The Mississippi and Mardi Gras

November 27, 2025Louisiana, TravelMardi Gras World, Marie Laveau, Mississippi River, Port of Call, wall artkarenfranza

Nov 22 – Although we’ve been in New Orleans for almost a week, we have yet to see the Mississippi River. It’s only a block from the heart of town on Canal Street, so we sauntered over to have a look.

This riverboat has a mighty horn and blasted it repeatedly for all to enjoy

It is Saturday, and there is a New Orleans Saints game today. The crowds were phenomenal, and we’re not sure if all the extra people are here for the game, or just because it’s the weekend.

Today is Jim’s conference presentation, so we didn’t get to do much sightseeing. The presentation was a great success.

To celebrate, we went out to dinner with Jim’s colleagues, to the fancy French restaurant Galatoires. We started with turtle soup, which was a first for me. Very good! I had the shrimp étouffée in brown roux, and it was delicious.

Jim ordered the seafood bouillabaisse in a saffron stock, and pronounced it equally excellent. A fine day.

**Nov 23 –** We checked out Marie Laveau’s Voodoo Shop.

Marie, a midwife, healer and hairdresser, was the most famous of the voodoo practitioners of the 1800s.

No pix were permitted inside, so here is what you can see from the door. Incantations for every purpose, and tarot readings upon request.

Mother River statue in front of the Port of New Orleans

Right on the river is Mardi Gras World, a huge warehouse where figures for Mardi Gras parade floats are made and stored.

Most figures are sculpted in styrofoam, covered in papier-mâché, then painted

The figures are reconfigured and repainted as needed

Here is one of the parade floats. Our tour guide was a hoot. He told us that each float contained a porta-potty so the crewe could “oui oui” if necessary.

This is the same company that made all the cows on billboards for Chik Fila’s “Eat Mor Chiken” campaign. We didn’t see any cows today.

So much to see and so colorful! Thank you, Mary, for this recommendation!

On friend Tom’s suggestion, we stopped in at Port of Call for a hamburger and baked potato lunch. We thought we could avoid the crowds by showing up at 3pm, but still had to wait half an hour for a seat. They make a signature rum drink called The Monsoon, and we enjoyed watching people trying to walk after finishing one!

The Garden District

November 25, 2025Louisiana, TravelGarden District, Lafayette Cemetery #1, Magazine St, raised cemetery, St. Charles Avenue, St. Charles streetcar, Tulane Universitykarenfranza

Nov 21 – This is our day to head south to explore the Garden District, where the New Orleans rich moved in the 1800s to get away from the crowded French Quarter. It is here that Ann Rice lived and placed many of her Vampire stories, and here that Peyton and Eli Manning grew up.

Some of these historical mansions have plaques indicating their age and the style in which they were built. Many contain more than one style, and are considered ‘transitional’.

This house is of the Greek Revival style

One of the few we saw that were made of brick

You know you’re in a classy neighborhood if there is an Episcopal cathedral there!

Tulane and Loyola Universities have beautiful campuses here. We spoke with a student from Maine who absolutely loves it here!

Lafeyette Cemetery #1 is walled off and locked up

Here are the raised tombs that can be seen from the gate. The tombs became popular here as buried coffins would often flood and need T o be reburied.

We read that the tombs can be opened once a year to deposit a new body and remove last year’s bones

I don’t think the green building is a tomb…

We stopped into the Gracious Bakery on St. Charles Ave. for a mid morning coffee

The cherry cream cheese turnover did not disappoint

This 1891 mansion was built in the Queen Anne style

The Robinson mansion was built in 1857 in the Italianate style

We had a recommendation to try the special at Stein’s Deli on Magazine St. We ordered a Cubano to eat later.

Here comes the green St.Charles streetcar to take us back home

Some wall art on O’Keefe Avenue for my O’Keefe family

Back in our suite we shared the Cubano sandwich we purchased at the deli and pronounced it “bon!”

City Park

November 23, 2025Louisiana, TravelCity Park, New Orleans Museum of Art, sculpture garden, streetcarkarenfranza

Nov 20 – Today we ventured beyond where our feet could take us, further north to City Park. Our mission was to master the transit system and visit The New Orleans Museum of Art.

Our hotel concierge showed us how to download the Le Pass app, which magically integrated with Google Maps. Type in your destination, and you pay right in the app. A single ride is $1.25, but we paid for a 24 hour Jazzy Pass so we could hop on and off as needed. The fare is the same whether you choose a bus or a streetcar, so who wouldn’t choose a streetcar?

There are different color streetcars for different parts of town. Today we are on the red line. The streetcars run down the center of the street, between the lanes of traffic.

In 20 minutes, we arrived at the New Orleans Museum of Art, situated in City Park

The sea from the dead fishes’ perspective?

Here are two different paintings of John the Baptist preaching to the people.

We always recognize St. James when we see him. This is Santiago Matamoros – St James killing the Moors.

This is an odd one – Madonna and the infant Jesus flanked by John the Baptist (who you may recall is only a few months older than Jesus) and St. Peter (who did not meet Jesus until about 30 years later).

Behind the museum was a huge sculpture garden with lots of interesting pieces

Then we jumped back on the streetcar and tootled back home!

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.