Sacramento Photographer | Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

I’m back from my adventure in New Orleans, The Big Easy, N’awlins.  All I can say is Wow! Wow! Wow!  This city is rich in culture and tradition and they love their visitors, and they are the nicest people eva!   They really know how to show you a fabulous time.  It’s an experience I will never  forget and well worth all my fret and anxiety about travelling.  On a plane.  Did I mention I’m not a good traveller?  David is still there wrapping up his inspection out on the levees and is in Venice, Louisiana right now.  He got to see Governor Bobby Jindal’s press conference live yesterday.  Lot’s of talk about the oil spills amongst the natives, and rightly so… but as a visitor, I would not have known the difference.  We spent most of our time at the French Quarter.   Above… the Mississippi River at Riverwalk….

I was happy to meet up with David for the Memorial Day weekend, I knew we were going to have a lot of fun!
(iPhone snap)

By day, this city is colorful… the architecture, the shops, the people and Oh, the food!   There is a cigar shop every 3 blocks…so if you are a cigar lova, no need to throw a fit, they are there to serve.  There was one cigar shop I saw where they will even roll a fresh one for you.  The weather is unpredictable, but one thing you can count on with certainty is the humidity.  Oh my word!  The humidity!  It showered every day I was there, but mostly in 20 minute increments here and there, and always with the sound of thunder in the distance warning you that it might be coming.  I always had a small umbrella with me.  I’m not talking sprinkles, these were huge wet drops of water just pouring down in 85 degree weather.  When the rain cleared and the clouds dispersed, the sun came out and it was Hot! Steam rising from the ground from the rain…  Hot and Sticky I was for 70 percent of the time.

In just about every street corner there are street performers, entertaining for tips… everyone works for tips here, so when you visit, be prepared to tip if you have enjoyed the show, from the street performers to the tour guides.  The image on the far left was of a lady, clothed in this elaborate costume, face painted gold frozen in this pose in 85 degree weather.  Put money in her watering can and she will slowly bow for you and regain her original pose.  I don’t know how she did it without bullets of sweat dripping from her face, but she did it very elegantly.  The image in the middle is of  a violin and guitar duo who stayed out all day performing contemporary songs.  The violin was the “voice” and the guitar was the rhythm.  They were Incredible and the violinist was Ah-mazing, they drew huge crowds.  The third image I thought was interesting.  I don’t know who that man was carrying the buckets, but he intrigued me because his face was painted silver and he was just walking getting to go somewhere.  I don’t think he liked me taking his picture because David said he kept looking back at me…  I just thought he was an ominous looking dude, so I snapped it. 

We walked all day long… bring comfortable walking shoes, but keep in mind that every pore of your body will sweat… thankfully I found a Clark’s shoes at the Riverwalk and bought some good flip flops with great soles that would absorb my feet sweat, HA! … every gal here pretty much is draped  in a sundress, so I fit in quite nicely… Oh, and the bathrooms… fughet abot it!  Not one to be found in this city, unless you are dining in their establishment… the buildings are very, very old and their washrooms are itty, bitty, tiny closets.  No worries…whatever you drink, you sweat it out anyways….

This is Harrah’s Casino at the outskirts of the French Quarter… the only land casino in the city, the rest are on the riverboats.  David tried 2 slot machines and neither one wanted his money…so we took it as an omen and left…

I wanted to give a special Shout Out to all my FaceBook friends for all your suggestions on what to see, do, eat… it made a HUGE difference to have some direction…

We landed at  Cafe du Monde and experienced “fat, deep fried in fat, then coated with powdered sugar” otherwise known as Beignets…. and yes, they were Delish!  I’m not sure about the Chicory Coffee though (ours were iced), wasn’t impressed with it… I’m sure it’s because I’m not a coffee drinker to begin with.

…..and can you imagine, we ran into a wedding at the St. Louis Cathedral and just had to take photos… their “official photographer” saw me and my camera and gave me a wink… love when colleagues are cool like that…

A few things that you must do on your visit to N’awlins is take some tours.  There is just sooo much history in this town and unless you’ve read up on it before hand and know where you are going, you should consider hitching a ride with the horse and buggy and taking a short tour and absorbing what your tour guide has to say.  This is Charls (Charles to us California people; Charls if you are in N’awlins)… he was awesome… I can listen to him talk for hours…. we found Bourbon Street, Nola (Emeril’s restaurant), and some other places we had wanted to go and explore… I’m so glad we did that….

This is me, with Charls and Shuga-daddy….

I’m feeling that there are gonna be more blog posts on Dave and my’s adventure through N’awlins…  it’s a different world at night!   I must say that they are the most nicest, people eva!  Really folks, go and spend your money there, especially now… they really know how to have a good time… Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez, like they say there… “Let the Good Times Roll”…..

xo,

~j