Sunday, June 30, 2002

Okay, I have been busy having fun these past few days. Michael-John came to visit for a few days of Big Easy fun. The last time I saw him was in the 6th grade so it was a reunion of sorts. On thursday, we went on my version of the med school tour. The only interesting thing in the med school building, in my humble opinion, is the embryology collection and so we looked at the embryos. I must have an unconscious desire to disgust people before mealtimes because right after looking at the embryos we went to have lunch. Mom and dad, pay attention here because we went on the lunch jazz "cruise" on the Mississippi River that we were going to go on when we came down last august. It was bad. There was nothing to see except the battlefield where the Battle of New Orleans was fought - all we saw was a parking lot (progress??). Oh and then there was the old Aluminum factory. The food was okay but nothing to write home about. At least there was a nice breeze. And I enjoyed looking at the paddlewheel. The jazz musicians were okay as well. No where near the same level as those we see at Donna's (a bar we go to on Monday nights occasionally). The band was 3 middle aged white men. While some white men can play jazz and the blues quite well, these guys seemed too proper. The piano player was sitting at the piano with such perfect posture it looked like he was more of a classical pianist turned jazz musician for the money. John pointed out that I seem to have a viewpoint that only certain people should be allowed to play certain types of music and maybe that's true. Apparently the cruise is for people to get out of the city if they don't have cars to drive out. After the cruise, we went to Jackson square and looked around for a blind, foreign, female telling fortunes because they are the most accurate (or so John was told). We didn't find her. Then we went over to the D-Day museum. It was incredible. Too bad we didn't have an extra day since I think we could have made a whole day of that museum so we could read every single piece of info and see the two 45 minute movies. Maybe if my mom comes we'll go there and see everything. I got a smooshed penny in the bookstore. They had kid t-shirts that said "my first D-Day museum t-shirt" which seems like an odd shirt to make but hey, people must buy them if they keep making them. It covers primarily D-Day but there are exhibits on other parts of WWII like the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the dropping of the 2 atomic bombs and movies from Japan after the bomb - that was horrific to see. Even though I had read so much about it, it still hits you hard to see a picture of it and the aftermath. I think the sickest thing about the movie is that they show the americans getting ready and loading the planes with the bombs and they're smiling and laughing (no sound in the movie) as if they don't feel any regret for the destruction they are about to cause. But then again, maybe in times of war laughing and smiling is a way of dealing with stress like that. I don't know and I don't think I care to find out in a firsthand experience.
After the D-Day museum, we picked up Mat and had dinner at Le Madeleine in the quarter. It was disappointing because I usually have good food there but this time John and I had the pesto and chicken and it was so salty we couldn't eat it without getting headaches. And poor Mat had to keep choosing something else to order because they didn't have any of his other choices. After that we went to the St. Louis Cathedral. Then we had beignets at Cafe du Monde. Yes, we went from overly salty to overly sweet. Then Mat went home and John and I went on a night walking tour. There's 3 different ones and we went on the Voodoo and Witch tour. It was interesting learning how those that practiced voodoo were able to avoid persecution by the Catholic church - if you come and visit then I'll divulge that info or you can go on the tour and learn. On Friday we went to the Longue Vue House and Gardens. The house was huge. They also had these cool flower holders (looked like test tubes to me) and modern art. I'm going to try and duplicate one of them I saw. There were a bunch of gardens. My favorite was the herb garden. I think when I make my millions (yeah right) I'll add an herb garden to my expanse of land. Then we went to lunch at Lebanon Cafe. I had my favorite thing - gyros sandwich and it was just as yummy as the last time. And then we went out to the Jean Lafitte Swamp National Park to canoe down one of the canals that was dug years ago for oil and gas. Yes, I was pathetically wimpy and constantly afraid that I was going to be attacked by alligators and snakes and baby bumblebees but John was still nice about it. As much as I was afraid, I was determined to see a gator. I saw 2 and john saw a third. And then there were a bunch of "logs" that I swear looked like alligators, including a bunch of one eyed gators (okay, maybe those were logs). And there were a bunch of jumping fish that scared me when they splashed by my end of the boat. Though, I think some of those "fish" were gators retreating. We hit a dead end because it was very thick and difficult to paddle through (I'm weak, remember?) so we turned back but then an airboat passed by and we turned around to see if they blew a path for us. Nope but we went through anyway and I thought we were stuck but since John is many many times stronger than I, we got through and paddled on to the next blockade and that one was tougher to get through until john spotted a path - under the brush where the snakes could have been waiting to drop on my head (yes, I was paranoid to the nth degree). We made it to the viewpoint and it was incredible seeing all that swampland. I was attacked by many bugs but as far as I can tell, I was only bitten once on my wrist. I didn't notice it while I was paddling because I was busy looking out for those gators and now it's very itchy and you can't imagine how hard it is to scratch something on the inside of your wrist. But as you can tell, we made it out alive. We came back to my home and then went for dinner at Semolina (pasta). We watched Life is Beautiful before Jess, Bethany, Mat, and Amber came over for drinks and hot tub fun. And apparently I now need a pool pass to use the big pool and hottub and I can only bring in 2 guests. Um, I pay $200 in condo fees and I think I shouldn't need a stupid pool pass but the lady on duty was cool about it, including our alcohol as long as we didn't have the glass bottles out by the pool. And apparently they're planning a big road trip to go white water rafting, wall climbing, and camping over labor day weekend. On Saturday we had Muffulettas for brunch and then went on a tour of the cemetary where Marie Leveau (voodoo queen) is buried. The guide was entertaining and showed us where Lenny Kravitz lives in the quarter. John wanted to ring the doorbell but I stopped him because I thought it was a bad idea. We also saw where Sweatin-to-the oldies Richard Simmons was born and raised. And he pointed out spots where various movies were filmed. The cemetary itself is a maze of tombs and wall tombs which apparently get recycled. I'd hate to have the job of removing the bodies to make space for new ones. It was hot! This poor little baby's cheeks were bright pink and I almost went to open my umbrella over him but his parents found some shade thankfully and finally made a bottle of milk for him - I personally would have given him a bottle of water. We then went to Harry Anderson's magic shop but it's a by appointment only store. John had his future told and he said she was right or close on some things. On our way to another museum, we saw a man getting ready to do a show so we stopped. He was an escape artist and I got John to go up and help tie him up. It looked painful to get chained up - especially since one of the ropes went in his crotch and John said the guy kept telling him and this LSU guy to tie him tighter - Ouch! After they were done, I was scared the guy was going to pass out since he didn't seem to be making progress but little by little he got out of the chains and then out of the straight jacket. I think he dislocates his arm to do it. Ouch again! I think it took about 25 minutes for him to get out. After that show, we went to the Cabildo to see the Napoleon Death Mask and learn more about New Orleans. We then went to dinner and came back to relax and watch "The Red Violin." John left early this morning. And now I need to get dressed and ready to go out to Jess' house for some celebration in a park by her house. It was nice doing some touristy stuff since I didn't get to do much of that this school year which is due to lack of motivation by me but also due to those exams. As you can tell I had tons of fun and I hope more people come to see this fun city!
~me~ at 9:47 AM