Upon arrival into New Orleans we had a pleasant airport shuttle leading us to this beautiful hotel.
Here is a picture of the inside lobby. This hotel served as a hospital during the civil War and then an orphanage and school. There have been rumored ghost sightings around the place, including one of a soldier and another of a young woman.
Unfortunately neither of them showed themselves to us.
However if we were in that frame of mind.... (spooky music cued here)....maybe.....
maybe....next time....
The first day we arrived we walked up and down the streets.
We noticed this.
Soap and water filled the gutters of Bourbon Street washing away the filth and sin from the previous night.
This was a boutique
right across the street from our hotel.
Quite interesting.
I had never been to a vampire boutique.
Come to think of it, I've never been to a vampire anything.
So this was kinda special,
a first for me, if you will.
If I were a vampire,
I mean, WOW!
this is where I'd buy all my black spiderweb patterned capes.
I did not partake in the ingestion o
f this particular swine delicasy.
However, in New Orleans, you may also find the likes of this guy.
He's the lucky guy who gets to sell Lucky Dogs, smoke pipes and read the paper all day.
Lucky dogs,
I don't think there's anything lucky about eating one of those dogs.
But that's just me, just my opinion, just throwing it out there...
(I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth just thinking about it.)
Her
e you go...
In my book---
A large quantity of beer needs no advertisement.
It pretty much sells itself.
Dontcha think?
But nonetheless...
a huge ass sign selling
huge ass beers.
This is our lovely punk rock friend Sean. He has been to New Orleans several times. He popped in half way through our trip and was a very welcomed guest into our party circle. He took us to this bar, called Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop.
It was a very dark piano jazz bar,
Quite an inviting, lovely place .
I would venture to say that it was the best place we visited during our stay.
This is the wall in which there is said to be spirits
lurking about.
Unfortunately they didn't show themselves to us that night, pity.
And just a few party pics here.
This is how Sam looked the whole time
we were in New Orleans.
We stopped at a dance club for a bit.
Just an after-dance-hug.
I think we could play
"Find the Douche Bag"
in this photo.
It's not either of the girls or the guy in the dreds...
But I'm not telling you the answer...
Oh, wow. What to say here...
This is Sean.
It was nice to see him after so many years.
What a great guy he is.
You single ladies out there???
I said, what a great guy he is!!!
We were neighbors back in the Manhatten days.
And, um, I think we'll be coming up north for a visit some time.
Al, Sean and Matt
A fine group of...
gentlemen?
Naaaa...
but lots of fun to hang with...
Here is Adem and myself.
Adem and I go way back too.
It was great to see him.
I wish he'd come around
a little more often.
This is Bernard, Dawn's little brother. I love that cheesy smile he flashed for the camera. It was great meeting him.
And he told some hilarious stories from childhood.
I think they were told right after this picture was taken.
He was full of piss and vinegar, ready to let it spill.
Wyatt Erp?
Nope, Doug.
And, this wasn't one of those places where you pay a bunch of money and get your picture taken all western like.
He happened to be wearing a fake mustache.
And the gun just happened to be there...at the wedding chapel....odd enough.
And he just happened to have the great personality and idea to pull this off.
And I just happend to edit it with my little computer editing program.
It just happened to fit together nicely, huh?
Here we have Dawn, Terri and John.
These are pre-drinks to get the
party started.
Because pretty soon...
after the sun goes down....
we got some cat calling going on.
It
IS Bourbon Street for Pete Sake!
I mean that's just whatcha do, right?
And when you're up there on the balcony cat calling and whooping it up,
you see all kinds of unusual things.
Things you don't normally see...
such as...
for example...
Oompa Loompa's!
And sometimes...
If you're really lucky...
you may even see...
Sometimes you may see....
a giant blow up penis!
Hold the applause people, hold the applause!
And then we have the reason we all came, the big event, the highlight of the trip...
The Marriage between Alan and Dawn
It was held at the.....................................
French Quarter Wedding Chapel
This is the cute little chapel where Dawn and
Alan got hitched. It was within walking distance
of our hotel.
We all met in the lobby of said hotel and began
our quarter mile walk
(or however long-that's just my guess)
to the chapel.
It was a lovely day for a wedding.
This is the group shot. The big ol group of misfits,
All the guys in their mustaches,
Some of them real, some of them fake...the mustaches I mean.
What a great group this was to hang with.
I love Bernard's mustache. It was blonde,
A blond mustache on a black man.
Reeeeeal Niiice!!!
So this is when we arrived. The pastor or preacher or whatever you call him sat Al and Dawn down on the comfy little couch to get um... aquainted.
It was nice.
It was sweet.
The rest of us milled about, checking out the old architecture,
the antique furniture,
and listened in to find out this place of business
was once a brothel house.
Who knew???
This guy set the ambiance with his sweet melodies.
Here they are sealing the deal,
Holding her tight,
Ain't it so romantic?
After the wedding,
Dawn got to sign her new name on a dollar bill.
The story goes that the first couple to marry in this chapel
signed a dollar bill and stuck it to the ceiling.
It was the bride's idea. She wanted to sign her married name
for the first time.
A dollar bill was the only paper they had.
She used that and it was tacked up.
Now every couple
(well I assume every couple)
who gets married here, does this.
Hense, all the dolla bills ya--stuck to the ceiling.
Court of Two Sisters
This was a restaurant that I was chopping at the bit to try. A century ago it was a dry goods shop owned by Emma and Bertha Camors and is now a restaurant and jazz bar. This is the little quicky stop "fast food" addition I think.
A classic Gothic story goes:
These two women lived together, neither married,
into their 80's and died within a month of one another.
They are buried side by side.
Eh...This was just the menu.
Big Daddy ordered a beer.
It came in this pitcher.
I wish we would have brought it home.
We could have bathed the baby in it.
And here it was. The best, most anticipated meal of the trip.
(I'm very easy to please.)
Just a bowl of spicy seafood gumbo,
some fresh bread,
and a cold beer.
That's it.
Nothing fancy.
I'm starting to salivate just thinking about it. Mmmm.
It was a little hot. But oh, that first bite of spicy heaven.
And it didn't take long for me to polish off that bowl. And I coulda eaten another one.
As much as I love to eat, I'm a lady. I settled with the one bowl. And the night was young.
We had plenty more liquid beverages to fill up on.
MMM
MMM
MMM
Warm
belly
full
of
New
Orleans
Goodness...
Oh yes. New Orleans goodness, is right here in my belly.
Oh thank you Lord for that nourishment. That delighful tasty dish
that only New Orleans can deliver.
I must sit for a moment
and just
breath.
Mmm.
After the meal was complete it was the only right thing to do.
We complimented the restauranteers
up one side
and down the other.
He was our
BFF
for that
whole
meal.
I'll
never
forget it.
OUR TRIP OFF BOURBON STREET
We started our trip by walking clear down Bourbon Street.
We finally came across this little confectionary shop.
...finally some sweets.
I think that may be my only complaint, where are the sweets on Bourbon Street?
Where's a girl gotta go to get some sugar?
And I mean chocolate, ice cream, cake, sweets
sugar and spice and everything nice.
that's what little girls are made of.
We found it.
This sign was hanging high on the wall:
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing...
~Oscar Wilde
I think I'm a firm believer in this quote.
We hit the St. Charles Street Car and took it to Jackson Ave. From that point we got our and took a self guided tour through the garden district.
This is Anne Rices old home. After her artist husband died, she moved her life to LA.
She was said to have come out
on the balcony
on occasion to say hello
to her fans
gawking,
I mean,
walking by.
I just found this neighborhood full of beautiful antiqued yet classic architecture.
The landscaping was no exception.
Look at this tree.
It has grown over and around, covering
part of this rod iron fence.
Speaking of architecture, this cast iron was everywhere, intricate detailed rod iron, beautifully displayed.
Gorgeous, right?
Then we ventured on to The Layfayette Cemetary.
It was laid out in 1833. It was practically filled within ten years because of epidemics.
Creepy, huh?
Some of Easy Rider was filmed here too.
It looks as if B is...
you know,
urinating on the gate.
I assure you,
he is not.
However, I did make him stand here, so I could get this shot.
The cemetary houses bodies in the above-ground tombs that are trademark to
New Orleans.
Pretty cool, huh?
I'd like to enlarge this picture and frame it
as artwork
from our trip here.
And there you have it..
New Orleans through the eyes of the Mother Blogger herself.
And this commemorated the longest blog I've ever written.
It was a three parter!
SHEW!
(blood, sweat and tears, I tell ya.)
Now it's too dark. My perfect picture just didn't happen. My mission was foiled. 
Now it's too dark. My perfect picture just didn't happen. My mission was foiled. 
