Wednesday, January 21, 2015

NOLA Tuesday 20st January 2015

Tuesday 20th January 2015

After having coffee in our room, we went down to our meeting room on the ground floor to hear Joann Sealy who is the manager of the Faulkner Bookshop on Pirate Alley in New Orleans, talk to us about the ‘Literature of New Orleans’. Ms Seally is also an actress and her manner and delivery made that fact manifest. She tends towards the dramatic which sometimes masks the impact of what she has to say and her readings of extracts from the writings of the authors she was profiling sometimes lacked the appropriate rhythm to bring out the dramatic effect she probably intended. In my opinion she might restraint her thespian tendencies a bit to give her excellent knowledge a better approach. Her talk of the authors who started the tradition of writing in New Orleans was very interesting. The golden era of NOLA literature started after the Civil War and many interesting and influential writers were born between the mid 1800’s and the end of the 19th century. William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams were, of course, the best known. Joann gave us a brief bio of each and then commented on their various works often recommending reading of their lesser known works before embarking on the major opuses. She also gave a brief run-down on some of the modern authors who have either emanated from or called New Orleans home at some time or another. These included Lillian Hellman, Truman Capote and Anne Rice. Ms Sealy also provided a comprehensive reading list of NOLA-related books.

At the end of the lecture we left foregoing the Road Scholar program and after a short time started walking towards the restaurant Cochon where we had a reservation for lunch. This place is in the warehouse district which is a newly developing district of old warehouses which are being converted into condominiums and attracting new upscale restaurants, art galleries and other establishments. It looks to be the new trendy area of the city. The area is not fully developed but looks as though it is going to be a ‘hot’ area in the future, perhaps akin to Williamsburg or DUMBO in NYC.

A view of the warehouse district


A house decorated for Mardi Gras in the warehouse district

Some street art

The confluence of two streets, one unpronounceable and the other celebrating Dr. Higgins whose landing craft helped on D-Day

From the menu at Cochon, "fried poached eggs"?????

Another warehouse district building
 

Cochon has a Cajun type menu and, of course features ‘Louisiana cochon’ or suckling pig. We chose some boudin, a ham hock dish and the Cochon. They were all delicious and although the portions were far from niggardly they were not too large. We rounded the meal off with a dessert called ‘Mess’, this was also delicious. This place is fairly new but has other outposts in the city with slightly different menus.

After our great lunch, we walked back towards the French Quarter across Canal Street to Royal Street which we walked down browsing the shops on the way. We saw a wonderful art gallery which was decorated with Dr Seuss art as well as some spectacular wooden sculptures. All were, sadly, too expensive for us. There are some nice stores on the street but we didn't buy anything. We came upon the rear of Jackson Square and turned down Pirate Alley where the Faulkner Bookstore if located but it was closed. We then went into the St Louis Cathedral which is very highly decorated. We also visited the National Parks Jazz Museum and got our National Parks passport stamped.


New Orleans streetcars

The rear of St Louis Cathedral

The Capilbo

A Spanish cannon


Impromptu street musicians in Jackson Square


The interior of St Louis Cathedral

The eponymous Andrew Jackson after whom the square is named and victor at the Battle of New Orleans which took place in early 1815, the bicentenary was celebrated recently.

The front of the magnificent Cathedral from Jackson Square

A small statue near the French Market

When Christmas is over, just decorate your tree for Mardi Gras!!
We decided to take the streetcar home and boarded behind the French Market, took it to Canal Street where we transferred to the Canal Street car back to the hotel. The fares are very reasonable, $1.25 for adults and $0.40 for seniors with  transfer costing $0.25. The cars are clean, comfortable, smooth running and efficient. Neither of the cars on which we traveled was called Desire but that did not diminish the pleasure of the ride.

We left the hotel for our dinner at the Commanders Palace restaurant in the Garden District. As large buses are not allowed in the Garden District, RS had organized a smaller bus so that we could be dropped at the door. The restaurant is elegant and the service excellent. The meal was good with the restaurants famous turtle soup as a great start. The. There was a choice of fish, shrimp or lamb. Dessert was a bread pudding soufflé which was superb. The meal was very enjoyable with great company at our table. Perhaps the only downside was that the noise in the restaurant rose to rather a high level as the meal wore on and the restaurant filled up. Nevertheless, it was a very pleasant evening.

On return to the hotel, I went to the business center to try to download my photos on to a USB stick. I managed to do so. That was enough for today.

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