one VERY cold shower later...

What a day...it was long, but educational, productive, fun, & hot as hell!  I couldn't even fathom sitting down at the computer until I took a nice cold shower...a gloriously cold shower.  Now, I'm fresh & clean, finally cooled down, & ready to blog.

I started w/the perfect morning ride on the St. Charles Ave. streetcar down to Lee Circle instead of driving to the WWII museum.  I caught a lovely breeze from my window seat, listened to my "nola tunes" playlist on my iPod, & replied to emails on my blackberry; not bad, huh?!  I only had a block to walk to the museum after hopping off the streetcar, & amazingly, it wasn't miserably hot yet, so I wasn't even running for the AC.  I gave myself plenty of time to get downtown since I'm coming from uptown. For those of you that know nola, I live near the uptown JCC.  I arrived 30 minutes early...for those who know me, arriving on time, let long early, in the morning, is a rarity, to say the least!  Meanwhile, 2 friends that live very close to me uptown both drove down to the museum, one spent $7 on the museum parking lot & the other had to run out to add time to her parking meter.  So, I think the streetcar was the right choice...I was very proud of myself for starting off the day so stress-free...again, something not too common for me!

On to our guided tour of the WWII museum, which was really interesting.  We spent 2 hours in there with Dr. Bill, who did a great job of presenting a good mix of historical facts & interesting anecdotes instead of boring us to tears with stats, dates, etc.  I took notes, in true professional student mode, so I'd like to share some of the most interesting facts that I picked up today.  The museum has just acquired a small portion of the wall that Hitler had erected around Europe & installed it across the street from the entrance.  I don't know how many of you know why nola was originally chosen as the location for the D-Day museum.  If you don't, then you need to do a little research on a man named, Andrew Jackson Higgins (yeah, that's right, his middle name was Jackson, another fun fact that I picked up today).  Mr. Higgins is ultimately considered one of the integral figures in our victory of the war.  He invented the aptly named, Higgins Boats, which were used to deliver troops to the beach front at Normandy on D-Day.  Thanks to the Higgins boats, troops could run right off the boat rather than jumping out the sides of the boat.  Seems simple enough, but it made a very big difference.  Hitler was quoted as calling Higgins the "new Noah".  Something I did not know about the Higgins Boats, they were all made out of wood, incredible!  Of course, we have a Higgins Boat inside the WWII museum as well as several airplanes suspended above the visitors.  There's a paratrooper plane that was originally flown into Lakefront airport, then partially disassembled (the wings were removed) & trailed to the museum downtown via Elysian Fields & right through the french quarter on Decatur St.  I would have loved to see that!  I asked if there were any pictures of the plane's trek from the lakefront to the museum, but Dr. Bill wasn't sure, so I've gotta do some investigating.  After getting the run down on boats & planes, we got the chance to meet a true living piece of history, a WWII veteran, Tom Blakely, who had been a paratrooper & was dropped at Normandy!  This was really exciting, he had some great stories, he's a real charmer w/a good sense of humor.  I'm not sure how often he's at the museum, but evidently, there's generally one veteran near the entrance to the museum giving visitors a true first-hand account of D-Day.  After talking with Mr. Blakely, we made our way to the exhibits & spent a total of 2 hours even though we skipped the Pacific exhibition.  So, I could go on & on with other tidbits, but I think you just need to go check it out for yourself.  Although the ticket price is about $20, it's worth it.  The exhibitions are put together really well, the docents are great, & there are a lot of interactive elements throughout the museum.  Of course, knowing that we are a group of tour guides, Dr. Bill did also plug their docent program & urged us to sign up for their training course.  I just might go for it, but probably not until next year.

After the museum, we walked ourselves down Higgins Dr. to Cochon Butcher for a fabulous lunch.  I had a cochon de lait po'boy, couldn't finish the whole thing, but not because I didn't try, it was scrumptious.  Of course, we talked WWII history & ideas for the next installment in our tour guide continuing ed series.  Sadly, I won't be able to make it next week, but I think we may do NOMA (New Orleans Museum of Art) & the Besthoff Sculpture Garden the week after.  Now, that's my bag...I'm taking the lead on that outing, no need to coordinate a guide!  When studying art history at UNO, I interned at NOMA, loved every minute of it & I visit the museum & sculpture garden regularly.  FYI: the garden is free to the public every day that the museum is open & the museum is free to the public every Wednesday...take advantage of the free art & AC; it's a lovely museum.  I took 2 tour groups from the AIA convention back in May to the museum & garden, they were really impressed with the spaces & our collections, so that says something.  As for the sculpture garden in particular, it's one of my absolute favorite places (especially outdoor spaces) in the city, so if you haven't gone yet, shame on you!  It's free people, what are you waiting for?!  As for tourists, you can take the Canal St. streetcar all the way to the edge of City Park & you hop off just a few steps from the entrance to the museum, so, no excuse for y'all to miss it either.

Ok, sorry, I always get side tracked when I get going on NOMA, back to today.  Since I was already downtown & planned on attending a lecture on Cajun French at the Cabildo (part of the Louisiana State Museum & located in Jackson Square) at 6pm, I decided to kill the time in the french quarter.  One of my tour guide friends joined me & we had a lovely afternoon, despite the sweltering heat.  I passed through Jean Lafitte National Historic Park & Preserve Louisiana French Quarter Visitor Center on Decatur St., which is a great place to stop for a clean bathroom, maps, a little exhibit serving as a pretty good synopsis of nola culture & a charming french quarter courtyard with a lovely fountain.  I figure that as a tour guide, I should probably be familiar with the visitor & tourism centers, so I've made that part of my tour guide homework.

When in the french quarter, with time to kill, we always stop by the 1850 House in Jackson Square (I mentioned it in my 1st blog).  We say hello to Ben, the faithful shopkeeper that knows EVERY book in stock & does a great job of making recommendations.  So, if you're looking for good nola reading, Ben's your man!

Then, we did a bit of window shopping & just a touch of actual shopping...us southern gals need our sun hats...a southern lady can never have too many sun hats!  We also popped into my absolute FAVORITE dress shop in the city, Trashy Diva (there's one location on Chartres St. in the quarter & another on Magazine St. in the lower garden district).  Trashy Diva has sassy & classy numbers, mostly silk dresses in vintage cuts w/very colorful & funky prints.  We just appreciated the merchandise, but did not purchase anything, the prices are steep, but a good investment if you're looking for a great dress.  To avoid more shopping, we ducked into Antoine's Annex, a great little cafe on Royal St. which is the very casual sister to the fabulous Antoine's Restaurant.  The Annex has excellent iced coffee & great AC.  A terrific spot to sip a refreshing beverage & regroup.

Before we knew it, it was time for us to head over to the Cabildo.  We had just enough time to slip into the restroom, splash some cold water on our faces, reapply deodorant, & try to salvage our hat hair!  There was free wine...in my opinion, always a good way to begin an event, then an hour long lecture on Cajun & Creole French language.  It was a bit over my head, but interesting, nonetheless.

Next on the agenda, I'm headed to Vacherie, LA tomorrow afternoon...down to sugar plantation row on River Road.  I'm gonna check out Houmas House with a friend, I've never been there & hear it's quite good.  I'll take pictures, of course!  So, I better pick out my sun hat for tomorrow's excursion & hit the sack.  I think it's clear I'm exhausted because I really am beginning to ramble on & on now.  And, the point of this blog is to attract readers, not bore them to tears!

But, JUST one more thing, if any of you (both nola natives/residents or out-of-towners) have questions about the city or suggestions on topics you'd like me to cover, please let me know.  I'd love to get y'alls feedback.  Thanks for the support so far...nearly a 100 page views after just 3 days, I'm thrilled!