I wanted to begin with what I had started several days ago but for some reason all my writing did not take and I had to start all over.
About our trip to New Orleans. A couple weeks ago Diana approached me saying that she wanted to do something really big for my 65th coming up in January and asked if I wanted to see a Steeler football game. I immedately thought that meant going to Miami or Tampa. But the day she asked was 2 days before Pittsburgh played Miami in Miami so it was too late for that one. The only one that was reasonable was, yep, New Orleans. We got on line and immediately learned about the game being on Halloween weekend and that meant that we would also be going to the Voodoo Festival which is held each year that the same time. We also while on line purchased the tickets for the game. The tickets were for the next to highest row in the entire stadium and in one of the end zones. Don't even ask what they cost......but I can say that they were not cheap. But now the trouble began. Remember this is only a couple weeks before the weekend of the 31st and we spent over 3 hours on line and on the phones trying to get a hotel room. It was disappointment after disappointment until we hit one hotel with an opening.....and it was reasonably priced......and very close to the French Quarter where all the action was to be......and easy walking distance to the Superdome. We decided to drive and found that the drive was not bad at all, about 12 hours. We decided to break it up into 2 days driving about 6 hours each day.
The day came and we had no trouble getting to the hotel, arriving around 3:00 PM. We decided that the first night was the best night for a nicer local restaurant and we chose Olivier's Creole Restaurant in the French Quarter. Afterward a lovely meal we set out to walk Bourbon St. and found a neat bar with a blues band "The Blues Power Band" with Bryan Lee the lead guitar and singer. We did not learn until the football game how famous he was in New Orleans (for now on refered to as NO). It was fabulous, sitting there in a famous building (it was called the Old Absinthe House), drinking beer and listening to great rhythm and blues. Walking home I mentioned that we had not seen the "real" NO yet, someone bent over the curb. Well, just a few minutes after saying it there he was, with his wife for girlfriend patting him on the back as he retasted his dinner and drinks. Then a few minutes late we saw another couple with the wife (or girlfriend) holding the guy up like a football injury with him trying to grab any vertical object near him. Ahhhhh, experiencing the true NO!!!!
Saturday we had breakfast at the most famous breakfast restaurant in the city.....Brennons. It was fabulous and quite unique. Then we walked the streets of the French Quarter, then up into Treme which was the center of activity for a HBO series recently. We tried to find some of the places where it was filmed but did not see any. We then walked down to the river and along the bank where there was a large flea market, stores, and best of all the National Park Headquarters. There was a small theater there and a traditional NO band was playing. It was great and free!!!! They are trying to save the traditional music.
We ended up in the later afternoon back at the hotel to rest and change into our costumes for the big night. When we were getting ready at home, I decided to just buy a simple costume that was not hot or had much makeup so I was not hindered during the long night on the town. I chose the "Where's Waldo" costume. Diana was more traditional and did not want a bought costume. So she decided mainly because she enjoyed it so much the story of the rescue of the Chilean miners, that she would go as one. She bought a hard hat, a pair of overalls (she dyed them light green), got some decals of NASA, the same sunglasses and a Chilean flag from our local flea market.
We went to the parade which was ok but nothing spectacular, and then on to dinner. We chose a seafood restaurant on the river "The Crazy Lobster". It was truly incredible. We chose the seafood bucket which contained (all steamed) 2 1.5 lb lobsters, about 25-30 shrimp, about 15-20 King Crab legs (several with claws), assorted cherry clams and muscles, with all the beer and lemon butter one could want. It was truly the best steamed seafood dinner I have ever had. And with all the people coming to eat in every consievable costume.....wow.
After all this we were off to the BIG SHOW. The place was crazy, loony, unbelievable, nuts. I would guess that during the 4 or so hours we walked Bourbon St. there were 100,000 people walking. And with every possible costume one could imagine. It was an experience that I will never ever forget. Of course as the time went on, everyone was half way to the wind!!!! For those 4 hours I was truly a celebrity. Countless times people would come up to me, yelling.....I found you, I found you, MO#%# FU$&^% I found you. Now you must let me take a picture of us together. That night my picture was being trasmitted all over via their phone photos. And for Diana, the best time came when as we were walking I noticed a group of people dressed up at miners. We ran up to them and when they saw Diana they all went nuts. It turned out that there were 7 of them and they were from Chile up for the weekend. When they saw her and her Chilean flag they started Chi, Chi, Chi, Le, Le Le over and over and all were hugging. I got a picture of them all as they yelled. We actually saw Batman crawling down the side of a building spraying web strings all over the crowd. It was really an unbelieveable night. We ended the night again at the blues club listening to a few last songs by Bryan Lee's group. We got back to the hotel around 1:00.
Sunday, a good day to sleep in. We ate a nice brunch and started walking west into the Garden District the wealthy part of town. We walked most of the way through passing Loyola U. and Tulane U campuses. We took the traditional green trolley back into town. A gorgeous day to walk and enjoy the beautiful houses. Many were on the restoration list for the city.
We ate a quick dinner at a local pub and were off to the big game. That was an experience in itself. First we were quite surprised that in NO, there are no laws about having open drinks on the streets.....as one would guess during the Bourbon St. walk. But all the way to the stadium we saw people selling beer out of their car trunks or out of coolers to fans walking to the game. There is not much parking around the dome so most people park far away and walk. Also, there is not much room for tailgate parties so instead they have a big rock concert. There were thousands of people at the concert. Also, there was a few large parties blocked off by buses and that orange plastic fencing. EVERYONE WAS DRINKING.........LONG BEFORE THE GAME!!!!! The Superdome was huge just huge and everyone seemed to enter all at the same time. It was a mad house. And of course people were singing over and over.......Who Dat, Who Dat!!!!
The one thing I forgot to mention earlier. There had to be between 10,000 and 20,000 people from Pittsburgh there for the weekend. We started seeing them immediately after arrival and all weekend. Thousands of them....all wearing football shirts of their favorite players. We also saw several really great costumes relating to the Steelers. We saw Roethesburger as an "angel", and as a person who is not so much an angel. Several were sexually explicid costumes!!!!! Poor Ben!!!
So, when the people were entering the game we saw many many Pittsburgh fans. Also, we saw so many costumes at the game.....some were really crazy. One was "moss man". Completely covered with moss with a football helmet (no face). Our seats were great. Like I said, they were next to the very top but we could see so well. Also, seeing the players and coaches live was really cool. The game, well what can I say......that was the ONLY bad thing about the entire weekend.....we lost. NO deserved to win but still it was hard. One other thing that I never imagined, the noise. When people cheered several time it really hurt my ears......I can just imagine it down on the field with the sounds.
On the way out after, it was fun, the NO fans were ribbing the Steeler fans pretty badly, nothing mean but they were hard on us. We got back to the hotel around 11:00 and off to bed.
On Monday on the way out of town we drove into the Ninth Ward. This was TRULY A MEMORABLE MOMENT. It was incredible. There were if not thousands, at least many hundred of empty lots or abandoned houses. Many had only the foundation or steps left. Many had as nature takes over very high weeds and bushes growing on the lots. There were houses but a very large number were gone. The most moving time was we found "ground zero" , the point where the levee broke and street that was totally devistated. There is a monument there now describing with pictures and maps on how bad it was. Also, the sound.........it was sooooo quiet there. Like I said there were houses. Right in the same area of the monument and ground zero, Brad Pitt has put forth his recovery effort. He has gotten money and architects for build energy efficient affordable and flood resistant homes for the area. They are all different and quite unique in design. It was a thrill to see them. You can go on line to see and read more about his project. It was something. We also got to talk to a couple locals and they said they were really glad and happy people from other places are coming to see the place. We actually saw a tour bus there too.
The ride home was uneventful and we made it home by Tuesday afternoon.
I hope I have given some idea of how great Di's gift to me was.....I I thank her very much!!!!
I have added a couple pictures to give you an idea. Enjoy!!!
