New Orleans 4ever - Part I

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Oldest chuch in the US

This is my long expectad blog entry. I have to post it in 2 parts, cause after publishing the post 2/3 was gone. I'll make two parts of it, hopefully the posting succeeds this time!
I wanted to post a shortcut video. But I had absolutely not even time to watch my recordings...
Well what shall I say about my trip to New Orleans? It is one of the most exciting cities I've ever been.
It's not surpriseing how many times it was extolled, written about or described it.
My personal highlight was at the second day. It was pretty warm in the good old french quarter. After a sightseeng day by myself I decided to have a break at the banks of the Mississippi. A guy with a guitar sat not far away from me. A skinny mid aged guy on a camp chair. He sang exactly like Bob Dylan, I swear, and I already saw Dylan live years ago. A sparrow scampered around me for already at least 30 mins. I had no food with me only a bottle of Dr. Pepper cola. He came really near so I named him Jack... What a better name for a sparrow as Jack?

The guy with the Dylan voice

Jack Sparrow :D

Natches

I really fell in love with the Mississippi 'river'. By the way, Mississippi means big water.
Well the french quarter was amazing. All the music, all the odours of food. I felt like being home. I cannot go out without an MP3 player actually, but I never needed an MP3 player in New Orleans. Especially in the French quarter. I also met a lot great, nice, and freaky people. As usual I get my nicknames in NO too. Most locals wear flipflops or sandals. I was an exotic with my biker boots. I needed shoes I can walk in for hours, and my boots were just perfect. An old shoe blacker saw my boots, and called me boots-lady. He recognised me every time and yelled: Hey boots lady! He was too funny.
Everyone asks you in NO where you come from. Most people thought I'm english.......... Okay one big guy was confident with his idea, and he was very sure I'm Irish. lol
I visited the French quarter three times by day and ones at night. It is a different place at night time. It's kind of like Amsterdam, if someone knows what I mean. You see bars, where you never thougt there was one. A lot peepshows and déshabillé woman. And of course live music in every bar all night and on the streets. The city's alive, and very different to day time.
The food was also delicious! I'm actually not a big seafood fan. I like fish and that's all. But I really had a lot seafood and I really loved it. Loved the Louisiana Crawfish. And believe it or not; and if you know me personal you won't belive it but I had oysters! Was not my favourite, but I actually hardly ever eat Oyster. I refuse Oysters in every situation.
Catfish was my favourite. You really have to try Gambo and Jambalaya! Oh and I loved the gator poo-boy! Yammie!

Artists everywhere

President Lincoln? O.O

Home sweet home

We also went to a swap tour with Captain Jack. No no; not the sparrow. Our tour guys name was Captain Jack. I learned a lot. Even I knew more about aligators or the swamp as most of the people on our boat. Captain Jack showed us his crawfish catch. We had also the pleasure to meet a huge male aligator. And Maggy the gator dame. She was so sweet. And there was this dominant female gator lady. I love the swamps, and in fact if they wouldn't be any mosquitos, and we were lucky enough not to meat them; I really could live in the swamps. What an amazing place.

Maggy. :)

Captain Jack with his Craw Fishes

These are the roots of the tree in the water.

New Orleans 4ever - Part II

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You really have to visit the Oak Alley Plantation while you're in New Orleans or elsewhere Louisiana. The history in Louisiana is very rich and interesting anyway. A lot US people told me, they're a bit jealous of the European history, traditions and culture. Of course you wont find any ancient castles, but there are other things to see. For example an old flagg from the civil war.
How ever, the Oak Alley Plantation is full of old stories. The most impressiv are the over 300 years old oaks. They're different to European Oaks. Oaks were my fave trees anyway, but the trees at Oak Alley are tremendous. By the way, I also fell in love with the bold cypress. Spooky trees.

From the Plantation to the cemeteries. I'm a cemetery maniac, and I could not wait to visit the legendary graves in New Orleans. A lot movies were shot in these cemeteries, for example Ann Rice's 'Interview With A Vampire'.
My people in NO are very against graveyards it took me a lot persuasiveness to visit briefly two of the famous cemeteries. First the oldest cemetery in New Orleans and the St.Louis #3. I highly recommend you to visit as much cemeteries as you can. I bought a huge book, and I'm disappointed I could not visit more of them.

As a musician it was a must be to visit the Jazzfest. Most acts I'd like too see were on different days, but I had the chance to visit the fest on two days. For me Irma Thomas was the most powerful act. I saw Van Morrison for the second time, and I could not see BB King, cause the tent was already full two hours before the gig, and hundreds of people were already around the tent, and it was raining as hell. But lucky me had already the chance to jam with Mr. King years ago, and I saw him a few times live at the Jazzfest in Montreux, Switzerland. After all the Jazzfest, NO was a special experience.

Alltogether, I fell in love with New Orleans. My favourite city to visit. I couldn't live there, but I really hope to visit New Orleans again and again in the future. I met a lot great people, I really felt like home and it is an unforgettable and memorable trip. I also visited the Gulf of Mexico, before all the oil. What a shame! I had not enough time, because of the volcano in Iceland. We had to delay our flight to New Orleans, and we (my aunty and me) had only 10 days time.
Oh and don't forget to visit the Sealife at the Audubon Aquarium in New Orleans. It's fantastic!
Next time I'd really love to visit Memphis and not only it's airport, and Florida too.
I'd love to share all my pictures with you, but I made hundreds of photos.
Check some more pictures out on my art-page.