Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!

I can't believe I forgot to put the pictures from our Louisiana trip on here! We went in March...Giovanni had never been and he absolutely loved it. The weather was GORGEOUS...not too hot...which is rare in Louisiana, which I like to call God's Sauna. Haha. His favorite thing about the trip was New Orleans...oh, how I love that city. I would live there in a heartbeat! It's so eccentric and loud and exciting and lazy and colorful and quaint...and modern all at the same time. We took a horse and buggy ride, walked down Bourbon Street, (the naked girls and boozed up dirty old men caused it to be a short walk, but oh well.) went in about 6 million funky little stores, (and every one we went to, I liked more than the last one) walked by the river and watched the cruise ships, went in St. Louis Cathedral...which was beautiful. Now, let me digress for a second and rant...When you walk into the cathedral, there are signs very plainly asking you to be respectful, do not eat or drink in the church, keep your voice down, etc. etc. When we walked in, there was a big group of tourists sitting in the back, yelling and snapping pictures. There was another group in the front of the cathedral, letting their heathen children run wild. One of the kids was carrying a dripping sippy cup...can these people not read?! It really irritated me. Back to the subject... :) We tried to eat breakfast at Cafe Du Monde, but the line stretched all the way around the block...we settled for 2 boxes of beignet mix to take home with us, and ate at Cafe Pontalba instead, next to Jackson Square...it was amazing. The biggest disappointment of the trip was the French Market...I remember going when I was younger (Pre-Katrina) and it seemed so New Orleans...the people were friendly, and they sold things that were actually from N.O. or Louisiana-and it was really big. I was so excited about going, but it was a huge let-down. The people were unfriendly, and most of the sellers were foreigners...and really rude. They were selling typical flea-market stuff...you know, fake designer bags, big gaudy pictures of Mary and Jesus, jewelry that will turn your skin green, etc. I did manage to find a booth that sold interesting stuff...French Quarter Candles. They make soy candles that smell amazing, and I'm big on how a candle looks...these rock. They're sort of chubby and square, and have this super-cool silver wax seal on the front. You can buy the candles on their website, they're $16...www.frenchquartercandles.com/. We also went to the Cabildo/Louisiana Museum, which was very interesting. We saw where the Louisiana Purchase was signed, and the new Katrina exhibit...it was really sad. They had heartbreaking pictures of the aftermath, you can see some of them at www.davidburnett.com/gallery.html?gallery=Aftermath. We did about a million other things, but I don't feel like rambling on anymore... :) Ciao for now.