Then we crossed Arizona and spent most of the first day looking at desert views of New Mexico. Hours and hours of desert. One of our stops was in Lordsburg, NM. It looked like a ghost town from the movies.
Our first Texas stop was El Paso. As we approached the city, we were hugging the Mexico border. I got to help Donald out and inspect his wall. Portions of the border in rural areas was just a roll of barbed wire fencing. Right across the fence from El Paso was Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. While we were stopped in El Paso, many of us purchased burritos from Juanita, a local trackside vendor. I had a potato, beef, and green chiles burrito. Juanita must be a regular on that stop because all of the train personnel greeted her, hugged her, and bought her burritos.
Lots of long Stretches in Texas without stops. As wide as the state is, we only had 7 stops. Lots of open prairies.
Woke up before sunrise as we had an hour stop in San Antonio, right next to the lit up Alamodome. And who knew they had a space needle there too? Two Space Needles in one trip. Then around 11am on day 2 (3?) we had a stop in Houston for an hour. Got to walk around a few blocks of the city including their Post Market, a multi-use area with fancy food courts and bars. Meh, I wasn’t impressed.
Finally, after 48 hours of traveling through the south, we arrived in New Orleans next to a lighted Superdome about 10pm, too late to do anything. After a Lyft ride, the I was ready for bed in my little courtyard hotel, a few blocks from the French Quarter.
Similar to Seattle, I only had one full day in New Orleans so I woke up ready to make the most of it. Walked to Jackson Square, had a beignet at the famous Cafe Du Monde, complete with street jazz. Then I got a Saturday morning Bloody Mary and hopped on my 2 hour tour bus to drive around and see the sights. Some of the pictures included here are an elevated cemetery, local shops and culture, the Superdome, WWII Museum, the elegant Southern neighborhoods, and the Aquarium.
After the tour, I took in the sights up and down Bourbon Street and had some Gumbo for lunch.
Satisfied from lunch it was time to hear about all the Haunted New Orleans hotspots on the Ghosts, Voodoo and Vampires tour. It was fun and interesting. Most of the stories are just legends, but you never know which parts could have some truth imbedded. The tour included a stop at Harry’s Corner Bar across from Muriel’s (story below) where the bartender served up Ghostbusters Punch.
Here ere are some of the stories I could remember:
1) Yellow Fever was rampant in New Orleans in the mid 1800s, killing 10% of the population during some years. Although today we know that the fever comes from mosquitoes, back then, it was thought to be related to voodoo and black magic. Often before dying, a victim would lapse into a coma. To prevent further spread of the disease, the near death patients were sometimes buried early; in the above ground cemeteries of the city. They would be entombed with a bell on their toes, in case any of them survived their coma. People were hired to roam the cemetery grounds listening for the sound of a bell. The term “graveyard shift” was used to describe their job duties. If they heard a bell and found a person alive, that person had been “saved by the bell”. Sometimes a bell would ring but when the crypt was opened the person was truly dead. They called them “dead ringers”.
2) We stopped at the first pharmacy established in the country, now a museum. Opened in the early 1800s the first owner also dabbled in voodoo mixtures and narcotics. It was a later owner, Dr. Dupas, who ran an illegitimate medical practice on the second floor above the pharmacy. Dr. Dupas was said to have conducted voodoo practices, as well as abortion and caesarean experiments on up to 70 slave women against their will. The dead mothers and babies haunt the museum to this day with many visitors seeing floating shapes and hearing whimpers and cries.
3) Muriel’s Restaurant and Hotel is supposedly haunted by a former owner, Pierre Jourdan. He bought the hotel in the late 1700s after a great city fire had damaged the property. He refurbished it and became very prosperous. But Pierre was a gambler and not a very good one. In 1814 he wagered the hotel during a card game and lost it. He fell into a deep depression and eventually hung himself on the second floor. The second floor became seance rooms where Pierre’s ghost can sometimes be conjured. A back table is cordoned off in the restaurant still today, reserved for the ghost of Pierre. Many patrons have heard and seen movements in the table settings there. Many people swear they have seen Pierre’s floating image. Some have caught wisps or faces on camera including the image below. Look closely above the martini glass.
4) The LaLaurie mansion is haunted by a former owner, Madame Delphine LaLaurie, and haunted by the slaves she mistreated and tortured. Miss Delphine had 3 failed marriages but still had considerable wealth and numerous slaves. The stories of mistreated slaves and a young slave girl that had fallen to her death were already widespread. The closed off 3rd story window in the pictures below is where the girl “fell”. But it was a fire in the mansion in 1834 that further exposed the atrocities. It was determined that the fire started in the kitchen, where a chained up slave woman gave up her life by creating the fire to bring in the authorities. Starved, injured, tortured and dead slaves were found on the second floor of the mansion. And further investigation found human remains under the mansion. Nicholas Cage bought the mansion in 2007 so he could write a novel there. But lost the hotel to foreclosure 2 years later. Perhaps caused by the ghosts?
5) We passed St Mary’s Ursuline convent and girls school. Back in the 1700s, New Orleans was full of men and ill-reputed women, but not many women worthy of marriage. The king of France handpicked a group of beautiful and proper girls and shipped them across the Atlantic to be brides in New Orleans. All they brought with them were small coffin shaped boxes that held their belongings. But these fair skinned girls did not do well on the voyage. They got sunburned and sick and the men did not want them. After months of shunning and denouncement, these “Casket Girls” took their boxes of belongings up to the closed off 3rd floor. When the nuns went to check things out, they couldn’t figure out how the girls got into the closed off floor and also all of the girls’ belongings were gone. Only the coffin boxes remained. What were these girls; were they vampires? Legend is that 2 inspectors were brought in but overnight on the street their bodies were found ravaged and bloodied. Often these girls became prostitutes and returned to the convent to deliver their unwanted babies. Many of these babies died and their skeletal remains were placed into the wall out front as the concrete was being poured. To this day, many people say that the nailed shutters on the 3rd floor still open and close to allow the spirits of the Casket Girls to enter and leave.
After the Ghost Tour, it was time for my adventure on the New Orleans Riverboat Jazz Dinner Cruise. This was the itinerary item that I was most looking forward to on my entire trip. I should have known better. It turned out to be the biggest disappointment of my trip. It was scheduled from 6-9pm, a 3 hour tour. (Just like Gilligan!) There were 2 dinner seatings. 6pm dinner or 7:45 dinner. I had chosen the early dinner so after boarding I was led to the big beautiful dining hall. “Good evening Mr. Rowe, we have your table right over here.” Tiny table for one. In the corner. Facing the corner. Are you freaking kidding me? Put the lonely old single man in the corner by himself. I guess I thought we’d be at big round tables of 8 where I would have dinner companions to talk with, or at least listen to. Nope. Let’s put Baby in the corner. (Dirty Dancing reference courtesy of Larry). So my evening was off to a poor start. I at least turned my place setting around so I was facing the room instead of the corner, so I didn’t look and feel quite so pathetic. The buffet dinner was at least good. I had some herb roasted sweet potatoes, corn maque choux, crawfish etouffee, bayou seafood pasta, and pot roast. Delicious. And for dessert they served white chocolate bread pudding. Monica’s favorite dessert was bread pudding, so no, that didn’t make me cry. Arrgghh.
As I ate my dinner and looked around the room I saw a lady dining alone facing away from me. I was easily reminded of the Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn scene from Same Time, Next Year where the man and woman spot each other across the restaurant and Alda takes his coffee and dessert over and introduces himself. Another absolute favorite movie of ours. Monica would have wanted me to go over and do the same thing in this situation. I sat there and wrestled with the thought for a while and finally decided i didn’t have the nerve to do it. Once I had made that decision, I at least had to do a drive by and see what kind of conversation partner I had missed out on. So I walked by the bar and circled around to see. She had a scrunched up, depressed face; in fact she looked like she was contemplating jumping overboard. Yikes! Maybe I should have stopped in after all. But at least I scanned around for her later in the cruise to make sure she hadn’t jumped.
Now let’s talk about the jazz part of the jazz dinner cruise. It was a “Dixieland” style jazz band. They played more of an upbeat music style that didn’t sound much like jazz. And they had a big tuba that dominated their sound. All in all, I had heard better high school bands. Very disappointing. Now the cruising part of the evening. We churned up river away from the city for the first half of this evening cruise. There was nothing to see up river! It was dark outside and there was nothing lit up to see for the first 2 1/2 hours of the trip. Finally, during the last 30 minutes as we cruised back toward the city, we had some great views and great pictures. And since I don’t thrive in a room full of strangers, especially paired up strangers, it was a pretty lonely and forgettable cruise.
Leaving the boat behind I’m determined to salvage the evening. Even though it is past my bedtime, LOL, I am undeterred. I headed to Bourbon Street in search of better jazz. I had been given some tips from my ghostly guide earlier in the day so my first stop was the Mahogany Jazz Club. They were finishing up a show set as I got there and that early crowd was still milling about. I bided my time and went to the bar next door for a drink. As I exited the bar, I literally bumped into a man walking the sidewalk. In my second WTF! coincidence moment of the trip, I did a double take as I looked at the man I collided with. It was one of my poker buddies from St. Lois, Nick Gedda! Nick and his wife Kate (sister of my good friend Rick Kriegshauser) were in New Orleans for a wedding. How is it possible to randomly tour the country and twice run into people you know??? Nick and Kate joined me for some jazz and this club did not disappoint. They were awesome. True New Orleans Jazz! Nick and Kate hung out for a short while before calling it a night. I closed the place down until 1am. My evening had been nicely salvaged.
Au revoir New Orleans. Til we meet again.
One of my favorite places too!
ReplyDeleteWow! Love the random bumping into a friend to salvage the trip glad it ended well and glad you turned yourself around so you could see the room at the dinner cruise 😂
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