Tag Archives: New Orleans

St. Louis Cathedral

The St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson Square in the New Orleans French Quarter is probably the most iconic symbol of New Orleans. I came across some slide photos I had taken many years ago (waaaay before digital came along).

Looking across Jackson Square toward the St. Louis Cathedral
Looking across Jackson Square toward the St. Louis Cathedral

So I’ve been playing around with transferring some of the better slides to digital format. I am using the slide tray on my scanner. It is a bit tedious, but doable. I especially love this view of the Cathedral looking across the Jackson Square park.

Fascinating designs on ironwork gates
Fascinating designs on ironwork gates

The intricate designs on old New Orleans ironwork such as these have always fascinated me.

If you are visiting New Orleans, I highly recommend drinking in the beauty of sites like this.

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Magnificent photos of a magnificent New Orleans landmark

I first met today’s featured blog guest, Sai Chandrasekharan, at my local Apple Store (located in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans). I’ve been taking advantage of One-on-One Personal Training Sessions available through Apple Stores, and Sai was my instructor that day. At the end of the top-notch session, we traded business cards and Sai mentioned he was a photographer. A few days later, I checked out his Flickr site, and discovered amazing photos he has taken of the Mississippi River bridge in New Orleans. With his kind permission, here is a peek at just a few of my favorites with the bridge against the backdrop of nature during sunrise, thunderstorm and moonrise.

Fiery Sky by Sai Chandrasekharan
Fiery Sky
Mississippi River Bridge - 2 by Sai Chandrasekharan
Mississippi River Bridge - 2
Moon Rising by Sai Chandrasekharan
Moon Rising

I hope these will peak your interest in seeing the full-size photos of these and many others he has done. You can view Sai’s entire gallery at www.flickr.com/chandsa. I think you will enjoy his commentary there, too.

As background, the Crescent City Connection, (formerly called Greater New Orleans Bridge before its upgrade from one span to two spans) refers to twin cantilever bridges farthest downstream on the Mississippi River. These twin bridges run between the Central Business District of New Orleans and the Westbank (named for its location on the western bank of the river, even though geographically it actually is southeast of New Orleans!). Due to the Mississippi River’s winding course through the New Orleans area (the river is flowing north at the place where the two bridges cross), the eastbound span actually carries traffic on Business US 90 West, while the westbound span carries traffic East. Not only that, but the river is actually flowing north where the bridges cross.

p.s. Now you know why true New Orleanians do not refer to east, west, north, south. It is always just toward the river, away from the river, etc. lol.

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Mardi Gras Parade season gets rolling tonight

Yay! the first Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans rolls tonight, Saturday Feb 19th at 6:30 pm. It’s the Krewe du Vieux parade. I love it for its quaintness, individualism and satiric creativity. Because it winds its way through the narrow streets of the French Quarter, it also is the most traditionally presented with floats pulled by mules, human power, or even 3-wheeled bicycles (rather than the tractors or trucks of the larger well-known parades). Oh yah, did I also mention Krewe du Vieux is quite risque, too? To keep things child-friendly, I had to very selectively go through my photos from last year to find this small fuzzy subset. But I hope it gives you a bit of flavor of this fun, nighttime parade.

The Krewe du Vieux parade is such a treat and I can’t wait to see what they they have in store for this year. I’ve heard the theme is “25 Years Wasted” and the Grand Marshall is Don Marshall, Executive Director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation. Beyond that bit of knowledge is the anticipation of the supporting themes that the participating sub-krewes will present https://www.kredite-vergleich.net/180-monate-laufzeit-kredit. You know that this all has to be about fun, with play-on-words names for the sub-krewes like C.R.U.D.E. (Committee to Revive Urban Decadent Entertainment), Drips and Discharges (the idea for the group began in the Emergency Room of Touro Infirmary), Mama Roux, Mystic Krewe of Spermes, T.O.K.I.N. (Totally Orgasmic Krewe of Intergalactic Ne’er-do-wells), Underwear, Rue de Bourbon, etc. In keeping with world and especially local events like the BP oil spill, the floats are touted to have themes like “TSA – The Good Hands People”, Crude Lubes NewOilands, DRIPILEAKS, Tokin Tea Party, David Semen’s Treme, and more that will probably make more sense when I see them, lol. In any case, I will be there to enjoy it all, and maybe even occasionally yell out “throw me something’ mista”. Oftentimes, outsiders think of Mardi Gras as just the single day festivity. But here in the New Orleans area, Mardi Gras is an entire holiday season. We like to have any excuse for a party. There will be lots of parades rolling between now and Fat Tuesday, March 8th. Com’on down (or up, or over, or whatever) and join the party!  

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