French Market Deux

After the cemetery, we took a drive to the French Market to check out the shops and find food. Along Decatur, there are a number of shops devoted to uber fashion. Uber fashion is so fashionable, it's actually really ugly, as Rebekah demonstrates below. The picture doesn't even do this dress justice, and there was a whole shop full of similar designs. The store is still open, apparently, so someone must be shopping there.


Apparently Memphis does not corner the market on interesting graffiti, but this is a little less moving.
I want to ask the author if it worked, but the frown face implies it didn't and that it was not a pleasurable experience. That mystery is solved.

After browsing the Decatur Street fashions, we found a Mardi Gras costume supplier. As you can imagine, they don't do too much business in the summer, but the store was amazing. The picture below is actually stained glass in the dressing room.

The store had a number of headdresses, uniforms, clown outfits, and dresses that were at least 15 feet long. Everything was available to try on.


I decided to try on one of the capes. I'll be back later for more. You can see Christina in the background, probably wondering what kind of crazy person is sharing her housing this summer.

After the costume shop, Rebekah was starving, and Ken wanted to try crayfish, so we headed down to a restaurant near Cafe Du Monde. Below is the giant platter originally brought to us before we clarified that we only wanted a pound.If you've never had crayfish before, let me describe the process of eating it. You rip its head off, peel back a few of the sections of its tail, then take out the meat inside and devein it. For added fun, you can squeeze the head and suck out the juice that comes out. It took awhile to get over the original ick factor, but I enjoyed eating crayfish and will do it again, especially because they're coming into season now. (They also seem to bring out the kid in everyone. My tailless crayfish became puppets quickly.) We also sampled gumbo, etouffe, jambalaya, and red beans and rice. All were pretty good, but jambalaya is still my favorite.


After dinner, we went over to Cafe Du Monde, where a hilarious argument broke out between two waiters over who was going to serve us. The little guy in the foreground won but was extremely flustered as he took our order. Hey, that woman even intimidated me!

Below is yet another example of what people around here do for money. It's free to take pictures of them but to take pictures with them costs money. It actually gave me the idea to learn the Thriller dance and dress up with some of the other people here as zombies. I bet we could make quite a bit of money off of tips. Not everyone else was as excited by the idea, probably not understanding I was serious.
Later I'll talk about the Funky Pirate, the vampire on Bourbon Street, AmeriCorps training, and the not-so-funny irony of a missing GPS.

The Cemetery

After the first people arrived, we decided to go on a field trip. Obviously the best location to welcome everyone to New Orleans is the cemetery. As you can see from the picture below, everyone looks thrilled to be there-- or maybe a little concerned about why I would want a picture of all of them in a cemetery.

(From left: Christina, Ken, Cristina, Kelley, and Rebekah)

There was a lot to see in the cemetery, and Cristina and I took quite a few pictures. This was one of the only areas of the cemetery that had shade.

And is that a ghostly spirit below? Nope, it's just the sun, but pretending is fun.
This was one of the more interesting statues of the day. Most of the people were buried in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the gravesites are in remarkably good condition.

This is by far the biggest piece in the cemetery. A widower had it built to memorialize his wife.

From a different angle, I feel like a voyeur.

There were also quite a few interesting names. Imagine going through school with the below name, wrong for so many reasons.


If I married a Dinkelspiel, I would keep my last name and probably encourage my husband to take mine as well.
We noticed quite a few Hebrew characters as we were wandering. We also noticed many traditional Jewish surnames as well as first names from the Old Testament. It seemed to be coincidence, but as we left, we finally noticed the name of the cemetery.
Oh, that makes much more sense.

New Orleans Day 2

Our first stop this morning was the French Market. Destination: Cafe Du Monde.


Just as Ken swore off KFC, I now swear off Krispy Kremes. Below is the fabulous breakfast I ate at Cafe Du Monde. You can get three beignets for just under two dollars. A beignet is a deep-fried square piece of dough, topped with powdered sugar. But that description doesn't do justice to the beautiful (and filling!) food stuff that is a beignet. With the order of beignets, we also purchased cafe au lait, a mixture of coffee, milk, and chicory.

After eating, we headed over to the water to check out the view of downtown and the cathedral.
This was across the street from the cathedral, near the water.

Ken was looking out at the water in this one. I don't think he's aware that I took it, but I do think he was thinking about home.

Below are two clowns who couldn't stop to chat because they were about to grab some food but were more than happy to pose for a picture. This is my favorite picture from New Orleans so far.

Putting one's arm around a metal statue in the New Orleans heat can result in slightly burnt skin. I wouldn't recommend it.


"Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't buy your wares. As you can plainly see, I have no money."

The flea market is home to dozens of purses, cell phone chargers, porcelain masks, and t-shirts. I was a little beat from the heat today, but I can't wait to go back later and price haggle.

These statues and carvings were all in an interesting kiosk that contained a number of voodoo dolls and other interesting items.

Of course, a tourist destination is not complete without a Margaritaville. We didn't get a chance to eat there today, but the inside looked awesome, and there are gator bites on the menu. (Yes, as in fried pieces of alligator.) I've heard they taste like chicken!
After finishing up at the French Market, Ken and I went to Walmart. Although we enjoyed the good deals and the opportunity to buy food for ourselves, I didn't think you'd be particularly interested in pictures from that excursion.

I just got a text from Ken asking if I want to go check out a DJ who lives in our dormitory hall. Apparently he plays at a club near here. I keep wavering back and forth since I'm picking up everyone from the airport tomorrow and still adjusting to this heat.

During my stay here, I also want to explore the above-ground cemeteries and take one or two of the tours of the city. On Thursday and Friday, I have my AmeriCorps training, and I believe I start work on Monday.

New Orleans Day 1

Ken and I were looking for food and stumbled onto Bourbon Street. It was amazing luck and one of the best places on Earth. The whole street is lined with bars, restaurants, and shops. Also, everyone is extremely friendly.

I caught a candid shot of this guy while we were walking past. I think he's a street performer, but I'm not exactly sure what his talent is.
All the bars look like the picture below: neon lights, loud music, kitsch covering the walls-- absolutely garish and absolutely wonderful. I think this bar is called the Tropical Isle and is just down the street from the Funky Pirate.

Ken and I decided it was a good photo opportunity.

Below is a picture of us with a lovely couple from Philadelphia. The man is a respiratory therapist and the woman is a nurse. I asked them about whether or not they feel that a Philly cheesesteak should have Cheez Whiz on it, and they are against it. Provolone or American cheese is the way to go. So it's official, an authentic Philly cheesesteak does not need to include Cheez Whiz. It may seem a small matter to some of you, but I was extremely disturbed by the very idea. Anyway, we got group shots for both of our cameras and wished each other a happy and safe trip.

New Orleans is great so far. I tried my first muffuletta, a sandwich with salami, ham, provolone and olive salad on it. They are huge! A half of a sandwich was enough for lunch and dinner. The food down here is delicious but also very rich, so it's important not to go overboard when eating.

The Lorraine Motel

On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated while standing on the balcony outside of his motel room. The hotel has been transformed into the National Civil Rights Museum. In the parking lot outside, everyone talked in hush tones, and it was eerily quiet. It's a powerful place, and it made the assassination something real instead of something I'd read about in a book.
This is a stone tablet outside the motel. The quotation is from Genesis 37: 19-20 and reads "They said one to another. Behold, here cometh the dreamer... Let us slay him... And we shall see what will become of his dreams."

This metal door is outside one of the parts of the museum across the street and bears a quote by Dr. King: "I may not get there with you, but I want you to know that we as a people will get to the promised land."

The below graffiti is scrawled on a building wall about a block-and-a-half from the motel.
While some things are in our blood, it doesn't mean we're doomed to make the mistakes of our fathers.

Walking in Memphis

Believe it or not, but Ken doesn't recall ever hearing the Marc Cohn's classic song, so he was much less geeked out over visiting Beale Street than I was. Beale Street is absolutely fantastic. The heat was extraordinary, especially since I was used to having highs around 50 degrees, but there was so much to see.


Live music floods the streets, and we saw at least four bands performing outside and also heard music wafting out of the many bars and restaurants. Below are a couple of talented guys. I can't imagine playing an instrument in the heat, let alone playing it well, but they pulled it off:
Here is an advertisement painted on the side of a building, and although the ad is for a beer company, the use of the color and blending is interesting.

On our way to find something to eat, we passed a park dedicated to the memory of W.C. Handy. In the park, there was more live music, as well as tables selling fried food, airbrush tattoos, and perfumes. At the center of the park is a statue of W.C. Handy:

This last picture is of a bar we walked by. I like the sign.

Ken and I ate at Miss Polly's on Beale Street. We had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. Ken declared that he is never going to KFC again, at least while he's down south. This is interesting, especially after he tried convincing me that KFC has the best fried chicken earlier in the car. I respectfully disagree.

I would love to go back to Memphis when I have more time to explore it. The streets were remarkably clean and everyone was very friendly. It's definitely a tourist area, and the prices can reflect it, but I feel that if I spent another week there, I'd still discover new places and things.

Graceland

Did you know that Memphis is home to Graceland? Well, I didn't, but once I heard that we' d be passing through the area, I knew I had to stop. I now present, for your viewing pleasure, the sign in front of the parking lot:Yup, that's the famous Heartbreak Hotel. I don't know how Elvis would feel about the China Buffet in such close proximity, but my guess is that he would approve.
Yes, Elvis is alive and well in Graceland, but it's the young and strapping Elvis. (The older, saggy Elvis casually makes appearances on some memorabilia but is otherwise shuffled off as a footnote to his life story.)
Here Ken is trying to emulate Elvis:
Here I'm giving Elvis the eye, but sadly, I don't think things would work out as he's about seven feet tall. We would look pretty awkward on the dance floor.
Where are the pictures from inside Graceland? Inquiring minds want to know.

Touring Graceland cost $27. I looked at it through the gates, I saw the tops of his private planes, and I can tell you that it was probably worth every penny. I'm sure the dozens of older women with license plates bearing "Elvis Fan," "1 Elvis," or some derivative of those two would heartily agree.

Arkansas

On my way through St. Louis, I picked up another AmeriCorps member, Ken. Ken is from Rhode Island, speaks with an East Coast accent, and had never really seen fields before the trip.

When we were traveling through Arkansas, we saw signs for a state park and having nothing better to do that day, we decided to stop.

What we found was one of the world's smallest state parks. The sign is pictured above. Yes, you read it right, there was an archaeological museum thrown in. However, the fee of $7 to tour it was enough to discourage us.

Anyway, the park was square and the area was *maybe* one square mile. The trees were bigger than any that I've ever seen. In the picture below, you can see two people sitting at the base of one of the trees. (Click the picture for a closer look.)

Later we stopped at the fabulous Marie Grocery. There was a woman smoking a cigarette behind the counter when Ken went in, and she was just as friendly as could be. We never did find out if she was *the* Marie though.That was about all Arkansas had to offer us. Then it was on to Memphis.