I arrived home from New Orleans on Monday night about 11:45. Tuesday was so busy with meeting my Dad to get Lola, inauguration watching and starting the teaching of my classes last night and this morning, that I'm just now getting to post New Orleans stories and photos.
Here is the story that accompanies the photo below. Lisa and I went to a restaurant that I normally LOVE on Saturday night, Brigtsen's. It is not even in the quarter, but down at riverbend, so it is really out of the way, but they have a yellow fin tuna TO DIE FOR! Always have had it...every time I've been there, every time my parents have been there, every time we've had friends go there...not Saturday night though. I cannot describe how deflated I felt as I read that menu (not only was I not going to get my dish, but had wasted a $20 cab ride there and a $20 cab ride back)! After settling for a far inferior dish for dinner, Lisa and I decided we weren't in the mood for dessert right then, but thought a Moon Pie later would be fantastic. Lisa and I, both being good southern girls, LOVE us some Moon Pie!
Later that evening we started ducking into every store in the Quarter that sold snacks and sodas in the search for our Moon Pies....couldn't find a one. I decided we would walk down and cross Canal to go to the Walgreens...which ended up being closed! We walked across the street into a liquor/convenience store that had the loudest gangster rap playing you've ever heard. I went to the snack aisle and saw a Moon Pie box. When I pulled it out, there was one moon pie and two that had been demolished by I'm not sure what, but am guessing rats. Lisa said, "we can't get that one" and I replied, "i believe this is the last moon pie in new Orleans, so if we want moon pie, we're getting it!". Just to clarify, I checked and it appeared to be still sealed. So below, is the photo of the much sought after Moon Pie!
Below is Lisa after we hit up Harrah's Casino! I wish! There was a huge art expo in NOLA that ran from November to this past weekend. It was called Prospect 1. This was one of the exhibits displayed in the Old U.S. Mint down in the Quarter.
Below was one of my favorite pieces of art. This was upstairs in the Mint. The tree was going through the piano and what you don't get from just the photo is that the piano was playing music.
Not that I'm an art expert of anything, but I quickly became quite the critic. I decided that everything that is multi-media art using dvds and projectors is not art, but is instead complete crap. There are several minutes of my life that sadly I am not going to get back from viewing this junk! Below is something that I'm not so sure is really art, but I liked it a lot. This was a room filled with these things coming down from the ceiling. It was just really cool and kind of like a fairy room. Someday you will come to my house and find that I have been bored and done this in my spare room!
Now we are to Sunday. Lisa and I had a Jazz Brunch at Commander's Palace. Here we are riding the streetcar on the way back to the hotel for a clothing change so that we could go look at more of Prospect 1.
Sunday we took the free Prospect 1 shuttle down to the Lower 9th Ward...partly to see the art, partly to explore L9. Below is one of the exhibits in an L9 building. Every room in the upstairs of this building was "wallpapered" in this industrial paper that an artist had painted in NYC. The only thing that was painted on the sight was the light green paint. Each room was covered in this bayou scene.
Here is the story that accompanies the photo below. Lisa and I went to a restaurant that I normally LOVE on Saturday night, Brigtsen's. It is not even in the quarter, but down at riverbend, so it is really out of the way, but they have a yellow fin tuna TO DIE FOR! Always have had it...every time I've been there, every time my parents have been there, every time we've had friends go there...not Saturday night though. I cannot describe how deflated I felt as I read that menu (not only was I not going to get my dish, but had wasted a $20 cab ride there and a $20 cab ride back)! After settling for a far inferior dish for dinner, Lisa and I decided we weren't in the mood for dessert right then, but thought a Moon Pie later would be fantastic. Lisa and I, both being good southern girls, LOVE us some Moon Pie!
Later that evening we started ducking into every store in the Quarter that sold snacks and sodas in the search for our Moon Pies....couldn't find a one. I decided we would walk down and cross Canal to go to the Walgreens...which ended up being closed! We walked across the street into a liquor/convenience store that had the loudest gangster rap playing you've ever heard. I went to the snack aisle and saw a Moon Pie box. When I pulled it out, there was one moon pie and two that had been demolished by I'm not sure what, but am guessing rats. Lisa said, "we can't get that one" and I replied, "i believe this is the last moon pie in new Orleans, so if we want moon pie, we're getting it!". Just to clarify, I checked and it appeared to be still sealed. So below, is the photo of the much sought after Moon Pie!
Below is Lisa after we hit up Harrah's Casino! I wish! There was a huge art expo in NOLA that ran from November to this past weekend. It was called Prospect 1. This was one of the exhibits displayed in the Old U.S. Mint down in the Quarter.
Below was one of my favorite pieces of art. This was upstairs in the Mint. The tree was going through the piano and what you don't get from just the photo is that the piano was playing music.
Not that I'm an art expert of anything, but I quickly became quite the critic. I decided that everything that is multi-media art using dvds and projectors is not art, but is instead complete crap. There are several minutes of my life that sadly I am not going to get back from viewing this junk! Below is something that I'm not so sure is really art, but I liked it a lot. This was a room filled with these things coming down from the ceiling. It was just really cool and kind of like a fairy room. Someday you will come to my house and find that I have been bored and done this in my spare room!
Now we are to Sunday. Lisa and I had a Jazz Brunch at Commander's Palace. Here we are riding the streetcar on the way back to the hotel for a clothing change so that we could go look at more of Prospect 1.
Sunday we took the free Prospect 1 shuttle down to the Lower 9th Ward...partly to see the art, partly to explore L9. Below is one of the exhibits in an L9 building. Every room in the upstairs of this building was "wallpapered" in this industrial paper that an artist had painted in NYC. The only thing that was painted on the sight was the light green paint. Each room was covered in this bayou scene.
Seeing the art in the L9 was really cool because most of the artists, while not from NOLA, had spent time there and were inspired by what they had seen there. Normally when we see art in a museum it is removed from the inspiration, but here, it wasn't.
Below was kind of a malfunctioning piece of art. This was a public restroom down in L9 that was located in what was a park or recreation area. The artist tore down the wall that separated the men's and women's room and had a fountain flowing up from the ground right in the middle. The fountain wasn't working on Sunday. The point was suppose to be the rising water there surrounded by the walls still marked with the flood lines. If you look closely on the light blue portions of the wall, you can see the various flood lines where the water rose and the settled. It is kind of hard to see, but the lines go all the way above the blue paint.
Another piece in the L9.
After Katrina, the flooding in the L9 was not caused by failures in the levees like in other places, but because a boat that wasn't tied up good, broke free, and then crashed through the levees along the Industrial Canal. The flooding was much worse in the area closest to the Canal and not as bad towards the River. The area near the River flooded, but because it is higher ground, the flooding receded more quickly.
Another piece in the L9.
After Katrina, the flooding in the L9 was not caused by failures in the levees like in other places, but because a boat that wasn't tied up good, broke free, and then crashed through the levees along the Industrial Canal. The flooding was much worse in the area closest to the Canal and not as bad towards the River. The area near the River flooded, but because it is higher ground, the flooding receded more quickly.This was one of the homes closer to the Mississippi. Not devastated, but still not inhabited. You can tell from the markings that this house was searched for bodies on September 10th by the DEA and no bodies were found inside.
Below is a photo of the L9 close to the Industrial Canal. You can see where there were once many homes side by side, and now, nothing.
Another photo of once was a heavily populated street in L9
Below are some photos of the "Brad Pitt" homes. Not where Brad and Angie live (they live down in the Quarter on Decatur at Governor Nichols), but the ones Brad is involved in building down in L9. I thought more were built, but there are really aren't that many yet. You can check them out and get more info about those green homes at www.makeitrightnola.org
On the last day, I couldn't resist taking this photo. I already have a ton of similar photos, but it is just too beautiful.
Below is a photo of the L9 close to the Industrial Canal. You can see where there were once many homes side by side, and now, nothing.
Another photo of once was a heavily populated street in L9
Below are some photos of the "Brad Pitt" homes. Not where Brad and Angie live (they live down in the Quarter on Decatur at Governor Nichols), but the ones Brad is involved in building down in L9. I thought more were built, but there are really aren't that many yet. You can check them out and get more info about those green homes at www.makeitrightnola.org
On the last day, I couldn't resist taking this photo. I already have a ton of similar photos, but it is just too beautiful.
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