All posts by karenfranza

The French Quarter and Tremé

November 22, 2025Louisiana, TravelArmstrong Park, cast iron railings, Congo Square, French Quarter, New Orleans, Po Boys, Tremé, wall artkarenfranza

Nov 19 – Another sunny day with a high of 80 degrees. Fine shirtsleeve weather, breezy and not hot enough to make you sweat. We walked through the French Quarter again today, taking note of the buildings that hug the streets.

The St Louis Cathedral was open, so we popped in to see the inside. It was bright and airy with a painted ceiling.

A feature of the buildings here are the many cast iron columns and railings – more ornate and more brittle than the wrought iron used elsewhere

We overheard a tour guide say that when the US asked for people to donate their iron to make munitions for WWII, the people of New Orleans said, “we will send our sons, but not our iron.”

As we walked north, the buildings got smaller and more colorful

In the Tremé district we found Louis Armstrong Park, built on the site of Congo Square

In the early 1800s, enslaved and free Black people gathered here by the hundreds on Sundays, enjoying their afternoon off dancing and making music together

Tremé became an area known for jazz. Jon Batiste was born here!

There are statues of many jazz greats here, including Louis Armstrong…

…and Mahalia Jackson. The Mahalia Jackson Theatre is just behind.

For today’s authentic New Orleans meal, we sought out NOLA Po Boys, where all the food is spicy! If you can’t handle the spice, ask for it “Yankee” style.

The grilled shrimp po boy did not disappoint!

The Big Easy

November 20, 2025Louisiana, Travelbeignet, Cafe du Monde, chicory coffee, jazz, Muffuletta, New Orleans, St. Louis Cathedralkarenfranza

Nov 17, 2025 – We usually use this blog to record international adventures, but a trip to New Orleans feels like an opportunity to experience a different culture, so I think it qualifies. Want to come along?

Jim booked us a direct flight, which takes about two and a half hours. Easy breezy! We left home in the afternoon and expected to be in NOLA for a late supper.

Without the excruciating details, let’s just say our plane did not pass muster, and the airline had to dispatch another from Louisiana. Our friendly representative cautioned, “I’d rather be on the ground wishing I was in the sky, than in the sky wishing I was on the ground.” Wise words.

Eight hours later, we were airborne at 1am. Our plan to hop on a city bus to get to our hotel had to be amended, as buses don’t run at 3am. One taxi ride later (the cabbie wisely quoted the exact same price as Uber) we were able to rest our weary heads. We are here!

**Nov 18 –** Due to our very late night, we are feeling as jet lagged as if we’d crossed the Atlantic. We decided to just walk in the sunshine and look around today. Here is Louis Armstrong, right outside our hotel.

We walked to Jackson Square, a pretty park right next to the St. Louis Cathedral

The Cathedral was closed, but the shop next door had some hilarious tee shirts

We visited the famous Café du Monde, where one must stop for a cup of chicory coffee and a beignet – the New Orleans version of fried dough sprinkled with lots of powdered sugar.

Right outside the cafe was a busker who treated us to some jazz saxophone

Lots of carriage rides available for those who want to ride around town

Empanola famously puts anything you can imagine into an empanada. The aroma was lovely!

We were on a mission to find the Central Grocery and Deli, home of the Original Muffuletta

The word muffuletta refers to the huge round fluffy bread that the sandwich is made with

This is one eighth of the Muffuletta – salami, ham and several types of cheese topped with pickled olive salad – we’ll be eating this for days! Delicious!

Last Stop: Mainz

July 22, 2025Germany, TravelCathedral of St. Martin, Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Mainzer Dom, Marc Chagall stained glass, Rhine River, St. Stephenkarenfranza

July 17 – One more trip to the train station for our last journey south to the city of Mainz, also right on the Rhine River. We’ve had our own Rhine River cruise, without a boat!

Our hotel is right on a path that follows the river…

…with a shady corridor for strolling and sitting

We walked down to see St. Martin’s Cathedral, or the Mainzer Dom. Although Mainz was pretty thoroughly bombed in 1945, the cathedral didn’t suffer much damage.

…and filled with bishops looking down at us disapprovingly

I usually don’t show pictures of crucifixions, but this one spoke to me

A pretty altarpiece, but absolutely no one is smiling

We walked around the old city and admired the architecture

We checked out the Gutenberg Museum – Johannes Gutenberg was born and died in Mainz in the 1400s

There were several artists rendering of what he may have looked like, but he never sat for a portrait, so no one knows for sure

His invention of moveable type transformed communication and the world

We saw two of Gutenberg’s bibles – only twenty-one originals remain intact worldwide. Only black ink was used for printing. The colorful capital letters and red highlights were added later by hand.

We watched a demonstration of the moveable type process given totally in German. We got the general idea.

The museum shared space with the Natural History Museum – a small but interesting collection of old stuff

This is the famous Fastnachtsbrunnen, or Carnival Sculpture

…containing hundreds of characters from Mainz’s winter carnival

We checked out lots more faces around town

…then made or way down to St. Stephen’s. Another church? Are you kidding? Wait for it…

St. Stephen’s was bombed during WWII, and lost all its windows. Nine new stained glass windows were designed by artist Marc Chagall, a Russian Jew, all in shades of blue. The windows contain scenes from the Old Testament, and were offered to show the commonality between Judaism and Christianity.

The church is bathed in serene blue light. Just lovely.

And so our journey ended. We brought home a generic blue delft Dutch plate to remind us of our hike on the Pieterpad (although we didn’t see many windmills), as we couldn’t find any Pieterpad related souvenirs…

…and a plate to remind us of the places we stopped along the Rhine River. We’re tired, and happy to be home.

Off to Rüdesheim am Rhein

July 18, 2025Germany, TravelGermania, Rudescheim-am-Rhein, Siegfried’s Mechanical Museum, Siegfried’s Musikkabinett, wall artkarenfranza

July 15 – Happy birthday to our dear daughter Jae! We packed our bags once again and walk the one minute walk back to the train station. Today our journey is just one hour south to the pretty little town of Rüdesheim, which is right on the Rhine River.

Our first view, walking in from the train station.

Rüdesheim is a stop on the Rhine River tours, and the town was full of cruisers eating ice cream and shopping for souvenirs.

The Church of St. James is on the Camino de Santiago route

Inside we saw James with his pilgrim staff and shell

We decided that this was the town to give in to our bratwurst craving – these didn’t disappoint!

No trip to Rüdesheim is complete without a tour of Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet, a museum of antique music makers

This one played Entry of the Gladiators (the Circus Song) so loud we had to cover our ears

Some were from old merry-go-rounds, with beautiful workmanship

Our tour guide explained how the songs were imprinted on a metal plate

This one had an entire string orchestra and a player piano

Then it was time for – you guessed it – the cable car ride to the top of the hill!

…and the rows of grape vines. This town is known for its winery tours, but as we don’t drink wine, we didn’t investigate those

At the top of the hill was a huge statue called Germania, holding her sword down to indicate a desire for peace. It was built in the 1870s by Kaiser Wilhelm to celebrate the unification of Germany.

…with images of War on one side and Peace on the other

The multitude of soldiers with the Kaiser on his horse at the center

The statue is too huge to take in up close

Then we walked back down the hill through the vineyards

…and back to the river. Rüdesheim, we had a great time!

And Now To Koblenz

July 16, 2025Germany, TravelDeutches Eck, Koblenzkarenfranza

July 13 – Back on the train for the two hour ride south to Koblenz. This is a much smaller city, that sits at the Deutches Eck, where the Moselle River meets the Rhine.

Quaint architecture, old fashioned but not old

We looked into the Church of Our Lady, which has been an active parish since the 600s. Parts of this building dates from 1180, with renovations after WWII.

A bit of wall art the sign says “to the little kettle”

These statues had little plaques posted next to them, but we didn’t get the jokes…

A statue of Kaiser Wilhelm on his horse, accompanied by an angel

This is the Eck (corner) – where the Moselle River on the right flows into the Rhine

A not very old (rebuilt) castle on the other side

There is a monument celebrating all the different regions that make up Germany

We popped into the modern art museum. There was one Picasso….

I had been craving a good doner for a while, and this was the town to get one. With the addition of a little red cabbage for a uniquely German twist, it was delicious!

On to Cologne

July 14, 2025Germany, Travel4711, Botanical Gardens, Cathedral of St.Peter, Cologne, Köln, Kölner Domkarenfranza

July 11 – Now that our hiking is done, what should we do with our remaining time? Rather than a long travel day back to Frankfurt, we decided to stop in four German cities along the way. Today’s goal is Cologne, or in German, Köln.

One last lovely yogurt, fruit, ham and cheese breakfast

We walked to the Maastricht train station with our big packs on our backs – no more luggage transport for us

…and stepped off the eastbound train two hours later in Cologne, Germany. As soon as we left the rail station, we ran smack into the Cologne Cathedral of St. Peter, or Kölner Dom, the tallest twin-spired church in the world, and the tallest cathedral in the world. Pictures cannot convey the BIGNESS of this place. It dominates the skyline.

Can you see the gold sarcophagus on the main altar? It’s very far away! The building of the cathedral started in the 1200s as a place to display the reliquaries of the Magi, or the shrine of the Three Kings, but building was not completed until the 1880s.

St. Christopher carrying the Christ child

The cathedral was bombed 14 times during WWII, and remained standing while all the surrounding buildings were destroyed

…including St Engelburtus, who remained jaunty even in death

Jim noticed that many of the bishops are shown with dogs at their feet, and also lions and birds. These depictions were thought to comfort and protect the deceased in the afterlife, or to represent the qualities of loyalty and strength they showed in life. You decide.

I’m always looking for female representation. Are angels female?

Back out on the street, we see and smell the 4711 (sieben und vierzig elf) building. 4711 is the essence of Cologne, and one of my favorite scents. My Oma wore it, and I keep a bottle of it at home to occasionally sniff.

We walked across the city to the Botanical Gardens, or Flora und Botanischer Garten. Why walk in the city when you can walk in a garden?

An aroma garden dominated by sweet daphne

We walked back along the Rhine River, where there were lots of boats taking tourists for river cruises. See the cathedral? It’s taller than any of the downtown buildings.

And we’re back to the crowds, with tons of folk at the sidewalk cafes sharing lunch and beer. A fine day!

Pieterpad: Valkenburg to Maastricht

July 13, 2025Hiking, The Netherlands, TravelValkenburg, Pieterpad, Maastricht, Mt. St. Pieter, André Rieu, Hotel Les Charmeskarenfranza

July 10 – All good things must come to an end. Today is our last hiking day. 12.75 miles planned.

This sign in the stairway of our hotel summed up our Netherlands hiking experience. Not only is there never an elevator, each hotel assumes that because we are hikers we won’t mind walking up to the top floor!

Heading into the suburbs before Maastricht, which go on a long way

The Dutch are so meticulous – have you ever seen such a perfectly trimmed weeping willow?

Crossing the bridge over the river Meuse

Many people stop to offer a prayer to the Virgin here

Passing out the other side of the city on the way to Mt. St. Pieter

Elevation! There’s Maastricht down below

Ta da! We are at the end of the Pieterpad! Another couple who had just completed took our picture.

Back to the city, we checked into Hotel Les Charmes, a delightful place where all the tables are made of old suitcases

The streets were super crowded this evening, and traffic was blocked to facilitate the free concert by hometown hero violinist André Rieu. We were told that he is the most famous violinist in the world.

Snaking through the crowd, we managed to find our restaurant. As a reward for a job well done, we treated ourselves to a spicy Singapore pho dinner, filled with seafood. Yum! We did it!

A Day in Valkenburg

July 12, 2025Hiking, The Netherlands, TravelValkenburg, wall artkarenfranza

July 9 – Returning to Valkenburg gave us a sweet sense of deja vu – this is the town where we holed up for eleven days while recovering from COVID way back in 2023. We stayed longer in this town than just about anywhere we’ve ever been. We walked every corner of Valkenburg while regaining our strength.

Here is where we learned to love Albert Heijn supermarkets – Jim has carried his Albert Heijn discount card in his wallet for two years, and was so happy to use it again!

So we didn’t feel the need to explore this lovely town, filled with sidewalk cafes and bustling with tourists. For us it felt like coming home.

We stopped by the Marx Motel, just to make sure it was still there

I couldn’t stop myself from snapping away at the old wall ads on every street

I see they still haven’t refurbished all the wall art

…and the mosaic bench in front of the library

It was a lovely trip down Memory Lane, and yes, we did visit the Albert Heijn. We are feeling nostalgic – our Pieterpad hike ends tomorrow.

Pieterpad: Sittard to Valkenburg

July 11, 2025Hiking, The Netherlands, TravelSittard, Valkenburg, wall art, wood carved animalskarenfranza

July 8 – We had an early breakfast and hit the road for our penultimate hiking day. The weather continues cool and cloudy. 15.5 miles planned.

Navigating out of the city – here’s our trail sign

We were immediately climbing a shady, quiet road that featured the stations of the cross on both sides

And then it was back out to the farm fields. Who knew Holland grew so much wheat?

Now, here’s a crop we haven’t seen – cabbages!

Oh my goodness – an animal carved out of a fallen tree trunk. What do you think it is? A boar? A badger?

And here’s another – a large chipmunk, or perhaps a small bear?

I guess you figured out that I love sunflowers

That church spire means we’re passing the town of Puth – we won’t actually go through it, but it lets us know we’ve gone 4 miles

We walked beside a busy highway for a while

A larger than Harvey sized rabbit in a field of potatoes. Thanks to whoever took the time to carve these along the roadside for our amusement!

The little mayor welcomed us back to Valkenburg

Pieterpad: Susteren to Sittard

July 10, 2025Hiking, The Netherlands, TravelSittard, Susterenkarenfranza

July 7 – Happy 85th birthday, Ringo Starr – peace and love! We said goodbye to Marijke and Ruud, and Ruud drove us back to the little Lourdes chapel so we could pick up right where we left off yesterday. Seven miles planned for today.