Today, Tuesday the 25th April started out with the coolness this year has brought. We went for a walk and within the hour, sun appeared and the temps went from cool to warm immediately. Which made it a great day to tour a cypress swamp on Lake Martin, about a 10 minute drive away. The “lake” is generally 3 feet deep and aobut 7 feet at it’s deepest and is loaded with alligators. Also snapping turtles on the muddy lake bed, so no swimming or paddle boarding. Lots of kayaks out and quite a few fishermen in aluminum boats.

We were 19, including our guide Brett, a couple from Holland (who had shipped their motor home to Baltimore and were on a 6 month tour), 2 young women and a young man (late 20s?) from France, and a local family (men, women, children).

These trees, when not growing in water, grow to be 200 years old and about 120-160 feet high. Growing in water, they will always be this size as they were planted here prior to the area being flooded. It’s green in Louisiana that even the water is green!

There are quite a few of these dotting the lake. At some point it was determined that no more could be built. So even though they are privately owned, the first person to arrive at any duck blind has the use of it for the day. Hunting season is November through January.

Fortunaely for the gators, lots of logs float in the lake. Gators need to sun themselves until their body temperature reaches 76 F in order to be able to digest food. Another intersting fact: measure snout to eyes; the number of inches equals their length which in turn tells you the age. Oh, only the males get longer than 8 feet.

We also saw ahingas also known as snake birds ( and one of the few birds with solid bones), great blue herons, a bald eagle, osprey and at one point went by a cloud of baby dragonflies. I did not get photos of any of them. Oh, we were also accompanied by a slew of butterflies that kept landing on us.

It was peaceful. If I lived here, I would certainly be on this body of water tooling around. But not on my paddle board!

On to the next adventures…

We left the New Orleans area via the Lake Pontchatrain Causeway, which is the longest continuous bridge over a body of water in the world! It’s 24 miles of huggingly close to the water bridge. I read that some people freeze due to the expanse of water and must be escorted off the bridge by the police. At one point, looking left or right, you cannot see land, just an expanse of water to the horizon. I was surprised to see nary a boat – neither motor nor sail.

We enjoyed the Louisiana State Capitol building so much last year we returned. It was equally enjoyable. Here are a few photos from the 27th floor observation deck. The building itself is 34 stories high. Huey P. Long had a vision and brought it to fruition. Unfortunately, he was assassinated here while serving as US Senator. It seems Huey was gerrymandering some area to preclude a rival from being able to be elected. Said rival’s son-in-law took issue with this and shot Huey. That probably didn’t help him get elected. And then he’s got a jailbird SIL; I’m sure neither killer’s wife nor FIL were happy about this. He was a very mild-mannered looking ENT doctor. Go figure. You really can’t.

If you ever find yourself in Baton Rouge, I highly recommend visiting the caitol building and the grounds. In addition we found a restaurant with interesting food, a great atmosphere, and cocktails: Cochairs. Check it out, too!

After settling into our digs (same place we stayed last year) in Breaux Bridge, we took a walk into town, about 3/4 mile. This time I picked up a few brochures at the visitor center. One was a walking tour of the town so we proceded to follow it. Truly worthwhile! We didn’t even finish it before heading back home to continue tomorrow (whcih is now today as i write this). Well, before getting the brochure, we visited St Bernard’s church as mass had just let out. Therein, we got to talking with a local Cajun/Acadian. Got a little history about the area, about the loss of French for some due to government policies (similar to what happened to Spanish speakers and Indians in the southwest). Talked with another woman waiting for her daughter who was making her First Confession. She remarked how nervous her daughter had been and now it seemed she didn’t want to leave the confessional! Must have been an interesting conversation in there.

We’ve been in three churches in these parts. In all three, the Stations of the Cross are in French. So, while the government tried to eradicate the language and the culture, it remains strong here.

Teche is the Chitimacha tribe word for snake. Bayou Teche was once part of the Mississippi which snakes ever so much through the territory. In fact there is a sculpture depicting the Bayou as a snake with towns listed along the snake. There’s a wonderful legend that goes along with it, but would take too long to go into here. It’s right by the Bayou Teche. There’s so much history in these small towns!

I gave you the downtown rainy part, but not the midtown sunny part! We left the French Quarter for midtown knowing we wanted a return to 1000 Figs for lunch. Mediterranean – think falafel, tsatziki, zhoug, buttermilk marinated chicken (why haven’t I been preparing chicken that way?!) Tasty focaccia. Oh, the fried brussel sprouts! It’s all good and so fresh! We also like that neighborhood. It’s on the way to the racetrack where the Jazz Fest is held. The houses are varied and interesting, it’s tree lined, and flowery. By now, the sun was out in full force; the umbrella I’d been using for rain, transformed into a shelter from the sun. I’d burned by shoulders on Friday at the festival and so have been taking extra care. When’s the last time I burned my shoulders and had peeling skin?! Who knows…that’s how long.

From here we’d hoped to visit the miniature train garden in the Botanic Garden, but it was too late. A cemetary was next on the list. Also too late. But never too late, is a brewery and as we found ourselves in the neighborhood of the Second Line Brewing, off we went. The reward was the best beer we’ve found in New Orleans! Clear, hoppy West Coast style IPA and a flavorful Pilsner. And almost more children than adults – at first.

Then home for a movie – The Boondock Saints – which was dark, outlandish, and thoroughly entertaining. Willem Dafoe plays an FBI agent with a twist – or two. The Boondock Saints, fraternal twin vigilante brothers, take on some evil doers in Boston and gain a few supporters along the way. It’s violent, reminded me of a Quentin Tarantino movie, and so I don’t recommend it for everyone. Looking up the title to make sure I had it correct, I saw that Bookdock Saints II was made and III was in production last year.

Saturday – last day in New Orleans

We did go back to City Park for the Train Garden in the Botanic Garden. Another perfect day.

Apologies for this being out of order – had an issue and so I worked on something different. Ni modo.

The day dawned grey with forcasts of rain, but not much. By the time we got to the streetcar stop, a drop here, a drop there was felt. B the time we got to the French Quarter a soft steady rain sweetly falling. I love walking in a light rain with umbrella overhead, hearing the gently patter. We made our way to river’s edge. New Orleans is a city that loves water! I read that somewhere and It felt apropos. There are two paddle boats plying the river, selling day tours and evening dinner/jazz tours. Lines stretched five deep and quite long on sunny days. No one out today. It is a very smart looking boat.

Further along is a modern mall on the inside, but on the outside it looks like this.

I wanted to tour the Pitot House today, but it turns out that it’s a very popular place; nothing available until next Thursday. I was interested in this house as it was owned by some of Edgar Degas’ family. He is the only impressionist to come to the US. Probably the only one to have family here!

Instead we went to the 1850 House. It was financed and construction was supervised by the Baroness de Pontalba. Remarkable woman. A bit of her history: her father made tons of money buying and selling real estate in New Orleans. He was also a noted philanthropist, donating money to fiance the St. Louis Cathedral, a public school, Charity House, and Urusiline Chapel. At the age of 16 Micaela married Celestin de Pontalba, a French Creole. They went to live with her husband’s family in France. Her FIL was intent upon seizing her sizable inheritance and attempted to murder her! Despite being shot four times, she survived. FIL commited suicide. Good! She was granted legal separation from her husband and returned to New Orleans and went about the business of the 1850 Houses. There’s one on one side of Jackson Square and the other is across the square on the other side. St. Louis Cathedral sits between them with the river across the square from it. Most of the 1850 House now houses business on the street level, just as was intended when the Baroness had them constructed. I don’t know what’s above now, but back in the day there were apartments. The tour was a little taste into what an apartment would be like – generally three floors. Kitchen below, parlor and dining above, and lastly bedrooms. I only took the photo below, because in all the historic homes I’ve toured, never have I heard of this before – a Hair Wreath! The information stated that in mid to late nineteenth century women often made wresths, pictures, and jewelry out of hair to memorialize a loved one or as a keepsake. Sometimes many members of the family contributed locks of hair. A small memorial would be made solely from the hair of the departed. Auburn and red hair were most prized. Below you’ll see the wreath and a close up.

St. Louis Cathdral was our next stop.

I’ll end tonight with this one last photo from a shoe store on Chartres Street.

This Wednesday at the New Orleans Museum of Art

What a glorious day! Sun and clouds and breeze, warmth and coolness. We walked the mile and a half to the museum via neighborhood streets. There were some extraordinary pieces, only a few of which I think will be able to be appreciated here versus in person. So here goes…

I selected the following to share because a few of the elements reminded me of children’s books and their authors. Some of you will relate. This piece is by Twins Seven-Seven, a Nigerian painter, sculptor, and musician. What a great name! It is ink, paint, and chalk on plywood, titled The Lazy Hunters, and the Poisonous Wrestlers, Lizard and the Cobra. What struck me about it is that the lizard, particularly his clawed patas, remind me of a Maurice Sendak creature from Where the Wild Things Are. Secondly, the Lazy Hunters in the bottom right remind reminded me of a a book, No David!, due to the triangular nose. Just fun connections.

from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

No, David! by David Shannon

Now, being In New Orleans, the following piece, Lower Ninth Ward by Thornton Dial, I found to be evocative of a deluge and the damage caused, exactly the desired outcome of the artist. How artists manage to to be able to bring their vision to fruition is a marvel. Dial was 83 when he completed this piece.

All of the items in this sculptural piece were found in the Lower Ninth Ward after Hurricane Katrina. You must expand it to see all of the elements – dolls, clothing, planks and netting…

This piece is tender and could be fleeting were it not for the velvet panel laid atop to protect it from light. I’ll just add the museum description that explains it.

Just because I’m studying French!

After relaxing chez nous for the afternoon, we ventured into the neighborhood for dinner at Liuzza’s, the second of their locales, the other being near the race track which houses the Jazz Festival and which mixes up a spicy and kicking Bloody Mary, which they sell by the hundreds (thousands?) as people flock by by on their way to the festival. This one may have an equally delicious Bloody Mary, but I opted for the French 75 – not because I’m studying French – but because I like them! And at half off Happy Hour, why not? The red beans and rice, and the garlic spinach were mouthy good. Walking home we came upon Vessel.

EAT. DRINK. CONGREGATE.

What would you say was the denomination by looking at the building?

By the way, notice the sidewalk work – so much of that here. In areas tree roots have absolutely wreaked havoc with sidewalks! But those sidewalks are left buckled and broken.

Darn good martini here; Botanical Islay Gin – so smooth.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll go back in time to fill in previous days. Today was a good day. Expecting rain tomorrow; we hear the WWII Museum is not to be missed. Then we may hit Frenchman Street for music. A demain.

Howdy! Why start with Amarillo? Cuz that’s where we hit a snafu. Imagine cruising along sweetly on I40 west, when all on a sudden, the engine starts getting rough; you give it gas and it slows down! Darn thing has a cough worse than the one I got due to bronchitis. So we pull over and stop. Nothing to do, but call the Ford dealer which I noticed we passed just a few miles west. Call the towing company they recommend – an hour to an hour and a half wait. Call another who says 30 minutes to an hour, which sounds better, until they start asking for everything but your first dog’s name. Whne you tell the woman in India or Korea or whereever she is that you are done and do not want to deal with all that, she still asks, “But sir what are your coordinates?” By then, the first towing company is calling and ready to come get you, sooner than expected, and in addition he now has room in the cab to also take us to the dealership and we don’t have to call an Uber! After lunch and another hour or two later we’re back on the road. The problem? Something from the highway got sucked up into the engine and had to be cleaned out. That’s it. So – could’ve been worse and we made our destination, Gainesville, TX albeit about 4 hours later than expected. The rest of the journey was smooth! We found a great little joint for lunch outside of Shreveport, LA called Herbie K’s. Charlie had the Special – Shrimp Remouldae Salad – which was an excellent choice! I had the Shrimp Buster which locals crave after going without for too long. Or so I was told. Heres\’s what a shrimp buster is: take a big ol’ gulf shrimp and split it in half horizontall; bread it lightly. lay it on buttered french bread; add hot sauce and cole slaw. Yummy! I also had fried oysters, which were delicious.

If we were heading home that way, we’d stop here again!

APRIL 11, 2023

I can not believe we are a week into this trip and I’m just getting started. That’ll happen when BIL and SIL are joining you and time gets taken up with visiting, in addition to sight seeing and the French Quarter Festival. On top of which, I was still recuperating from the damnable bronchitis. It did not stop me from dancing though! Or having a Bloody Mary or a beer in the course of the festival. It did result in some early nights, though.

Here are BIL, Larry and SIL, Carmen. We’re on Bourbon Street for their first and last time. Yep, that’s how much they liked it. We prefer Frenchman Street, but newcomers gotta go to Bourbon!

Before hitting Bourbon Street, we did a little tour of the Garden District. But I didn’t get any good photos. Carmen probapbly got a lot. She took lots of photos anyway. That was Wednesday the 12th April.

Thursday April 13 and the Party commences with a parade! Starts on Bourbon Street, heads to St. Ann and on up to Jackson Square. We arrived early for a good spot on St. Ann’s. Below is a photo of the quintessential local parade participant.

Then the music started in Jackson Square on the GE Stage with the Preservation Brass Band. I could not stop moving! Then Tuba Skinny came on and Carmen and I grooved and sang and had a good time! The day passed swiftly with traversing between stages and dancing and taking breaks. I know we saw Corey Ledet and His Zydeco Band and later on Bag of Donuts, a local cover band with a guy looking like Gene Simmons from Kiss, one dressed like a mime, 2 guys in marching band suits, and the the lead singer’s skinny son in red spandex pants who Larry thought looked like a meth head cuz he was so slender ( they did an excellent rendition of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, with the whole crowd singing along), and ended the night with Irma Thomas, Soul Queen of New Orleans! Do I have photos? No. Too busy dancing.

And that ends my post for tonight, cuz this dang cough is hangin’ on and I need to get some sleep! Beaux reves ma cheres.

We arrived in the states Thursday the 20th about 10pm. We cleared Passport control and Customs quickly, only realizing later that when asked if I brought any fresh fruit into the country I said no when I actually had an apple from the Berlin hotel. Yikes! That could have resulted in a hefty fine. After an 8 hour flight, on which I watched 3 movies, I wasn’t thinking.

We secured a ride through Uber to our hotel. The line of people waiting to get a taxi was a half mile long, no lie. Our stay at the JFK Quality Inn was all we needed – clean, comfortable, and a free shuttle back to the airport to stow our packs while we enjoyed another day in NYC. It was a spectacular fall day, all sunshine and easy breezes. We headed directly to Central Park and the Belvedere Castle.

But, I still have memories and photos to share. First, I’ll include a map with our route, as requested by a friend.

Also not included in the map: from Split we took a ferry to the island of Korčula and from there a ferry to Dubrovnik. From Dubrovnik we ferried directly back to Split.

Plus, we had a change of plans one day due to heavy rains forecast in Lake Bled, Slovenia. We were riding from Budapest to Ljubljana to get there. Pouring the entire time with heavy rains predicted for lake Bled. So, realizing that would be a drag, we hopped a train in Ljubljana to Zagreb.

And now, some odds and ends:

Marijuana was amazingly prevalent in the Czech Republic. We popped into a small liquor store in Prague for a small bottle of Absinthe. On the counter, a big glass jar of buds. It was for sale loads of places. Didn’t smell it much though. I wonder how long it’s been legal, what kind of struggle (if any) they had, what, if any negative repercussions there are.

Castle stoves are beautiful and efficient. One was in use in the Prague Castle. We saw other examples in the Česky Krumlov castle.

We had a one night stopover in Wein Meidling, a neighborhood of Vienna. After dropping our packs off we headed to a large park Ed found on maps. Lo and behold, it was the Hapsburg Palace grounds! Fortunately those were open to the public and we took full advantage. Looking in the windows, it seemed the interior was akin to Versailles, sans Hall of Mirrors probably. The building itself as well as the gardens did remind me of Versailles. Would certainly return to Vienna someday! Also had fantastic dinner at a small energetic place around the corner. Good energy in a place is important, as we discovered that night after entering and then leaving a restaurant that had none. Even with people there. Granted, one family and a woman dining alone. Even the waiter seemed without any oomph.

Europe is awash in beauty. Well, when you’re in the old town areas. There was exquisite attention to detail. Such ornamentation. Here is an example that struck me. A cannon at Fort Lorvijenak (Lawrence) in Dubrovnik.

My first thought was this is an object of destruction. My second was, no, this is an object for protection. As such, make it beautiful, put a saint on there to bless our well being, pray those cannon balls hit their mark, do the job.

Sure and I’m all over the place here. It seems I delay completing this post because I must keep revisiting photos and that keeps name there in a way. Here are a few photos from Berlin.

I reckon I’ll call it quits for this post and this trip and leave you with one last image.

So, sorry to leave you hanging and wondering if we were still traveling. Thanks for checking in and for hanging in there.

That’s right. Surprised us. But why not? They’re all over Europe. We didn’t notice the way signs until we went to the Chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows high up on a hill. A steep hill. The kind where you feel as though your nose is about to meet the ground steep. Must’ve been a 13% grade. See that little building in the upper right corner? That’s the chapel.

Signage at the Chapel had the Pilgrim shell on it. After that we saw way signs everywhere throughout town. And the Pilgrim shell inside St. Vitus Cathedral as well.

We called on Sunday and the chapel was open so we hiked up again – a different route, slightly less steep. The small chapel is surrounded by a wall with information on its history and various sculptures and iconography. The chapel itself is quite diminutive with soft music playing and some local ecclesiastical artwork.

Following our visit, we took to the marked trail through the woods…

And found our way back to town.

When in Czechia do as the Czechians do – drink beer. České Budejovice is a 47 minute regional train ride from Česky Krumlov, both of which are in southern Bohemia. It’s the home of Budweiser Budvar beer, most famous and best, according to many, of the Czech beers. You may have heard of the legal wrangle between them and Anheuser Busch Budweiser.

We went to take the brewery tour and found so much more! Yes, the tour was interesting and we got a glass (plastic cup) of fresh beer (really fresh!) at the end. We walked through the bottling, labeling, capping, etc facility, but it wasn’t running – big disappointment. More interesting was the Czech-Irish accent of our guide. And this good sport in the tasting room.

As for the “so much more” we found an old square and ornate architecture, another bell tower to climb, and a city that maybe, just maybe, may be the European home base for a period of time we’ve been bandying about for a while now. It’s certainly affordable; not too big; on main train lines and bus routes; has a really fine feel about it. Of course, Ed reminds me that this is the third or fourth time I’ve said that about a city. But this time I mean it.

In our short time there, about 8 hours, we also found two city parks, one of which has a trail along the river. Interestingly, few retail shops were open on a Saturday. Plenty of cafés. On the brew tour we heard of a good Czech restaurant to try, from a local, Masné Kramé. It was crowded, with lots of reserved tables, (discovered this by sitting at one) but by rearranging a few tables and chairs, they found us a place. We both ordered from the specials of the day menu: venison meet balls on a skewer with mushrooms and a rich sauce for me and fried boar with almonds in a plum sauce for Ed. He made the better choice, though both were delicious. For dessert – walnut palačinky (crêpes, but they call ’em pancakes) filled with plum sauce and pistachio ice cream on the side. A little pear eau de vie to complete the meal and off we trundled for a night walk around Budejovice.

We are here on the shoulder of the shoulder season. It’s so quiet, minimal tour groups, many pensiones closed already for the season. Restaurants have few people for the most part. When dinner time rolled around, after a steep climb up to Our Lady of Sorrows Chapel (more on that later), we strolled around determined to find a place with energy. We were rewarded with The Gypsy Bar.

The light lager was a perfect accompaniment to the salty smoked ham, cabbage, and potato pancakes. A traditional Czech meal for sure.

After that gut buster of a meal, a post dinner perambulation was definitely in order. Česky Krumlov is beautiful at night.