On the way in to town we stopped at Metairie Cemetery. The cemeteries in New Orleans are fairly unique in America. Bodies have to be buried above ground, due to the swampy soil. Besides that they are much more continental and Catholic than in New England. They continue these traditions today as well, so more recent family members who have passed away are buried in family tombs that go back hundreds of years.
This was pretty much the only sunny, not totally humid day we had in our trip.
I took a lot of photos. So I am just going to put in a sampling.
Most of the cemetery is pretty crowded, this area had a nice old road and fully grown trees. We saw Jewish graves here as well. In the newer section of the cemetery there were Japanese and Chinese graves as well.
I thought this more modern, yet still over the top statuary was interesting.
This one looked like a tiny castle
One of these men was Judge Wisdom, when he was working as a judge, what a great name! My Aunt and I both really liked walked through and just reading the names, and little bits of information about the families.
Some large mausoleums were sponsored by associations. A lot of them were immigrant Benevolent Societies, we saw a lot of Italian ones. So if your family couldn't' afford their own plot, you could still bury your relatives in the group mausoleum for a more affordable price. This one above had a small stained glass window.
There are graves from before the Civil War as well, but where we walked most graves weren't older than this one above. The whole cemetery is huge, so we only walked a section.
This angle is playing a trumpet
She was on this grave, Louis Prima. There are many other famous people and New Orleans residents in the cemetery. We didn't make a point of finding any though, we just walked around and explored.
This one is famous though. It is a pyramid, with a sphinx guarding it.
Across from the sphinx is this goddess, and the family name, pretty iron doors, etc.
Civil War memorial. Or as they call it here, the War of Northern Aggression. Also, good example of how much water was still standing in places. If you stepped on the grass it was like walking on a sponge.
We went to Central Grocery for lunch, they invented the Muffuletta there!
That is one huge sandwich! We got two sandwiches for the four of us.
This was our hotel, right on the French Quarter, on Bourbon Street. I didn't take this picture, my picture did not turn out. When we were there it had Christmas boughs and bows on it. The restaurant in the bottom is called Desire, it is an oyster bar. But yes, across the street were strip clubs.
Inside lobby still all decorated for the holidays
This was the view from our room. Our room came with complimentary ear plugs, since Bourbon Street is nuts and people are up all night. And yes, people live here, which seems nuts.
Tanner, Tim and I just walked around all afternoon and evening. My Aunt ended up resting and watching a movie in her super comfy hotel bed.
The French Market. The farmers market was not open, which I would have liked. It was sort of a tourist trap.
LOL! This cracks me up so much!
A couple of locals were in their truck playing Turn Down for What really loud. We drank craft beer on the street! Yay for liberal liquor laws.
Just a few pics of the buildings and balconies. It really is nice. They also pressure wash the streets, so they try to keep it all nice, even though there can be so many tourists.
We walked over to check out the river. It is a huge river!
We all like beer, and trying local beer, and my cousin works at World of Beer in Arizona. So we had to stop in!
Big beer menu. Not actually super impressed. But we did all get to try something local, and our waitress was a nice lady.
Fancy cocktail bar. Way up at the edge of the French Quarter. I had been talking about Sazeracs, so that is what Tim and I both got. It was really delicious. Tanner tried a new whisky.
Back on Bourbon Street. This place had okay burgers, and the kitchen was still open.
This place was across the street from the hotel. So we had absinthe before going back to our rooms. We each tried one, we all liked Tanner's best. Tanner pointed out that we had absinthe, chilled, with a few drops of water at Nate's on the way out here. He liked that a lot more. I agree. I think we both don't like it was the sugar cube, it made is too sweet. But in general, the anise flavor is pretty strong and we don't love it.
Labels! Tanner had the Mata Hari, which we liked. It was more herbal, and brighter.
It was fun watching her make it.
Tim finally asked her what the laws were, since all of our servers were drinking all night! I guess it is still illegal, but they never ticket. Tim doesn't drink when he serves, he doesn't want a ticket.
I was hungover the next morning! I had the same amount to drink at Thanksgiving, and was fine! I had beer almost all night. Yuck. Tanner was fine, he got up and took Tim to the airport, my Aunt got them both some breakfast and coffee.
We would love to go back. Bourbon Street was gross at times. It was not too crowded. At least compared to places Tanner and I have been. I bet it is miserable at Mardi Gras and spring break though. But it was also fun, people were having fun, nice mix of ages this time of year.
The rest of the city has some great attractions, neighborhoods, and unique cultural experiences. I am sure we will we get back there one day.
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