A trip to New Orleans

It has been over 15 years since I've been to New Orleans. Michael and I had planned a short trip at the beginning on my spring break with his brother and family. Things didn't go as planned, however, and the death of the father of one of Michael's dear friends prevented him from going. I didn't want to go without him but we had invested in a place to stay and it was too late to cancel plus we didn't want to disappoint Michael's family who were so looking forward to it.

We left early Saturday morning and arrived by mid-afternoon. I had forgotten how many people are on the streets and how bad the traffic is in the French Quarter on a weekend and I have to confess, we were wondering just what we had gotten ourselves into and I know we all went into panic mode for a while. We had booked a room right in the heart of the French Quarter and parking places were difficult to find and the one-way streets were driving us nuts. But finally, we located a parking space, got our lugguge into the room and found a parking garage to store the car. After the initial culture shock, the trip went pretty smoothly.

This is where we stayed - The St. Philip Apartments on St. Philip Street. Appropriate no?



The courtyard was so nice -



After we settled in and finally ventured out, we first walked down to the French Market -





Saturday was beautiful but Sunday was anything but, with a drastic drop in temperatures and a bitterly cold wind. We spent Sunday visiting the Aquarium and World War II Museum (Colton, our nephew, is an expert on the subject and he loved it). Some shopping on Decatur Street but the temperatures kept us mostly inside.




Tim and Colton take a stroll down a deserted side street near Jackson Square -



An artist on Jackson Square -





Monday started out cold as well but the sun came out in the middle of our cemetery tour and it turned out to be a nice day. We continued to shop and buy souveniers. Later that afternoon, Tim and I took a long leisurely strool and look at some of my favorite things in the city - the architecture, the plants and the balconies.



















A beautiful Lady Banks rose was in full bloom -





And more beautiful architecture -







I'm hoping we can plan more trips to New Orleans. I think the city is so beautiful and fascinating. I find it very intriguing and there is so much to explore there.

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy