It seems that Gypsy and the Cuz have done it again; another fun trip to an amazing place!

In these pages you will find, hidden amidst the text, a camera icon. Those intrepid folk who click on it will be in for assorted surprises. Need I say more?

On this trip, we arrived at our Portland bus station in time for some of the wonderful free coffee. We really needed it, as usual. There were free donuts, too. You all know that Gypsy just LOVES "free"... but I must say these were the worst donuts that I have ever tired to eat. Here we are having a Donut Adventure already... it looks like our trip has begun.

When we arrived at Logan, there was a long winding line for check-in. We were starving by this time so Cuz stayed with the line while Gypsy found something for us to eat... some scones from Starbuck's. (You should take a lesson from this, Concord Trailways.)

The flights to Nawlins were pretty uneventful and we were glad to touch down at The Big Easy. We peer though our plane window as we taxi... and what do we see? Lovebugs all over the glass. When we picked up our baggage, Cuz even had some lovebugs stuck on her luggage.

Off to the car rental to pick up our ride. We have a cute little Dodge Neon... white. Oh, the lovebugs are going to look SO good squashed onto this shiny white paint! The first thing we do is to pop Willie into the tape deck. Our cars just can't seem to get into gear without Willie.

Off to see the city... and find our hotel. We follow our map.. sort of. We evidentially took the round about way to the Cornstalk Hotel... and see a lot on the way. All these one-way streets that keep changing their names are not helping us either. Cuz took to the city like she has lived here all her life. We drove through the French Quarter and got our first glimpse of things to come. It was very crowded.. . people and cars at this time of day... but still a really interesting place... you just never know what you will see on Bourbon Street.

My first impression of the French Quarter was that it really is a lively place. My second impression was that it was short. That is "short" as in vertically challenged. I wasn't surprised that the streets were very narrow... but I was surprised at the short buildings. Now, why I would expect taller buildings in a town began in the 1700s, I don't know. Gypsy just gets surprised once in a while.

We finally found our hotel, but they didn't have any parking places available. So we unloaded our things and we took the car down by the French Market where we could park overnight. Shucks, it was only about six blocks away... and it was about 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity, and we were on vacation and having a great time.

Our hotel was very well located... and we could easily walk to everything. The room was a tiny little thing carved out of a larger room of this old house. We had a fireplace... but only one chair, one little table, one little lamp, a bed, and a huge chandelier. Even with so little space, we managed to find a place to hang our laundry. Cuz took the drawer out of the table to make a bedside table for herself... she is a wonder, that Cuz.

By now it was late afternoon.. and we hit the streets. We took in everything in sight... and decided in the early evening to do Bourbon Street.

This was a wild, woolly place and we loved it! Everyone was in a party mood and seemed at least half drunk. Well, no wonder. Everyplace sells booze. There were even a number of places where they were selling it out of doorways. Gee... we don't have anything like this at home. Fortunately, by this time the cars were gone from the streets and the party people had taken it over. We surely would have been run over otherwise, the way we are gawking around.

Our first night in New Orleans and we had dinner in the French Quarter... at a very elegant place, Tony Moran's. We were so hungry that we bought giant Lucky Dogs with everything.... chili, onions, mustard, catsup... and ate in front of Tony Moran's amid a flurry of swirling dropped napkins. That stuff that has dropped on our clothes and our feet looks like... uh... well... it is really chili. Really... it is! We got some very strange and disgusted looks from the elegant diners going into elegant Tony Moran's. I think we were a very poor advertisement for a very famous... and elegant!... restaurant.

The next morning we sat on the gallery... in the shade... and had our breakfast served to us, Juice, coffee, and some corn/cranberry muffins shaped like ears of corn....cute. This is nice. The Cornstalk isn't really a B&B and it isn't really a hotel, either.

We started our walking tour. So many interesting buildings, stores, and other sights. Bourbon Street was quiet and lonely looking this morning. The most activity was people cleaning up from the night before. Cuz has arranged to have one of the hotel parking places that became available this morning. So during our walking tour, we went by the French Market to pick up our car.

As we approached the car.... something seemed odd. Not enough squashed black lovebugs? Nah..... The car is too clean and tidy?..... Nah..... exploding Firestone tires? Nah... Well, anyway, it will be nice to be able to drive in a far away state with a local license plate so no one can tell we are from.... from...... from..... Wait a minute. Holy Rent-A-Car, Batman! We have no license plate!

We were really flustered now. Cuz checked all the paperwork and made sure it was all in order and readily available. And we resigned ourselves to being stopped every few miles because we have no plate. We do have a paper temporary plate... but there was no way we could make it visable from the outside...it just sat in the back seat for the ride.

Anyway, we finally collected our senses long enough to drive the car back to the hotel and park it right inside the gate.... ready for a quick get-away. By mid-morning it was time to meet with the group for our Cemetery Tour.

We had a snack in the Royal Coffee House courtyard while we waited to start. We got our tour stickers.. so we wouldn't forget what we were doing... and our paper fans.

All this walking about was taking a toll on our feet... especially Gypsy's. You all know what a rare and delicate thing she is anyway. Cuz even walked back to the hotel before the tour for some things from our first-aid kit to help out Gypsy's wandering feet. It will take more than excruciating pain to keep Gypsy from having a good time.

The tour of The City of the Dead was very fascinating and we learned a lot.

Cuz: It seems that because Nawlins is five feet below sea level, so during the early days of the settlement, whenever it rained the streets would flood which mean the graveyards would flood as well. POP, up would come the Cypress caskets and they would go floating through the town. Collected after the rains stopped. Buried again. More rain. POP, up they would come. DUH! So, they decided how SMART it would be to build walls around the cemeteries. Save roaming through the town boundaries picking up caskets after each rain. So, they floated on the waters all over the cemeteries. Until someone - who knows who - got the bright idea of burying them ABOVE ground. Hey, makes sense to me.

We visited the tomb of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen. It had X marks all over it from those visiting the tomb to ask for favors. Also there were a number of offerings lying on the ground in front of the crypt... everything from money, flowers, beverages, to paperback books. Of course Gypsy made a small monetary offering before moving on, as I didn't happen to have a book with me that I thought Marie would enjoy.

We also heard that the Super Dome was built on the site of an old cemetery, Thus explaining The Saints poor performances.... they were cursed from the start.

After the cemetary, the tour group was off to a living site... a practicing Voodoo Temple. I knew it was close when I got a whiff of the ceremonial incense; it was wonderful. The temple was an amazing place. Every religion imaginable was represented... Christian, African, Buddhist, you-name-it; all with candles and offerings.

It was unfortunate that Priestess Mirian was out of town; it would have been interesting to hear her tell us about the temple. Visiting here was a real treat.

After the tour, Cuz and I resumed our walking tour of the French Quarter.... gawking again.