NOLA...part two

Feb 16

Wakey wakey...its a full day ahead of us.  Officially Day One of the Notions and Potions workshop in New Orleans.  Field trips on the itinerary today....First on the schedule for the class:

THE ÜBER COOL

Pharmacy Museum

We wandered to the French Quartier and stopped in this very old phamacy.   I loved this place and what a great pre place to inspire the class to make apothecary thingies.

 If only I could have taken a few things with me....

Perhaps not the leeches.

Next stop

St. Louis Cemetery

The famous above ground graves of NOLA.  Above ground because New Orleans is below sea leve and the graves would be filled with water otherwise.  

Ahhhh, a cemetery...Well you know I like this kind of thing...

Below is from the tomb of voodoo mama Marie Laveau.  The XXXs are wishes...you are supposed to bring three items, write three Xs or knock three times to have your wish come true.  And yes...I did knock three times...you never know.

I love the rust stains below the fence:

Bored?  

Okay lets get moving...

The rest of the day was a free day so Andrea and I split up from the group and headed to Royal Street to see some galleries and antique stores.

Along the way we saw this dude:

Andrea was filming him "Matrix" style and she walked over to me to show me her footage.  We then hear a very audible "AHEM!" from Uncle Sam.  She promptly returned and plunked some money in the hat.

We also saw these Cajun dudes...on certain times of the day there were as many as twenty or so of this group hangin' out playing on this corner.

Happy Hour...

Time to try a Sazerac at the beautifully Art Deco Roosevelt Hotel.

Then dinner at Coops...a bit of the wait...however the waitress was friendly... and actually she was pretty tipsy...but, then again, so were we.

A few doors down...I see my long lost children, Ben and Scary,  in a shop window.  

 Another door down we came across a pretty nifty psuedo-Soviet absinthe bar called Pravda. 

 Photo by Gary Niebuhr

I have to say really like the idea of absinthe, I love the presentation and the history, but I just don't like the flavor of anise.  I did try a Swiss brand (that was clear and not green), which only had a subtle licorice flavor....Now, that,  I  liked.

...a long fun day is over...

I had to get rested...the next morning was the first day of class.

to be continued