New Orleans Cemetery

There is something about old cemeteries that keep drawing me in. When I visit a town and I find there is an old famous cemetery, I add it to my to do list.
One great place to visit cemeteries is New Orleans. We visited the Saint Louis Cemetery and took part in a voodoo tour.

A man that works in the cemetery told us about how the tombs are reused by families. Bodies are placed in a wooden box in the tomb and sealed up. The New Orleans heat “burns” the body. A year and a day later the tomb is opened again and the remains are pushed back make room for the next in the family…..

Tombs are quite expensive but in the long run it can be quite economical since tombs can be reused over and over again by the family.

Separate but equal

Homer Plessy tomb of the Plessy vs Ferguson fame is buried in this cemetery.

We also did a voodoo tour.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Church as part of the tour. It is the oldest surviving church building in New Orleans. It is visited by Catholics and some practitioners of voodoo.

And I saw these Lela dolls. What?!?

We met a real life voodoo practitioner (Sorry no pictures).
We learned about Marie Catherine Laveau, the famous voodoo practitioner. We visited the mausoleum where Marie Laveau is buried, in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1. Tourists mark X’s on her tomb and leave offerings if their wish is granted. I have yet to ask her for anything but I may someday.

Anyone want some oreos?

Some more cemetery pictures

Film site of Easy Rider

New Orleans Wedding

New Orleans is a wonderful city. I used to get my fix almost yearly when I would visit for Jazz Fest. Now it seems hard to fit in a Jazz Fest trip with all my other travel plans. My last visits have been limited to visiting my friend who lives close by the city and to attend a New Orleans wedding.

After a romantic proposal in the city, my friends S1 and S2 decided to get married there. It was a dream of S2 to get married in the beautiful Saint Louis Cathedral. Luckily there were both Catholic and able to do so.

We started the trip with some fun on the town. We hung out on Bourbon Street. Somehow I always seem to end up there even though those bars are not my favorite and I really want to make it down to Frenchman Street someday.
The night is started at Pat O’Briens and hurricanes must be had with good friends.

We then headed down to a couple dance clubs. One of which a couple in the group got to ride a mechanical bull (sorry no good pictures of this). The other was with this dude who hit on everything and would not leave anyone alone.

We got to do some of the normal tourist things on this trip. A walk around the French quarter exposed many talented street musicians.

We were also there close to the superbowl the year New Orleans Saints made it for the first time. There was a wonderful street parade to commemorate it. I have pictures from that in a separate post.

The main event was the wedding at Saint Louis Cathedral. The ceremony was beautiful. It was charming to have an old school Catholic priest to tell them that good Catholics should have many children.

The surprise for all the quests to participate in a Second Line immediately following the ceremony.

It was a cold January day so the second line was cut short and brought indoors to continue the party.

Following the second line party, we continued into the ballroom in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel to finish the reception.

So much fun the reception was that I forgot to take some good pictures. But trust me it was a blast.

The next day we once more visited our new favorite breakfast place The Old Coffee Pot.

Of course I do not make a trip to New Orleans without partaking in a bloody mary. This beautiful one was from Stanley Restaurant in Jackson square. New Orleans is one of the few places that utilizes the green bean as part of the bloody mary. Garnishes really make the mary.

Some other sightseeing goodies….

Also on the trip Carlos and I did a voodoo and cemetery tour, but I will save that for another post later.

Love New Orleans!!!

Just another day in New Orleans

I traveled to New Orleans in January 2010 for a wedding. It was a fabulous wedding that I will talk about in another post.
One thing that is for certain in New Orleans is that you will either run into a parade or party or both. While we were there one of the parades we got to see was Buddy’s Brawds. That year the Saints finally made it to the superbowl. A local celebrity so frustrated with the Saints never making it to the superbowl proclaimed that he would wear a dress if the Saints ever did make it to the superbowl. Unfortunately Buddy Diliberto (1931 – 2005), the voice of the New Orleans Saints, died before he had a chance to make good on his promise. In January 2010 the Saints did make it to the superbowl and thousands of other men made good on that promise in his honor. It was a fun parade to watch.

Kids played along too.

Always a large crowd in the french quarter.

Sporting the “Golden Girls” look.

Pigs are flying

Wait – Is that Johnny Depp?

Nice jewels

This guy was fun. We stopped to talk to him for a while.

New Orleans: Antiquing on Magazine Street

I went to the gulf coast last April to celebrate my good friend’s 40th birthday. While I was there we spent some hours in New Orleans antiquing in the garden district. Magazine street contains many interesting stores and restaurants to check out. If you have a chance to visit New Orleans, don’t leave out that part of town. Here are some photos from our antiquing adventure at the Magazine Antique Mall New Orleans.