1) New Orleans was actually Spanish for about 40 years before the French came
2) The Mississippi River is an Indian word for "snaky river."
3) Louisiana is named from La Salle, who named it for his wife Louisa and Queen Anne
4) Two brothers, Bienville and Iberville went to King Louis and petitioned him for the city to be called La Nouvelle Orleans, which it eventually did in 1718; the king asked released prisoners to populate it
5) Creole comes from the first generation colonizers. Now it means everything, including food and customs.
6) Canal St was supposed to be a canal; it was bought and paid for. They are still waiting for the canal. It is the widest street in the U.S. All the others are avenues and boulevards.
7) St. Charles Avenue is considered the "Grand Jewel" of all the avenues. It is located in the Garden District, aka the American side of New Orleans.
8) The Americans and the Creoles/French did NOT get along with each other for a long time; they only met in the street to conduct business
9) Some pronunciations: Calliope = CALLeeYOPE. Tchoupitoulas = ChopiTOOlis.
Burgundy = berGUNdee Chartres = Charters
So I gave you a picture of Jackson Square on another post. This is what it was originally called:
Jean LaFitte, the famous pirate, helped out Jackson during the War of 1812, and in exchange, got amnesty for him and his pirate friends. They stayed in this lovely area called Pirates Alley.
And for my literary friends, William Faulkner wrote his first novel here, too; and on the other side was Tennyson's house where he wrote, A Streetcar Named Desire.
As you can see, the Place d'Armes Hotel is the site of the First Louisiana School run by the Ursuline nuns. There was a convent here, too. There was a boys and girls' school, but the boys' school closed.
I just thought this was a beautiful picture of contrasts: Can you tell? Is it wrought iron or cast iron? Hmmm... You will have to wait and see till the end of the post~! But many of these were around the houses. If it had posts, it was a gallery. If there were columns, it was a balcony. Interesting.
These are pictures from the 1850 house, as it is called. People typically stayed for a year or two or three, not much more than that. Residents of the French Quarter opened their homes for these transients, kind of like a 19th century AirBnB. Some homes had the entertaining rooms on one side and the sleeping quarters on the other, like in the Beauregard-Keyes house.
Yes, J.P.T. Beauregard from the Civil War lived in New Orleans. It's a shared house because it fell into disrepair, then Frances Parkinson Keyes (pronounced like "wise") bought it and restored it. She also added some apartments in the back. She wrote mysteries (along the vein like Stephen King) in the 1940s-1960s. She was also a senator's wife, so she met a lot of dignitaries. Here are some pictures from her working area.
That's Mrs. Keyes in the middle
spell check, aka the dictionary
She wrote everything long-hand and had a secretary type it all up. Yeah, these things still exist.
One of her famous books. There is still the restaurant Antoine's here in New Orleans.
So that was our tour of the French Quarter. Some other tidbits include the following:
Paying for parking. There are multiple lots all over the city where you pay to park. You can use cash or your credit card. Be sure to know your license plate! We took a picture of ours and that helped us. Very reasonable rates.
This is the steamboat Natchez. Just before you board for your cruise, it plays a very LOUD calliope. Be aware that if you walk by the port, plug your ears. Not that it's not tuneful, just loud. They do river cruises for you if you want. We decided to pass because of the weather.
Café Beignet is another place to get chicory coffee and beignets. We chose just the coffee while we were waiting for our tour. I also got the king cake, another scratch off the bucket list of New Orleans. The King Cake is a cinnamon roll with icing and sugar crystals of gold, purple, and green. There is usually a plastic baby inside or on it. Mine was a gold plastic baby on top (so that you wouldn't eat it by mistake and choke). It was very moist and delicious for a pre-made cake. It was 3 slices inside for $6. You have to go outside the city to a bakery for fresh ones, and this is the time of year when they are made. Gold means loyalty, green means faith, and purple means justice.
When getting around town, you have to know your bearings; basically where the lake is (Lake Ponchartrain) and the river (Mississippi River) is. Once you know that, the rest is easy. You are either going riverside, lakeside, upriver, or downriver.
And apparently you can see the top of the Superdome from the space station.
So to answer your question about wrought iron or cast? It was cast. :-)
Hope you enjoyed our tour. We sure did. We stayed out a little too late for our liking. When we came out of the Beauregard-Keyes house, more of New Orleans was jettisoned on the street (they give you plastic cups so you can drink and walk). One lady was walking her birds, I kid you not! Only in New Orleans does there seem to be something for everyone. Ya'll come back! 😉
No comments:
Post a Comment