NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana

If you like music and booze with a backdrop of history steeped in slavery and voodoo, I can't imagine anyplace you'd like better than New Orleans. I tagged along on Shelaine's trip to see Auntie Kylee in her new digs. Our first stop was the Rock*Art*Circus, an eclectic affair at The Big Top where we had immediate immersion in local culture. The six days that followed involved several trips to the French Quarter, an easy bus (or bicycle) ride, a long walk through Audubon Park, a drive across to West Bank which is more utilitarian than scenic, scenic drives through the Garden District, a bonfire in MidCity and a tour of the Lower 9th Ward (or Lower 9-11 as referred to by Zoe). The day we arrived, Hurricane Ida was heading our way and New Orleans is a bit sensitive to hurricane threats so by Monday schools were closed and the concert Shelaine had hoped to see was cancelled. By Tuesday Ida was downgraded to a Tropical Storm and we barely had a few raindrops. Every conversation and encounter was punctuated with pre- and post-Katrina references. In the French Quarter and the Garden District there's little evidence remaining of storm damage but the year and a half disruption of lives and livelihoods makes a more compelling impression. Not to mention the shattered lives of those who no longer have a story to tell or a place to come home to. In brief below, selected snapshots of our week in The Big Easy.


Music and dancing on a Sunday afternoon in Jackson Square.
New Orleans version of "street meat."
At the Half Moon watching the Saints Game with barking dogs.
Audubon Park.


At "The Fly" along the Mississipi with clouds from Hurricane, then Tropical Storm Ida lurking.

Tree telling us all the juicy details. (And Tanya gave us a tour of the art galleries on Julia Street.)
The Tinmen at d.b.a.
Pontalba apartments built in 1850's flanking Jackson Square by the colorful Baroness Michaela Pontalba. The oldest apartment buildings in the U.S.
Voodoo museum.
Free ferry across the Mississippi to Algiers.
Miniature house in Algiers.