New Orleans
After our first night in New Orleans - a mighty taster of what the city had to offer - we were feeling a little bit delicate the following morning. The lateness of the hour we got to bed might have had something to do with it because it's very easy to lose track of time here. There doesn't seem to be a cut-off point for anyone… a packed street with jazz bands playing on every corner and people spilling in and out of restaurants and bars, singing and dancing, is as normal at 5am as it is at 5pm.
We were having a lovely quiet dinner with old friends of Stuart - Jack and Katie - and before we knew it, we were back at their pub Fahy's, being bought drinks by all their loyal and very generous customers; from there, Katie took us to The Spotted Cat, a favourite little jazz bar, for more drinks and dancing; an hour later we were whooping along to an impromptu jazz band on the street, an amazing group of young teenage musicians, mostly self taught, busking away for a few dollars and huge applause; then we were drinking whiskey with a group of locals, watching the world go by and suddenly, it was nearly dawn. Oops.
Some were feeling a little rougher than others the morning after the night before and, not mentioning any names, only two out of three managed to get out of bed and go for breakfast across the road. Luckily, we had the Ruby Slipper restaurant on our doorstep, serving the best brunch I have ever had. Truly. So good was the food at this place that we ate there 3 days in a row!
After the wedding, Mike and Diana did the traditional parade through town. Whoops and applause greeted them everywhere and people threw multicoloured beads down from the balconies as we passed, turning the glamorous pair into bling laden, disco queens. We then all gathered for cocktails at a hotel with a real carousel in it, and then at midnight, ventured back out onto the streets for chicory coffee and beignets… heavenly deep fried dough smothered in icing sugar. By that stage of the night, I assure you, the only thing that will keep you going is caffeine and sugar!! Our last port of call for the dwindling party was a final nightcap at one of the oldest piano bars in the city, called Lafitte's… Jean Lafitte being the infamous French pirate that joined forces with his former enemy, General Jackson, in order to kill as many of the invading British armies as possible, back in 1815. Boooo hisss!
The following day was a bit of a blur… although I do remember food (it's hard not to) and a ghost tour!! Yes, we had a proper ghost hunter and historian in our midst, a wonderful lady called Karen, who's haunted B&B I stayed in on my last night (more of that later). She is able to get access to all sorts of hotels and restaurants, cellars and roof terraces, that no tourist ever can, purely to tell us the history of the city and what ghosts are still lurking there. I also love the real estate signs… they are very proud of their spirits!!!
Karen also practises Voodoo. Now, a big misconception of Voodoo is that it's used for evil. Films love to show possessed black women sacrificing chickens or sticking pins in small dolls, casting spells and speaking in tongues... but Karen explained that most of those practises are actually called Hoodoo. Hoodoo harnesses supernatural powers and magic; Voodoo is the spiritual branch, the religion, with Gods and saints. It was brought to Louisiana from West Africa during the slave trade and is still widely practised today, so we were very lucky, not only receive a blessing from Karen, but also a gris gris bag, a small amulet protecting the keeper from evil spirits and bringing luck. Every time you pray for something to happen you tie a knot in the ribbon of the amulet. I'm just worried my ribbon isn't long enough!!!
The girls and I also visited the famous New Orleans cemeteries. They are the 'above ground' graveyards' that have such an eerie beauty to them. Our guide managed to have a quick ciggie and coffee before out tour began (having a hangover himself… I'm starting to see a pattern here) and was a very amusing character, giving us the history, folklore and all the local gossip in one go.
Here's an interesting titbit… Many New Orleans families still own the crypts here, but there are so many bodies buried inside that they now have to compact everything. So, they have the funeral, the coffin goes in the slot, then months later, when the body has decomposed, the caretaker comes back, opens the crypt, gets rid of the coffin, breaks down the skeleton and puts the bones in a labelled ziplock bag. Charming!
As my trip came to an end, and everyone started to depart for home, I managed to squeeze in a swamp tour in the Bayou, outside New Orleans. The boat trip was wonderful and, although it was cold for the time of year, I saw egrets, alligators, herons, and the cutest looking racoons.
I also saw many signs of the devastation that hurricane Katrina caused back in 2005… huge areas in the poorer parts of New Orleans have still not been rebuilt, and traveling down river, you suddenly come across cars, boats and fridges high up in the trees, evidence of the extraordinary high tide the hurricane caused. Katrina is still talked about… it was the most devastating hurricane America had ever seen and leaves its scars to this day. Some homes still have a large 'X' spray painted on the exterior walls, with numbers and letters scribbled in each section. These were a morbid way of quickly marking the date, time, body count (living or deceased, human or animal) and hazards (flooding, rotting food, gas leaks, rats) at each property, left by the search and rescue teams. Utterly horrific.
My last night was spent at Karens B&B, a property I would never, willingly, have stayed in, had I known (prior to booking) it was haunted. Mike and Diana adore ghosts, and if you remember my blog about Alaska, you will remember their excitement about seeing, feeling and sleeping with the spirit world! I should have known they would recommend the most haunted property in New Orleans. In fact, I have just this second googled Dauphine House, and before you even click 'OK' in the search window, it comes up with "Dauphine House B&B haunted", haha. Why didn't I google it before? Well, why would I… I didn't know it was haunted!! So I arrived, slightly, but not overly, terrified. The thing is, Karen is soo lovely and soo warm and welcoming that I just couldn't imagine anything bad happening in her gorgeous home, so I felt fine as I unpacked and settled in… until I decided to have a bath.
I had asked Karen not to tell me anything, pretending that my room was void of any ghostly activity, but as I sunk down into the deep warm bubbles of the roll-top bath, I had a very funny feeling that I was being watched and kept looking over my shoulder. It wasn't a cold draft or a movement but a very palpable sense of someone standing in the doorway. And it wan't a sinister or a pervy peeping Tom type presence... it felt like a young girl, simply curious about who was in her room. Ok… I can see your eyes rolling now. Listen, I am the first person to be skeptical about this sort of thing but I also know what I felt and this was odd enough to shorten my relaxing bath time, and have me in my pyjamas and in bed fairly swiftly. The second thing I noticed was an odd sensation on the left hand side of the room, a sort of cold dense cloud, definitely male, that had me sleeping so far to the right of the bed that I was in danger of falling out. Nonetheless, I slept deeply and woke with all my senses and body parts intact. I mentioned all these things to Karen when I saw her, later that morning, and she was overjoyed but before we could talk it through in depth, my taxi for the airport arrived. Boo. I will send her this blog and see what she says but in the meantime, you might want to watch this film, made of her and her house, that I found on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z4T1WlsgXs
Ok, I have only just watched this link myself… I hadn't wanted it to influence my writing in any way, but now, all I can say is… spooky!!
I loved loved loved New Orleans. I met up with old friends, met some wonderful new ones, went to the most fabulous wedding, listened to glorious Jazz, ate delicious Southern cuisine, learnt some history, heard some stories, experienced the Bayou, and went to bed with a ghost. What's not to love?
But now that I have had a taste for the Southern States, I want more… I want to hear country music in Nashville and Memphis; see the beautiful towns and Islands of the Carolinas; I want to drive down to the Florida Keys and see where Hemingway wrote; feel the Latin vibe in Miama, and slow down in Georgia. I do need a Louise or a Louis to my Thelma, however… road trips should never be done alone!
We were having a lovely quiet dinner with old friends of Stuart - Jack and Katie - and before we knew it, we were back at their pub Fahy's, being bought drinks by all their loyal and very generous customers; from there, Katie took us to The Spotted Cat, a favourite little jazz bar, for more drinks and dancing; an hour later we were whooping along to an impromptu jazz band on the street, an amazing group of young teenage musicians, mostly self taught, busking away for a few dollars and huge applause; then we were drinking whiskey with a group of locals, watching the world go by and suddenly, it was nearly dawn. Oops.
Some were feeling a little rougher than others the morning after the night before and, not mentioning any names, only two out of three managed to get out of bed and go for breakfast across the road. Luckily, we had the Ruby Slipper restaurant on our doorstep, serving the best brunch I have ever had. Truly. So good was the food at this place that we ate there 3 days in a row!
Later that day we met up with our friends Mike and Diana, and the rest of the wedding party, for a spot of glass blowing. Yup, glass blowing. I need to remind my dear readers that the couple getting married in New Orleans are the same couple I went to Alaska with last September. They are not only great friends, but they plan the best adventures too. So the wedding was always going to be incredibly creative and special, and because so many of their friends and family were traveling in to Louisiana from all over America (plus one little Brit), they wanted to make the time together really fun and different… not just a wedding day together but a whole experience together. Hence, a bit 0f glass bauble making. Much like saunas, that help you sweat out toxins, I think the heat of the furnace helped extract the alcohol from my body from the night before. Also, sunglasses were compulsory so no one noticed the slightly bloodshot eyes either. Phew. We all made lovely ornaments although I decided to be a bit different with my colour, only dipping the tip.
In my mind it would look beautifully minimal, but in reality it looked as if someone had had a quick wee on the end of it! I won't show a picture because it might be present for someone and I don't want to ruin the surprise!
The next day was wedding day and, from the first second, I felt so incredibly privileged to be there. Mike and Diana had managed to get permission to have their nuptials at Preservation Hall, an incredible music venue, celebrating traditional New Orleans jazz. Not only were we seeing our friends get married at this historic place but we had the Preservation Jazz band playing for us throughout the day as well. These musicians were a joy… they basically stay in the band til they drop dead (the drummer, Charlie, was in his 80's), passing on their knowledge to the next generation. Here is a photo of some of the musicians in the 60's and then the band at the wedding.
As soon as Diana came into the room, I'm not sure there was a dry eye. My friends have known each other for decades and so it was just amazing to see them finally hitched. A real joy. The vows were beautiful, the drinks abundant and the food, well simply unbelievable… unbelievable because Mike and Diana are vegetarian, and we seemed to be eating very traditional Louisiana dishes. As I mentioned earlier, all Southern food seems to involve meat and if not meat, then fish. Diana had somehow managed to recreate (with the clever caterers) all the traditional meat and fish dishes without using meat or fish! Hmm.
After the wedding, Mike and Diana did the traditional parade through town. Whoops and applause greeted them everywhere and people threw multicoloured beads down from the balconies as we passed, turning the glamorous pair into bling laden, disco queens. We then all gathered for cocktails at a hotel with a real carousel in it, and then at midnight, ventured back out onto the streets for chicory coffee and beignets… heavenly deep fried dough smothered in icing sugar. By that stage of the night, I assure you, the only thing that will keep you going is caffeine and sugar!! Our last port of call for the dwindling party was a final nightcap at one of the oldest piano bars in the city, called Lafitte's… Jean Lafitte being the infamous French pirate that joined forces with his former enemy, General Jackson, in order to kill as many of the invading British armies as possible, back in 1815. Boooo hisss!
Karen also practises Voodoo. Now, a big misconception of Voodoo is that it's used for evil. Films love to show possessed black women sacrificing chickens or sticking pins in small dolls, casting spells and speaking in tongues... but Karen explained that most of those practises are actually called Hoodoo. Hoodoo harnesses supernatural powers and magic; Voodoo is the spiritual branch, the religion, with Gods and saints. It was brought to Louisiana from West Africa during the slave trade and is still widely practised today, so we were very lucky, not only receive a blessing from Karen, but also a gris gris bag, a small amulet protecting the keeper from evil spirits and bringing luck. Every time you pray for something to happen you tie a knot in the ribbon of the amulet. I'm just worried my ribbon isn't long enough!!!
The girls and I also visited the famous New Orleans cemeteries. They are the 'above ground' graveyards' that have such an eerie beauty to them. Our guide managed to have a quick ciggie and coffee before out tour began (having a hangover himself… I'm starting to see a pattern here) and was a very amusing character, giving us the history, folklore and all the local gossip in one go.
Here's an interesting titbit… Many New Orleans families still own the crypts here, but there are so many bodies buried inside that they now have to compact everything. So, they have the funeral, the coffin goes in the slot, then months later, when the body has decomposed, the caretaker comes back, opens the crypt, gets rid of the coffin, breaks down the skeleton and puts the bones in a labelled ziplock bag. Charming!
As my trip came to an end, and everyone started to depart for home, I managed to squeeze in a swamp tour in the Bayou, outside New Orleans. The boat trip was wonderful and, although it was cold for the time of year, I saw egrets, alligators, herons, and the cutest looking racoons.
I also saw many signs of the devastation that hurricane Katrina caused back in 2005… huge areas in the poorer parts of New Orleans have still not been rebuilt, and traveling down river, you suddenly come across cars, boats and fridges high up in the trees, evidence of the extraordinary high tide the hurricane caused. Katrina is still talked about… it was the most devastating hurricane America had ever seen and leaves its scars to this day. Some homes still have a large 'X' spray painted on the exterior walls, with numbers and letters scribbled in each section. These were a morbid way of quickly marking the date, time, body count (living or deceased, human or animal) and hazards (flooding, rotting food, gas leaks, rats) at each property, left by the search and rescue teams. Utterly horrific.
My last night was spent at Karens B&B, a property I would never, willingly, have stayed in, had I known (prior to booking) it was haunted. Mike and Diana adore ghosts, and if you remember my blog about Alaska, you will remember their excitement about seeing, feeling and sleeping with the spirit world! I should have known they would recommend the most haunted property in New Orleans. In fact, I have just this second googled Dauphine House, and before you even click 'OK' in the search window, it comes up with "Dauphine House B&B haunted", haha. Why didn't I google it before? Well, why would I… I didn't know it was haunted!! So I arrived, slightly, but not overly, terrified. The thing is, Karen is soo lovely and soo warm and welcoming that I just couldn't imagine anything bad happening in her gorgeous home, so I felt fine as I unpacked and settled in… until I decided to have a bath.
I had asked Karen not to tell me anything, pretending that my room was void of any ghostly activity, but as I sunk down into the deep warm bubbles of the roll-top bath, I had a very funny feeling that I was being watched and kept looking over my shoulder. It wasn't a cold draft or a movement but a very palpable sense of someone standing in the doorway. And it wan't a sinister or a pervy peeping Tom type presence... it felt like a young girl, simply curious about who was in her room. Ok… I can see your eyes rolling now. Listen, I am the first person to be skeptical about this sort of thing but I also know what I felt and this was odd enough to shorten my relaxing bath time, and have me in my pyjamas and in bed fairly swiftly. The second thing I noticed was an odd sensation on the left hand side of the room, a sort of cold dense cloud, definitely male, that had me sleeping so far to the right of the bed that I was in danger of falling out. Nonetheless, I slept deeply and woke with all my senses and body parts intact. I mentioned all these things to Karen when I saw her, later that morning, and she was overjoyed but before we could talk it through in depth, my taxi for the airport arrived. Boo. I will send her this blog and see what she says but in the meantime, you might want to watch this film, made of her and her house, that I found on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z4T1WlsgXs
Ok, I have only just watched this link myself… I hadn't wanted it to influence my writing in any way, but now, all I can say is… spooky!!
I loved loved loved New Orleans. I met up with old friends, met some wonderful new ones, went to the most fabulous wedding, listened to glorious Jazz, ate delicious Southern cuisine, learnt some history, heard some stories, experienced the Bayou, and went to bed with a ghost. What's not to love?
But now that I have had a taste for the Southern States, I want more… I want to hear country music in Nashville and Memphis; see the beautiful towns and Islands of the Carolinas; I want to drive down to the Florida Keys and see where Hemingway wrote; feel the Latin vibe in Miama, and slow down in Georgia. I do need a Louise or a Louis to my Thelma, however… road trips should never be done alone!
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