and informative. The highest parts of the city (also the ones least damaged by the floods and hurricane) were the ones nearest the river, the oldest parts. The low-lying parts that were really hit hard (like the 9th ward and lakeview) were new since the 50s when pumps powerful enough to drain the low-lying swamps were feasible. Also, apparently the bit of trivia about the Battle of New Orleans taking place after the treaty that ended the War of 1812 is a bit misleading. The terms of the treaty would have allowed the British to keep New Orleans, which would have given them a much larger role in the early 19th century development of the Americas. It was also relatively soon after the Lousiana Purchase and the battle showed the inhabitants that America was prepared to defend its territory, however new.

I got a few pictures from the tour. The first one really captured one of the things I'd been homesick for and finally got to see, which was a thunderstorm rolling in on a hot and humid summer afternoon. The only thing that would have been better would have been to have watched it with Renee sitting on a porch, but the tour was cool too.



While he talked, a brass band struck up just behind us near the street.



I got Ian to take a picture of me as we walked into Jackson Square.



As the tour finished up, the rain started to come down. At first it wasn't so bad; we were under a tree and mostly had umbrellas, but we moved under the covered sidewalks and soon it was a real downpour.



This time, instead of dashing through the rain (though we did have umbrellas), we just walked to the corner cafe and had beers and creole-style seafood. By the time we were done with our leisurely lunch, the rain had slacked off and we walked back out to the museum where we were parked. Turns out they closed by the time we got there, so we set off for the next part instead, which was to find some music. We had a couple of possibilities in mind, but the first one worked out for us, which was to hear Linnzi Zaorski at D.B.A.

Very interesting bar, full of an entire cross-section of New Orleans citizenry. Excellent beer selection. The music was good, too. Linnzi herself, backed up with clarinet, guitar, trumpet, and "Washboard Chaz". Got an older fellow she apparently knows from out of the audience to do a number. It was a lot of fun to listen to. I almost asked this one girl to dance, but didn't quite get enough encouragement when I bummed a clove cigarette off her and wasn't quite interested or motivated enough. Renee thought it was pretty funny that Ian and I avoided the "specials" when presented options, as we both assumed that meant weed. Turns out Djarum "specials" are just the normal cloves.

After a while we wandered into the other room and talked. I finally got Ian just drunk enough and pried enough to get him to be honest with me about Renee. It wasn't an entirely comfortable conversation, but it was good for both of us, I think. There's not much difference between being supportive when you're hopeful or when you're just waiting to pick up the pieces anyway. We'll see who gets to say "I told you so." :)

I walked away with a picture with Linnzi and one of her albums, "Hot Wax and Whiskey", good stuff.



Dinner was Mexican food, which was surprisingly mediocre for New Orleans. Not much of a Hispanic population there. After that, a phone call with Renee and an aborted attempt at a movie before we turned in pretty early. The flight the next day was at the crack of dawn. Ian had me at the airport by 5:15, which was just enough time to get through security and catch the flight to Atlanta.

In Atlanta, they asked for volunteers to sit out; the flight was overbooked. I volunteered and napped in the airport for a couple of hours and earned a $200 flight voucher for doing it. It's not like I was in a hurry to get back that day anyway.

All-in-all, it was a great trip. It was good to see Ian and Laura. New Orleans is awesome. I really like the city they've chosen to make their home. And a nice hot sticky southern summer was just what I needed in the middle of this chilly New York spring.