Just a Taste

Of the French Quarter.  We went there a few weeks ago.  Really fun and interesting.  History is just oozing out of the buildings down there.  We spent an entire day roaming the streets, taking walking tours, and taking lots of pictures.  Here are some of them:

Saint Louis Cathedral - my favorite building in the French Quarter.

Can you tell I loved the buildings?  I really liked the architecture and layout of it all.  It's said to be inspired by Spanish architecture.

Napoleon never lived here, but it was built for him.  Since he never made it to New Orleans, it was turned into a restaurant where they serve some killer hot muffalettas.

One of the many, many street musicians of the French Quarter.  There was always music being played as we walked around.  Most of it was really good.  Jazz did originate in New Orleans after all.

The railings on the balconies were incredibly detailed and I loved these ones because they have the initials of the woman who designed them - Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba (AP).  Apparently she was quite feisty for her day, and I think you would have to be if you're going to design your own railings in an industry dominated by males.

This really was my favorite building so I needed another picture with the pretty blue sky in the background. 

A quiet alley next to the cathedral.  I wanted a picture of it and Newel mumbled in his Kip-voice, "Hey old man, don't mind us taking a picture of you."  It made me laugh.

 More pictures of French Quarter architecture. :)

 After dinner, we checked out Bourbon Street since it is the most famous street of the French Quarter but didn't stay for long.  Just a bit too crowded and we were TIRED at this point in the day.  So we took quieter streets all the way back to where our car was parked, and I took some more pictures.

 

 And then I had Newel take a picture of me with my favorite building in the background.

If you look through the gates between buildings, you can peek into some pretty courtyards like this one.

And one last picture of Canal Street where our adventures in the French Quarter came to an end.  Definitely an interesting place to experience for a day.

Roadkill

So I was thinking this morning as I was driving to work that I see a lot of roadkill here in Birmingham.  In fact, it's a guarantee that I see at least one dead animal on the road on my way to work.  I thought I should write a post about it.  And then I thought, "But I haven't seen any roadkill yet, and I'm gonna be to work in a few minutes."  Then, as if the universe knew my thoughts, I come around a bend and there one dead animal in the road.  Then I come around the next bend, and there's another dead animal in the road.  Two roadkill incidents after just two bends?!  It was a sign.  So here is what I have to share about the roadkill in South:

There is A LOT of road kill around here in Alabama.  I really do see at least one dead animal on the road every single day.  I can't believe I haven't really thought about it until now.  Maybe I've become desensitized to it.

You may ask why is there so much roadkill?  Well, there is a lot of foliage which I think makes a bunch of nice homes for the raccoons, squirrels, opossums, etc.  Also, no one cleans up any roadkill.  It's just left on the road until the crows pick at it until it's gone.  There are a lot of crows in Alabama too. 

I saw something kind of sad the other day on my way to work.  I saw a dead raccoon in the road after being hit by a car.  Later, on my way home from work, I saw the same raccoon completely flattened by another car and being picked at by the crows.  Just the circle of life I guess, or maybe just gross.


Sorry, no pictures of the roadkill (for obvious reasons).  You can Google pictures of roadkill or search roadkill cuisine.  Pretty interesting.

Union Pride

In honor of my Dad, who loves American Civil War history, I wanted to share these photos I took in Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans.  The square was named after Major General (and later U.S. President) Andrew Jackson who won the Battle of New Orleans against the British in 1815.  An equestrian statue of General Jackson was later erected in the middle of the square in 1856.  The people of New Orleans loved and I think still love Andrew Jackson.

A few years after the statue was built, New Orleans was captured by the Union Army at the end of the Civil War.  There was no battle in the city itself so New Orleans didn't get totally abused.  Major General Benjamin Butler took over New Orleans and put the people under martial law which ticked everyone off.  Then he ordered the following words to be carved in the base of the Andrew Jackson statue:

You can probably guess that the people hated Butler for that, and they did.  Our tour guide told us some funny stories about the whole thing.  I think it's funny that there is a historic park in the South where you can read the words "The Union must and shall be preserved."  I know my dad would love that.

I love him, and I'm so grateful for all the wonderful fathers and future fathers out there!

Can't Breathe

So I remember people talking about how when it gets super hot & humid, it feels like you can't breathe, and I didn't understand.  How can you not breathe?  We live on a planet that was created for human life.  There's always enough oxygen to go around, right?  Mostly right.

Today, it was a lovely 96 degrees and pretty humid (not sure the percentage).  I left work to get into my car, and the little 2-minute walk to my vehicle wasn't too bad (although my hair was already sticking to the sweat on my neck).  Then I get into my car, and I can't breathe!  Really, I don't know how to describe it, but it was like the air in my car was so hot and so wet that it was like I was half submerged in water and I couldn't get any air!  What is happening?!!!  I was a little panicked for a second, but quickly got the AC going and was fine again.  Sheesh.

I don't know how people lived here without air conditioning.  They must have just been wet & sticky ALL THE TIME.  There are many reasons I came to to this earth in this day & age.  And air conditioning is one of them.

P.S.  Southwest is having a great deal on flights during the fall season (need to book by TOMORROW).  All the suffocating heat & humidity will be over with so if anyone wants to come visit us, we would love for you to come!

Purely Divine

Really, Southern Candymakers is SO divinely delicious.  Kind of expensive, but totally worth it.  Have y'all ever had pralines?  Did you know they're pronounced praw-lines in the South?  It's so weird.  I can't bring myself to say it the right way yet.  The pralines were my favorite at Southern Candymakers.  Below is a picture of what we purchased.  Believe me, I wanted to buy EVERYTHING, but we didn't.  I had to hush that pig inside me. :)

My favorites (of what we got) were the peanut butter praline and the dark chocolate caramel tortue.  I'm so tempted to order more from their website (since they're only in the French Quarter of New Orleans).  I just love these little, yummy Southern treasures.

Roach Motel

This is a review I wrote for Expedia and TripAdvisor of where we stayed when we went down to New Orleans.  The trip was really fun (more details and photos to come soon), but where we stayed was not.  I already spent time today writing this review so it's just gonna be my blog post for today as well.

"Where to start.  We thought this would be a great place to stay because of all the good reviews we read online.  The only poor reviews we read had to do with the distance from the French Quarter and other fun NOLA attractions, which we weren't worried about since we had a car.  Anyway, the night we arrived, they did not have our reservation, but they still gave us a room because we brought our itinerary.  We got to our room and it was very gross.  The carpets appeared (and smelled) as if they hadn't been cleaned for years, and they're was a disturbing stain on the chair.  They're were also little bugs all over the walls and the sheets.  We did not sleep well mostly because the mattresses and AC unit were in very poor condition.  The worst part was our second night when my husband woke up to a big cockroach biting his neck!  He quickly flicked it off and killed it, and didn't tell me till the next morning because he knew I would not be able to sleep through the rest of the night had I known.  We cut our trip short by a day because we did not want to spend another night at Crescent Palms Motel.  We knew we weren't paying for a luxury stay, but we thought it would have been a lot more comfortable based on the reviews we read.  I know other guests have had a great, comfortable stay so maybe we just got a bad room (109).  We were thoroughly disappointed and will never stay here again."

All of my review is true.  A cockroach really did bite Newel!!!  We didn't know they bit, but Newel looked it up on his phone after it happened and it turns out they do if they don't have any other food source.  He didn't really sleep for the rest of that night.  As the Southerners would say, "Bless his heart!"  The good news is that we've recovered from the trauma, and we're able to laugh about it too.