Once Upon A Time...: New Orleans Day 1

Today was our first day in New Orleans. We braved driving across downtown and finding overpriced public parking so we could go tour the French Quarter. It was an eye-opening experience for our rural children who were not fans of the loud traffic, road construction, and potent city smells. However, the French Quarter itself was quite charming, with its wrought-iron balconies and colorful buildings. There was jazz music all over in the streets and Cajun restaurants everywhere.

Ellie: I thought it was pretty cool. All the buildings from such a long time ago, and it was all very pretty.

Miles: I really liked the European-style buildings and how brightly colored they were.

Liam: Amazing! You know Voodoo, excited! We never been there before.

One stop that we were particularly excited to see was the Saint Louis Cathedral. Built on the original 1700s foundation, the current building was erected in 1851 and has amazing painted ceilings, gorgeous stained glass windows, and carved frescoes. The kids seemed to enjoy it fairly well and were spectacularly well-behaved.

Ellie: I thought the artwork on the ceiling was just beautiful, and it had a very reverent air about it.

Liam: That was a GIANT CEILINGS!

Miles: It was a pretty extraordinary building.

Ian: New Orleans is a great place. I was anxious and cranky (and yes I'm actually writing this) because I am not a big fan of cities, its were gangsters hang out. You could get robbed, get shot at, and I'm sure that happens all the time here. Its hard adjusting to a new place sometimes even though you know you are going to it. I thought the cathedral was really pretty. It reminded me of the time I was in Rome and seeing Vatican City. I was identify that it was Peter holding the key. The airbnb we are staying at is pretty nice it has lots of pictures of Jesus, but it smells like marijuana. Also, there are some creepy dolls in my room that watch me sleep (especially the Pee Wee Herman doll), but it beats sleeping on the couch. I chose the doll room over sharing a bed or sleeping on the couch.

After our tour we went to eat at the Gumbo Stop. Thanks to road construction it was very convoluted to find, but it had some extremely tasty cajun food. We were so proud of Ian, Ellie, and Miles for trying different kinds of gumbo. Liam predictably went for a steak.

Ellie: I had seafood gumbo, and it was amazing.

Miles: I had seafood okra gumbo with a side of shrimp creole, and it was phenomenal.

Ian: Lunch was great. I'm sure my parents wanted to eat gumbo after the conference, because of that one guy who talked about it. I got the chicken gumbo, and it was great. I almost gagged a few times because I was eating it too fast. I liked their crab cakes it went great with the sauce and shrimp they prepared. The waiter was really nice. He spoke lots of languages, had been lots of places, had been in the airforce, and got shot.

Liam: Cool restaurant. The steak was fantastic!

Another site we were eager to see was Pirate Alley. I did not realize it would also involve lots of mannequin displays of very risque lingerie...However, Liam managed to find a pirate flag at a shop. He bought it with the idea of putting it up in a canoe boat and then paddling around County Lake with it.

Ellie: It was pretty good to learn about the pirates who sold all their illegal goods there.

Miles: I thought it was interesting to learn about how people fenced stuff in that area, and how it was the black market of New Orleans.

Ian: It was great seeing a historical site, but there wasn't too much to see. For some reason, my family was really interested in the ticket building that had a few pirate souvenirs (but there was better stuff in the Pirate Museum in Saint Augustine).

Liam: We can make a rowboats, and we'll make the flag on it with a wind of the cloth.

We also toured the only Voodoo museum in the country. It wasn't large, but it was packed with Voodoo items and lots of interesting information about the Voodoo religion and its origins. Something I learned that I had not previously known was how the enslaved people would affiliate Catholic Saints with their Voodoo spirits and deities so they could secretly practice Voodoo without being punished, very clever and ingenious.

Liam: So much be cursed!

Miles: It was interesting learning about all the unique ideas in Vodoo culture, and how it originated in Africa.

Ian: It was interesting to see the Voodoo museum. I found it a little strange. It was small but provided lots of history. Learning about some of their Voodoo art...it was weird what they do. I mostly found the museum a little weird.

We also headed over to see one of the famous cemeteries, which are above-ground "cities of the dead". We got to peek over the walls, but we weren't willing to pay 200 dollars to tour it. On our way to it we found the Armstrong park and got our picture with Louis.

Ian: I really had to go the bathroom and couldn't see much of the Armstrong Park.

On our way back to our parking spot, we found someone to take a family picture for us with the gorgeous Saint Louis Cathedral.

Ian: I really liked the jazz in New Orleans, I really wanted to listen, but my family was less interested for some reason. I wanted to stay and listen, but they didn't. I liked the dessert and I got a new hat. I tried on a ton of hats at a hat shop. The people were really nice and helped me try out a ton of different hats. I was really grateful for the hat shop, because you can't find one where I live. Your best bet would be Boot Barn or Cabellas and they only have western hats. This had all kinds of hats. I'd like to wear it now, but my mom is making me wait until Christmas.

Our final stop before going home was to get beignets at the Beignet Cafe. We opted for hot chocolate too, which was a mistake...it tasted like hot milk. The beignets were tasty. Ellie mostly enjoyed feeding a sparrow bits of hers.

Liam: Beignets is quite

Ian: I liked the beignets. The kind dipped in chocolate was better than the ones just dipped in powder (though those were also good). There were a lot of cute little sparrows in the restaurant. My little sister got excited and immediately started feeding them bits of her beignets. She fed them so much that I couldn't feed them. She stole all the birds. They looked pudgy by the time we left.