Click here first--then read down (or not) & scroll thru the photos while listening to the Top 100 Songs About New Orleans from Nutsie..to put you in a French quarter mood...
http://www.nutsie.com/top100sradio/Top%20100%20Songs%20About%20New%20Orleans/27547801
Princess for the Day
in NOLA
at the Windsor Court Hotel
Link to the hotel...
http://www.windsorcourthotel.com/hotel-and-history
feeling like royalty, just walking down the hall to the room
my Princess suite, I'm calling it that--for them it's probably just any ole room
eee...a spa robe, I can count on 1 hand & maybe a few fingers when I've been in a hotel that gave me a terry cloth white bathrobe in my room - now of course this one has the Windsor Court moniker/logo on it...
the sitting room
the bar/Bar & Coffee Bar--there's tiny ice in the silver ice bucket (imagine that, has never happened before--but then I've never been Princess for the Day before either...)
the dressing room
the Boudoir
Oh, the view, out those curtains & sliding glass doors there's a balcony & a view
across the street the Harrah Casino & beyond that the/'The' River & further still the bridge all lit up - but no time to sit & watch the tiny traffic/ant people walk by below from the 17th floor tonight...
even better 2 shots taken with the 'good' camera & not the 'point 'n shoot'
& Yes, it's a Full Moon Baby--so all I needed was the glass slippers for the ball,
until midnight I'm Princess for the Day Y'all?!
what the port of New Orleans use to look like in a tryptic map
away with chocolates on the pillow cases--better yet, Pralines on the nightstand?!
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Afternoon High Tea in Le Salon
(now I've just read I should be calling it "Afternoon Tea" instead...)
Link to The Grill Room New Orleans inside Windsor Court Hotel where you go for 'Afternoon Tea' at Le Salon & you can read more to learn more about Classic/Afternoon vs Royal or High Tea...
http://www.grillroomneworleans.com/le-salon
YouTube link from their webpage from the NOLA Tourist Bureau...
http://youtu.be/TJlrKdBpwiw
(you know in case you're curious & maybe want to try it--be warned it takes hours, I'm not kidding & it's not a cheap pot of teas & some petit fours either mind you...but what a delightful experience to try it at least once--you know, since you're Princess for the Day if you stay here in the hotel to begin with...why not continue the 'royal treatment'?!)
there's a W on the bottom of the tea china, am guessing it's for the W in Windsor Court
although at first glance I was tempted to say to myself Wedgewood--it is fine china too I'm guessing
This was just the beginning, there's the tea pot that's brought & poured & taken away to put back on the heat (a tea candle do ya' suppose?) Then there's the tiny finger sandwiches, here a cucumber one I'm sure - followed by the scones & cream/jam/lemon curd selections...followed by the dessert plate with a chocolate dipped giant strawberry on it & more & more tea--at some point I asked for water, I cannot drink an entire pot of tea by myself?!
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Green Goddess for dinner - grass skirt shrimp, coconut slaw...
fellow traveler's plate & Champagne mini-bottle--Oh why not, live it up, we're staying at the Windsor Court?! (we found, reading the label, it was only made in the Champagne way, as it's from the US?!)
most wickedly sinful dessert - chocolate Norwegian-French Toast
(tip: from the Norwegian lady who sold the chef the gjost - aka 'brown cheese' - loved this stuff, miss it actually...but can I find my way to the Norwegian Market inside the Maritime Church somewhere before you get to New Orleans I think it is, no--not yet...but maybe when I'm up for a Cheese Adventure?!)
famous shadow in the French Quarter
this one especially reflected on with the full moon
(there were a lot of photographers set up with their tripods or not along the side street or more famously called Pirates Alley & then normal tourists/residents - if they bother wandering the quarter anymore - were out in the back at the iron fencing, where I was trying to take these shots...OK, again--not to worry...I won't be giving up the day job to be a photographer - but I love this photo shoot idea?!)
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Good Morning NOLA--at Mother's Restaurant, the place that made 'po-boys' famous...
but breakfast first, here a basic quick breakfast - eggs, grits, sausage, biscuit w/jam/butter on the side & of course that's Chicory Coffee with milk or a Latte (they'll call it but there's no espresso in there mind you...)
http://www.mothersrestaurant.net/
We could of walked over to the boardwalk along the river & found the Cafe du Monde there - or walked even further into the 'quareter' to the original Cafe du Monde, but this trip we went with real breakfast food & not just beignets & coffee?!
Ogden Museum - of Southern Art
I was surprised, I did not expect what I found inside & that's a Good Thing?!
it's what you do with your little colorful "O" sticker once you've left the Ogden Museum - you decorate the lamp post or further down the trash bins or ?? who's to say where the museum goers will decide to art up next?! (or is this 'sticker graffiti?!')
in the basement of the museum, a work in progress...
upstairs looking out thru the blockglass at the Ogden Museum
Link to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art...
http://www.ogdenmuseum.org/
one of my favorite metal artists of the day, would you call him a sculpturer?
(you could even buy a piece in the gift shop, mini more simple versions of his larger pieces on the gallery walls - but I refrained, if you could see my art walls at home you'd know why...)
Jimmy Descant: The Shape of Louisiana Commenting on the Shape of Louisiana
Jimmy Descant (a.k.a. “the Rocketman”) is an assemblage artist known primarily for his use of found objects to create retro-futuristic rocket ships inspired by the quality of earlier craftsmanship, Art Deco, science fiction and the spirit of exploration and optimism prevalent in mid-century America.
In The Shape of Louisiana Commenting on the Shape of Louisiana, Descant uses the shape of his native state as the foundation for a series of assemblages that speak to the cultural, political and natural environment of Louisiana in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the failure of the Federal levee system in New Orleans, and the BP Macondo well oil spill. On view through April 8, 2012.
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walking back down Camp Street...
walking back to hotel from the museum, pass the New Orleans Pary & Costume Shop down the street - getting ready for St Paddy's Day on one side of their window & what looks like Easter to me on the other side, quite the Easter Bonnets display going on here (now would you wear these to an Easter Egg Hunt or Easter Brunch or is there an Easter Bonnet Parade?!)
view from across Lafayette Square, walking down Camp Street from Ogden Museum
modern iron sculpture on the lawn, to the US Court of Appeals building where on top at the corner, on the roof is ancient statue that reminds me of what you'd find in Paris, France...
(note: here's a link to a better photo by Sonafro, but it still doesn't tell me the history of the building - one day I'll take an Architectural Tour of the French Quarter & surrounding areas...
)http://www.panoramio.com/photo/7287055
a few shots for my bike riding friends - Fleur de lis bike racks at Lafayette Square park...
a bike parked, spotted while wandering the streets in the French Quarter next, checking out the modern wheels & retro seat cover - also looking as if wired up to light up at night & could become neon & that's one bike group I'd like to join up with one night (local bike tours should jump on this, rent out neon lit up bikes?!)
classic wrought iron grill work, balconies, in bloom
other interesting 'grill work' in pink in this fun shop window - if was with the girls this trip would of wandered thru this shop too & have at least 1 friend who would of tried that on...(just make it 'pink' & she's there)
Blue Green Club la Pension on the left & fancy Italian restaurant Café Giovanni on the right...
If you buy into a timeshare, then this is one of the choices of where you can make a reservation - just remodeled & opened up a week or so ago, with more buildings down the row to go to be added to the collection (so say you have a Cruise Planned with said Blue Green timeshare, then you could stay here on Decatur street in the French Quarter - not hardly a block's walk to the river, you know 'the' river as in the Mississippi?!)
(note: I was curious, so I went in & got the scoop...I am still not convinced of buying into a timeshare, what with yearly maintenance fees & that kind of thing, but apparently a lot of folks say it's not like 'back in the day' timeshares & could be worth a look see as an investment...again I'm not up for a "Dog & Pony Show" to tell me all about it, when they throw in that 'free' cruise to go along with your timeshare...uh huh...No, No Thank You?!)
too embarrassed to take photos at dinner inside Le Foret--this is upscale version of the fortune cookie with your bill we got after dinner...it's a Madeleine cookie, a French one of course?!
Everything we had to eat, including the surprise pre-appetizer (is there a name for that? what do I know!) was so flavorful - my tastebuds were so happy, for hours on end...
from the Spring menu - what I ordered under the In Betweens & I cannot find my Entre, it must of been one of daily changes...
Arugula and Radicchiopear, pancetta, ricotta salata herb balsamic vinaigrette
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New Morning
New Brunch
Croissant D'or Patisserie (aka Golden Croissant Bakery or Pastry Shop)
on Ursulines Avenue
Google Map Link...
though they have an espresso menu I couldn't resist another Cafe au Lait - yes, that's with Chicory Coffee & milk...plus a carrot cake on the side, it is afterall nearly a French Patisserie?!
Goddess of the fountain
Forest Bacchus masculine door knocker
to balance all the feminine representations in the courtyard
(or wait, went a Google Image lookin & found he's a...Northwind God Door Knocker instead & for just $43 bucks on Amazon you too can hang one on your wall, in cast iron even?!)
on either side of the Goddess of the fountain, are these wooden figures...
that if I were to guess were from a wooden ship or are posts from some tropical temple perhaps...
but what Goddess do they represent would be the question - evil things sit on the one on the right's head, curious?!
All these photos are from the courtyard at Croissant D'or, which is quite interesting in it's own right as well as the interiors of the little patisserie - tho I love the black & white tiles in the front section of the shop, as well as the wall mural (that I've taken photos of before, if I could only find them again) I had never for some reason stepped thru the doors to this little world away courtyard...while sitting, drinking my Cafe au Lait I kept seeing things on the walls or tucked into corners (was that a carved wooden shipmast/temple post I saw of a lady goddess type on the right of the main fountain & another on the left side?!)...and the Bromeliads were Amazonian sized in this place, they must be very old or very tropically de ja vu happy in this small courtyard with two fountains...
other courtyards, complete with fountains or statues, that you can take a peek of usually just thru gates from the street, but if the gates are open, like this one of what I think is the center of a B&B then you can be lucky enough to get to wander all the way inside from the street like us & take a snap or two, as this time I think they were bringing either laundry or kitchen supplies in/out & nobody shoo'd us away...
some French Quarter architecture, classic wrought iron grill work & garden balconies & giant beaded accessories (inspiration I'd guess from Mardi Gras Beads...) or the U- or is that V-shaped corner buildings, this one the (red) door is at the end point while many are double doors on either side (which I can't seem to find the correct name for this type of building or if it is French or Spanish style...)
Jackson square - where I found the little sparrow of more interest than the lamp post or the landmark statue in the background (of course of General Andrew Jackson on his horse, the namesake of the square...)
a last walk thru Jackson Square, in front of St. Louis Cathedral, after walking down Pirate Alley one more time too...a bird spotted on the traditional lamp post, I almost caught him in flight & then a close up for the cast iron urn/flowerpot/fountain at the other end of the park (which many a photographer or maybe many a tourist has lined up to take it's photo in the foreground with the statue of the horse & rider in the midground & the cathedral in the background - today I chose not to take the photos that everybody else takes, besides I've been here before...on my honeymoon-a long/Long time ago?!)
Until next time Adieu NOLA
