Loving This Place

As I have said in previous posts, I have been to New Orleans before, but it still feels new to me. It is hard to remember where certain places are in relation to other places I knew I had been before, but memories are flooding back to me. Driving to the hotel, I noted street signs I had seen, such as Josephine, St. Joseph, and Chartres. I LOVE how bright and colorful some of the townhouses are. Everybody has flowers or different colored doors that make the area feel so uplifting and cheery, even though it is winter time. We are so used to the dreary grey by now that it is really nice to see all this color.

I have been thinking a lot this time around about how I have traveled and how differently I want things to go on this trip. I have been on several vacations in the last few years but I haven’t taken the time to pay attention to names of restaurants, learned about the history, or explore things outside of the most tourist-y attractions. I am thankful for this blog because I know when I get back this time, I will be able to explain how my trip was and all the things that I saw and learned about. I plan on taking a ton of pictures of everything we see, I want videos of cool performances, and I want to make sure to get a picture of the menus at the great restaurants we try. There is a couple from the town I live in that went to college in New Orleans and got married there, and they are really anxious to hear about my trip so I want to make sure I can impress them with all of my new found knowledge J.

I thought the ghost tour was going to be different, but that’s okay. I knew it wasn’t really going to be scary like a haunted house would be, but I thought there would be spookier stories rather than a history lesson. I did find it interesting how a lot of the stories had to do with religion and spirituality and how certain actions can affect life situations. I liked the story about Jean Laffite and the folklore that arises from stories like that. The locals believe that if a couple takes wedding photos in Pirate’s Alley, then their marriage will last forever. That story alone made me want to get married here in New Orleans! There are so many cool places where pictures can be taken. It’s pretty cool that those stories just keep getting passed along from generation to generation, and I’m sure that some details get changed but I have never been anywhere with as much history as New Orleans has. I had no idea how much culture there really is to learn about and how everything here is traditional and done for a reason. I also think it’s amazing how diverse the area is and how we’ve been told that the locals are very accepting of others.