Heeeeeyyyy!
So wow, this is like the 4th post this week. Cool huh? I think I could keep this up. Assuming you all continue reading!
Alright, so let’s continue from where we left off shall we?
So I’m in NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana!), and I’m visiting Sandra and Derek (who FYI either moved today already, or are moving tomorrow, so good timing!) who have been there for a year (Derek), and about like 4 months (Sandra). Before I came Sandra told me it was cold, and I didn’t believe her. When I got there, I still didn’t believe her! It was sunny, I only wore a sweater to dinner (and we walked!), and even the second day it was warm and sunny, and only required a sweater. Then came Monday. The only day we picked for a walking cemetery tour was so F-ing cold we had to buy gloves. And I still froze. Our tour guide was dressed up in a toque and gloves too! It was also super duper cold at night. So cold, that I (someone who sleeps with a fan and always half way out of the covers) friggen froze, and definitely needed a second blanket! Cemetery tour was cool, regardless of the weather. Very old, very neat. Interestingly enough these above ground cemeteries pop up all over the city right in the middle of urban/residential areas. The one we visited was directly beside a ghetto. Seriously. If we were in London, this cemetery would have been EOA. You London people know what I’m talking about.
Alrighty, so cold, in the ghetto, but in a pretty neat cemetery (oh FYI Nicholas Cage has already purchased and built a pyramid style grave thing in this cemetery in case you’re looking to spend eternity laying next to him!), and we come to the end of our tour….at a voodoo priestess temple. I don’t really know what Sandra and I were expecting…but let me tell you, it was not this. First of all the lady does not seem like a voodoo priestess. Not that I’ve ever met one, but she is about 65, wore bright old lady clothes, and always had a smile on her face. Second, she told me my voice sounded like I was a singer. What? Anyways, she also told us nothing about voodoo. She led us to her temple, and scolded us for not listening, then basically lectured us about the economy. Weird. That was our experience in a voodoo temple.
How can my time in NOLA get better than that day? Well my friends, it just did. The next day Sandra and I headed to the insectarium. That’s right, we went to a museum full of dead, and LIVE insects! It was actually pretty neat. We also got to eat some insects. I ate something called a wax worm. It did not taste like nothing. It tasted gross. Sandra had a cricket, and said it was just crunchy. We also saw a tiny Alligator, which was so friggen cute, but all by itself in this massive tank full of insects and water. Also weird.
Since this was my last night in NOLA, we HAD to have King Cake. I like to call it baby cake because they used to put a little plastic baby in the cake for someone to find as a prize. Some people say if you get the baby you buy the next cake, some say if you get the baby you will have a baby next. Either way, they don’t put them in the cake anymore, they put it in the package, and you can put it in the cake, or keep it for yourself. It’s up to you. Anywho, this baby cake is so friggen good. It’s like really thin cinnamon buns that are shaped in a cake, and stuffed with cream cheese icing (not sweet icing though, just super fluffy good icing). You can get them plain, or filled with fruit and stuff, but Sandra said the cream cheese was the best. It was so good!!!! They only make these baby cakes close to Mardi Gras, so I was just in time! 🙂
Ohhhhhhh, before we leave off here, I forgot to tell you about a couple things! 1. Bourbon Street- the infamous French Quarter Street in NOLA which is full of bars, strip clubs, and touristy stores. It’s seedy, and gross, and smells like a combination of pee and puke. Seriously. I’m sure if I was with a group of people at night and we were bar hopping like 5 years ago, it would be great, but I saw it in day light. Almost like when they turn the ugly lights on in a bar at 2am. ugh. We even saw a stripper having a cigarette outside a club in her thong. Classy! 2. They have drive through Daiquiris bars. For real! I guess driving with open alcohol isn’t such a big deal! We didn’t go through a drive through one, but we did end up going to a regular bar/store and they had a bazillion flavours that pour out of slushy machines and are served in MASSIVE styrofoam cups. Ridiculous! 3. In the French Market I purchased an Alligator claw backscratcher with a real alligator claw on it. They farm alligators for meat here, and end up selling the other parts (feet, hands, claws, heads, etc.) to tourists like me in the form of key chains, backscratchers, and other weird items. My horribly bad pets promptly got a hold of it when I got home and ate it. (seriously, and it was gross) So it no longer exists.
Ok, lets fast forward back to the last day again!
Sadly, my time in NOLA felt like it was over before I knew it. Early morning flight meant an uneventful night of baby cake and Pet hoarders on tv.
Here are some of my more interesting pics of NOLA. 🙂
Bourbon Street
An impromptu Jazz Concert? But of course!
Mmmm! One of my many delicious meals- french toast stuffed with banana cream cheese, and topped with a rum caramel sauce!
Alligator heads for sale!
Cable car!
Super cold cemetery tour with our tour guide. He's in front of a tomb where a voodoo queen is buried!
Cemetery
More cemetery.
Voodoo temple!
More voodoo temple
Me and the beignets from the famous Cafe du Monde! They are small deep fried balls of dough that are covered in powdered sugar! Delicious!
Massive daiquiris. Mardi Gras beads. Alligator backscratcher. Can we say TOURIST?!?
Sandra is eating a bug!
I'm eating a bug!
Baby Cake!
Mmmmmmm baby cake!
Alright. So that’s it for NOLA. It was fun. And cold. Also delicious.
Next up- Part 3: San Francisco Bai! 🙂
Peace out.
blog, shmog. 