Freeman Vacation 2013: New Orleans, Part 1 - "When In Rome"

In celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary, Brent and I decided to go on a cruise. It seemed fitting since we also went on a cruise for our honeymoon, and again after I gradated pharmacy school and absolutely loved it both times. Although I was beyond excited about the actual cruise, I must confess that I was equally excited when I realized that the cruise ship would leave out of New Orleans. Before this trip I had been to NO twice - once with my parents on a family vacation and once with my friends - we actually took our senior trip here!  So besides the obvious appeal of the city, I have sentimental feelings towards it as well.  Since Brent had never been, I was dying to show him around. We drove down on Friday with slightly less than 48 hours to spend in the city before boarding the cruise ship. [Just to clarify: I know that New Orleans is more than just the French Quarter, but this is the area that I know and love and where we spent most of our time.]

Crossing Lake Pontchartrain

First stop after checking into the hotel was Jackson Square, which is a historical park with a cathedral and a statue of Andrew Jackson.  Across the street is the Mississippi river.  Around the square, there are all kinds of artists selling their art (mostly paintings) and musicians playing impromptu concerts for tips.  There is also the occasional magician and people dressed in costumes taking pictures for tips.  It is the best part of the city!

After wandering around Jackson Square for awhile, we began to get a little hungry, but couldn't really decide where to eat, so we ended up at a little cafe near the square.  We had gumbo, Jambalaya & lots of buttered French bread. I also introduced Brent to pralines, which he had never had before!  He had no idea what he was missing! When in Rome......!

After eating, we went back to the hotel and watched the sun go down from the rooftop pool.  We had an awesome view!!!  We were too excited to go to bed so early, so after a bit of discussion, we headed out to find some dueling pianos and ended up at Pat O'Brians on Bourbon Street.  It was packed! The pianists were great and we actually met some people and had so much fun singing along!  We got home late and literally collapsed into bed!!!

On Saturday we did some full-blown sightseeing, Christen-style.  We hopped on a double-decker bus and rode all around the city, taking pictures and taking note of places we wanted to return to.  Then when we we were finished, we spent the rest of the day walking around and seeing the sights up close.  This is my absolute favorite thing to do when visiting a city!

This is Bourbon Street during the day.  I just have to say that Brent was NOT impressed with this part of town AT ALL.  He thought it was dirty, trashy, lewd, crowded and disgusting.  And it is!   It is! It actually even has a stench as you walk through and people just stumble around drunk in various states of undress and there is loud music coming from the nightclubs that are open all hours of the day and night.  However, there are also many people there who are tourists like us, just seeing what it is all about. It is the only place I have been where you have to dodge drunk homeless people, strippers and baby strollers on the sidewalk.

But it is what it is.  The character of the area is just so New Orleans. Similar to the Las Vegas strip, but dirtier and cruder.

When I was here on my senior trip, a policeman on a mounted horse stepped on my toe and ripped my toenail almost off.  I had to spend several hours in the emergency room at Tulane - actually in the hall on a gurney because there were no rooms available - where the rest of my toenail was eventually removed.  I spent the rest of the trip on crutches! 

To this day my friends still laugh about the way I acted when the horse stepped on me.  They say that I calmly and nonchalantly said "Guys, that horse just stepped on my foot." Like, no big deal, just FYI.  But then when we all looked down, my big toenail was hanging off and there was blood everywhere. The policeman called the ambulance and we got to ride in it.  And they actually asked the EMT to take a picture of us!! The toenail took forever to grow back and I had to wear a goofy shoe that looked like a tennis shoe but didn't have a toe box.

Some other pictures of the city:

This last picture above shows my second favorite highlight of the time in New Orleans.  We were headed to Preservation Hall to see a jazz show [actually, to get in line to see the show] and we walked up on this street performance.  The violin was so beautiful that we just had to stop. After that song was over, they began playing "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles - this sounds crazy, but I cannot describe how absolutely beautiful and moving this performance was.  It was professional quality and I could not believe that I was hearing this/seeing this for free on a New Orleans street.  The violinist was clearly a professional or a former professional. Her eyes were closed and she was playing with all of her heart.  By the end of the song, the crowd was 3-4 people deep all the way around and completely hushed.  Most everyone was taking pictures and/or videos and some people were Skype-ing the performance with family & friends. Others were crying (including yours truly.) People were tipping like crazy. It was amazing. But also sad, almost tragic.  I really can't describe it.  I have heard that song before, but I have never really understood what a sad, sad song it is until I heard them playing. 

We also visited a pharmacy museum, which was located in the original site of an old pharmacy:

old prescription files!  You can still see the names on them!

Stay Tuned for New Orleans Part 2!

Synchronous Fireflies in the GSM

This trip to the Great Smoky Mountains has been planned for almost a year.  Despite living in East Tennessee for 22 years and visiting Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg countless times during those years, I never heard of the synchronous fireflies until last year, on accident.  I was looking at art on the internet, and saw a painting that I loved - when I clicked on it to get the background, I read that it was a painting of the synchronous fireflies at Elkmont by painter Jim Embry. (It won the Dogwood Arts Festival in 2004 and is on that website if you are interested.) I then began researching and realized that Brent & I just HAD to see these fireflies.



We got last-minute tickets (so lucky!) for June 6, the first night of the "show."  (Also Mama's birthday!) We drove all the way up from Tuscaloosa, checked in to our hotel and then met Mama & Daddy for supper at No Way Jose's (one of our two favorite restaurants in Gburg). After that, we headed out to the Sugarlands visitor center for parking.

(I demolished the chicken breast dinner, obviously.  This is the same thing I always get and it is wonderful!)

The weather actually wasn't looking too good at this point.  Here is the view from our hotel room (with an Instagram filter, of course, but you can still see all of the clouds)!  It was misting by the time we got to the Sugarlands parking lot. We unpacked our chairs and snacks and waited on the trolley to take us out to Elkmont campground, where the viewing area is.  The event was very, very organized. They only sell a certain number of parking reservations each day and do not allow cars to access Elkmont after 5 pm on the days of the firefly show.

We waited & waited as it got dark, afraid that they fireflies weren't going to come out & play.  But around 9:45-10, they got started! The show was different than we thought! We imagined that the synchronous fireflies would all flash on, flash off at the same time.  Instead, the woods would be dark, then one or two fireflies would start flashing, then they would all join in, randomly flashing.  It looked like Christmas lights! So pretty! Also, these fireflies blinked brighter and faster on-off than the fireflies I am used to.  Before it started, the woods were so loud with people talking, kids running around, etc.  After the fireflies started flashing, the woods got so quiet.  It really was amazing. And since we were actually sitting out in the woods, they were also flashing all around us.

I will absolutely go back anytime I have the chance!  We actually overheard a group behind us saying that they had been before and there had seen many more fireflies than what we saw.  Because we went on what was supposed to be the 1st night of the peak period, it is possible that the fireflies just hadn't peaked yet.  I would love to go back at a time where I could see more, but I'm not disappointed in what we saw at all.

It is so amazing that there are only two (known) places in the entire world where you can see synchronous fireflies - the GSM and in Southeast Asia.  That is just so unbelievable to me - that I have been so close to it my entire life and did not know!  It was definitely something to see!

Unfortunately, the fireflies are pretty much impossible to photograph or video (we tried).  There are some photos/videos on the internet, but none that I have seen really do it justice.  It is just something you have to see for yourself!

(I love this picture of Mama & Daddy taken in the dark and lightened with Instagram.  It looks like they are smoking cigarettes.  Happy Birthday, Mama.)