I tend to wander when I go somewhere new. Poking things, touching things that shouldn't be touched, asking questions about everything, sitting down where no one should sit. Once I saw a six-fingered man and I followed him for blocks. Is he a prodigal typist? Does he play the harp? Where does he buy gloves?
Then I get in conversations with strangers, long ones, about the most pointless shit ever, like the personal preference of ladders and step stools (this old man in Germany was carrying a ladder, and "ladder" auf Deutsch is "Strichleiter," and I wanted to use my mad German skillz, so I walked up to him and said, "Ihre Strichleiter ist schwach" because I thought that meant "your ladder is sturdy" but it means "your ladder is limp" and he laughed and corrected me and then we spoke in English, because my German is awful, and we talked about ladders for awhile, and he told me about how he was heading over to this elementary school to fix some windows. This elementary school happened to be directly next to some Nazi bunkers that had been converted into a torture museum and haunted house, and me, Muffy, and Sean totally went there and it kicked soooo much ass).
Tangent, what what. I'm so not even trying to be witty today.
Basically, I'm going on this New Orleans trip at the end of March for some volunteering and exploring. Never been there before.
So people, pretty pretty please, give me suggestions on neat shit to do there. Other than, you know, getting really really drunk.
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PS: Fucking YES. WE. CAN.
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19 comments:
Napoleon House or Central Grocery for muffeletas
Mother's for Po'boys
Cafe du Monde for beignets and coffee and world-class people watching.
Trust me...I would not lie to you!
Oh, yes. I second the Po'boys. How I miss those seafood allergy-free days.....
and the ladder convo reminds of this one time when a friend mixed up Tamil and Malayalam (which can sound similar in places) and told his granny that his mom was hanging (as in, by her neck) in stead of telling her that his mom was asleep.
what sort of volunteering?
hereinfranklin beat me to Cafe du Monde. You have to have some of those beignets and coffee with chicory.
There are some Ghost Tours you can do in the evening and I've heard they are amazing. They take you in these beautiful old cemeteries where they bury people above ground.
Take a trolley ride down St. Charles and look at the beautiful old homes there.
Find some gumbo. Eat that.
There's a chick on my blogroll, Cold Spagetti (Holly), she's a grad student, lives near the French Quarter and has done some major worldwide volunteering. Go intro yourself there and tell her I sent you. She can give you some great suggestions on what the local folks around there do.
Oh, hell, did you look and see if that's the same week as JazzFest?
If so, wow are you in luck.
Have a great trip.
I have no suggestions because I've never actually been there.
But I really, really want to go.
I say this like it means something to you.
Sorry.
Pravda is a super awesome cafe/tasteful bar. It's on decatur by the french market. It is all communist russian themed.
Plus they have a KILLER vodka selection and great coffee.
The voodoo museums are interesting.
I know it's typical, but beignets at Cafe Du Monde are worth the wait.
and two words...The Garden District
I'll be there in Mayish.
p.s. Have you ever thought your wandering is very similar to the wandering in Ghost World?
The last time I was in New Orleans, we planned trips and stuff, but all we really ended up doing was drinking Hand Grenades, yelling at cops, and asking all women to show us their boobs.
I'm not proud of this, but when many of the women did, in fact, show us their boobs, I felt like I was in a wonderful magical world for at least the next hour until I'd bruise my face passing out in the middle of the street, only to be kicked awake by a cop.
Franklin: Just before I wrote this blog, I sent out an email to the crew that I'm going with about how we needed to find the best place to get muffeletas. So fuck yeah.
Crow: Now a confusion like that could get someone hurt.
Nurse: We're only going for four days, and working at a homeless shelter. Limited time and only five of us leave minimal options, but I don't care, work is work. Half the point of going there is not just to work, but to plug cash back into the economy. And it's not through an organization or anything, this is something that my friends and I have been talking about doing for over a year, and now it's official. I'm excited.
Kitty: No, Jazzfest is the end of April. We purposely wanted to go when there weren't any festivals around, just because otherwise we'd get all pissed off and probably not work as hard and wish we were somewhere else. St. Louis Cemetary is on my must-see list, and we're debating if we're going to have money for tours. We really want to do a swamp tour, though.
Boomer: Wanna go? Train leaves March 23rd.
Ammo: I knew you'd have Nola insight. And I HAVE to go to the Historic Voodoo Museum, because I haven't gone to a religious museum since the Creation Museum, and that was amazing. And this doesn't mean I have to fuck Steve Buscemi, does it?
Damn. I wish I had enough money to do this with you guys. So sad. And I hope Muffy doesn't still have a walking cast and a cane then. Would put quite a damper on the trip...
sounds like a cool trip. will you be handing out witticisms with the food?
New Orleans is my fave place to go for a quick vacation. I'm in Texas...so, we can drive there in 6 hours!
I LOVE THIS PLACE.
Post Katrina...it's changed a little. The French Quarter is nice, still...but, don't wander away from it at night...FO SHO!!!
We went on a swamp boat tour the last time we went. We had driven, so we had a car...it's about a 45 minute drive along the coast...you can see all the devastation of Katrina this way...the trees are eerie...houses were still in trees (we went last year)...we saw "HELP" in sticks on roofs. It was a VERY scenic drive.
Then, the swamp tour was AWESOME. Alligators came right up to our TINY little boat...big ones! The tour guide was a TRIP! Lived there on this swamp all his life...soo knowledgeable and entertaining. Long tour...huge gators!!! Beautiful swamp!
That's my 2 cents!!
Oh yeah...Emeril Lagasse used to have a DelMonico's off of St.Charles near the trolley line. Don't know if it survived the hurricane...but, if you haven't eaten at one of his restaurants...it's DELICIOUS!!!
Don't tempt me like that!
Try not to get murdered in new Orleans. I hear it's scary there.
Schmee: Seriously. Pay off those bills already. You know how much fun we could have? We haven't done a trip in forever.
Nurse: I will do my very best. Perhaps we should start coming up with pre-cooked zingers in preparation?
Nikki: Oh Sweet Mother, that is fantastic. Thank you so much, seriously, for the input, because I was on the fence about the swamp tour because of the price. Now? Definitely happening.
Boomer: I will be quoting Teen Wolf and TWToo the entire time.
Ambiblob: I'll do my damnedest. Main thing? Memorizing maps. Before you go anywhere, you memorize the map. So I'm working on that right now.
If you have time, and you're there over the weekend, go eat brunch at the Court of the Two Sisters. Fucking fantastic.
Go to the Gumbo Shop for Gumbo, it's right near Jackson Square.
Make sure that when you go to Cafe Du Monde, you do it early in the morning when the sun is just coming up, and the men are out washing the sidewalks, and the carriage drivers are just getting lined up at the south end of Jackson Square.
There is nothing like it. And hell yeah to mufffalettas from Central Grocery, their olive salad is the best.
The Aquarium used to be well worth seeing, I suspect it still is.
Also, we ate at Delmonico's prior to Katrina, and my friend and I were totally unimpressed.
Just eat. A lot.
the only thing that ever really excites me about going somewhere new is the food. Actually, that might be one of the only things that excites me in life. I should probably volunteer and get some fucking perspective.
Trouble: That sounds amazing.
Gypsy: That's the plan, man. FOOD. And drink. And merry frivolity.
Blues: A perspective without food is hardly worth having at all.
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