30 Days in the Big Easy

To the right is one of two artist we saw at the old US Mint, Jim & Martha Hession are all about Jazz and provided a bit of Jazz History. They turned the Old Mint into a Museum and on the third floor put in a 1st class music venue for free concerts held by local muscians all through the week.








The French and Victorian Architecture makes for great touring around town. This is the old City Hall Building.

The St.Charles Trolley on the left and the Canal Street trolley on the right took us everywhere we wanted to visit in NO for $3 for a day ticket. It took us to the New Orleans Whole Foods Market, But wait, the prepared food was all spicey and had crawdads in it!.

This bubble machine coated the whole area with big bubbles.

Getting ready for Christmas, Football, New Years, then next up Mardi Gras.

We saw these guys at least 7 different days at Jackson square, always had to stop and listen for a while.

A little bit ot Texas in the FQ.

The Oldest active Catholic Church in the nation makes it's presence 24/7.

The best Window shopping anywhere.

This Women could sing it all!

The Insectatorium was on the Admirals list, Here is a colony of leave cutter ants.

The Admiral had to taste some of the Chef prepared insect culinary delights.

I Thought about it for 1 second..Nope, not gonna eat bugs.

The New Orleans Museaum of Arts is a Must Do.

Can't figure out why we were never exposed to art showing Mary breat feeding baby Jesus?

The NOMA had incredible masterpieces in every room.

Of Course they would have a famous piece titled The Sailboat.

Here a computer graphic artist projects his dynamic image on the wall so everyone passing can interact.

And Outside over 65 sculptures in their beautiful sculpture gardens.

One of my two favorites. Love with the Admiral and the Structure behind in the water.

This is where you find the best Muffuletta. I ate three, and this place was tops.

People were lined up to get in here after the Muffuletta's.







New Orleans, the Metamorphosis of the casual traveler.

The American vacation usually consist of a 7 to 14 (if you are really fortunate) day venture and the mode of travel to the destination determines the actual number of days the American actually enjoys time away from the grind of their day to day life. I remember our 7 days in Cozumel, Mexico where lots of Europeans were found along with the Americans on the incredible beaches. They had at least 6 weeks and usually 2 months or more of yearly vacation. We really did not have time to absorb what this would mean to us as Americans. It took 1 day to fly there and check in to the timeshare, at least 1 more day just to slow down to Cozumel speed, the Margaritas, beautiful sand, and crystal blue clear water certainly helped expedite this. So we had 4 days to absorb this part of the Mexican Caribbean, then you had to jump in a taxi and get back to the airport in Cancun to fly home. We wondered about the Europeans having such long vacations, but only briefly since we needed to attend to our own needs.
Well I can tell you all right now that the Euros were way ahead of the American evolution of R&R. Our decision to spend a month in New Orleans recreates our idea of all the above. After discussing this with our daughter Lia we both agree that it is beneficial to all to stay long enough to be almost mistaken for a local. She had a similar experience after an extended stay at Orcas Island.
Our first week in NO was merely exploratory, finding routes, areas of interest, and a means to get at it. The areas of interest were Music, Food, and Art, not necessarily in that order. The real story in all that turned out turned out to be the super eclectic culture of NO. The history, architecture, and soul of NO were way more powerful than we were fully aware of. This is why a month at a destination is really a minimum, it allows you to get much deeper in the culture of the natives and really appreciate their contribution to the world.