Since it's been awhile, I have to backup clear to the weekend before St. Patrick's Day! One thing I've learned from being here that Louisianans will take advantage of any opportunity to have a party. This means that we definitely had a huge Mardi Gras like parade for St. Patty's Day (even if they are French, who cares?!) It was so full and busy with people. It was a really great parade to end the parade season for me. So many beads and fun to be had!
We waited quite a long time for the parade to start since we were at the end of it. Kids were playing in the road waiting for the floats to come, and everyone was decked out in green. Even the adults get extremely into it.
This isn't even half of the mess that happens during a parade. Right when the parade is finished, street sweepers go through to try and pick everything up. Nobody wants the broken beads, so the men will usually pick them up and toss them onto the trees. It makes them look pretty neat, but it's quite the mess.
We have had a lot of rain lately, so I thought I would take some videos of the rain that we have here
But then we get really pretty, warm days too. I've been helping coach track and some days we are running in down pours and having to deal with the stinky river (this place has a serious stench every time it rains) or die of heat
I was a little excited that last week was my 4 week mark. 3 weeks from tomorrow I should be pulling into the blessed land that is Logan!
I know I've already mentioned the wildlife a bit, but now that it's getting warmer, we are seeing more and more interesting critters. This is a little salamander guy that was hanging outside my bedroom window. I also had one in my house at one time. We still have no idea where he ended up or if he ever got back outside.
This little guy looks big, but he's smaller than my palm. He's been hanging out on our living room window all week.
This is our gigantic mosquito that we have here. We also have normal sized ones. I'm surprised not everyone here has West Nile. It's so wet everywhere these fellas are all over the place. You step into the grass and about 50 fly up in the air.
Ashley actually found this hilarious YouTube video for me that 2 girls made about the mosquitoes. They're definitely messing around, but it's not lie that the mosquitoes are everywhere.
We also have water rats. They're muskrats. But we have a lot of them along with turtles in the water here. They don't bother us, they are really skittish.
These pretty flowers are all over the place on campus also
One of the things I miss most about Utah, is the Mexican food. There is only one taco shop here in town, and it's not even truly Mexican. I call it "hipster Mexico". But their tacos are delicious. I definitely miss real Mexican food, though.
And I finally got something LASD related!!
Now is where the fun begins. Today I got to go into "Nawlins" (New Orleans) for the very first time. It was so much fun! There is so much culture there, and the French architecture is so charming. I fell in love with the French Quarter. We had to walk through the Louis Armstrong Park in order to get to the French Quarter from where we parked. It was gorgeous.
Then we got into the French neighborhoods on the way to the French market. People do live in these houses and they are so expensive to live in. But they are phenomenal.
The very first school in Louisiana!
This is the French Cathedral. It was built in the 1700's. It was really pretty. We got to go in and take pictures. They had gregorian chants and everything playing. It is still in use and active today.
Here is a video of the area. But I mostly wanted to catch the music. There are street performers everywhere and there is so much talent. Different music everywhere you walk.
Inside the Cathedral. It was nice to have an active, traditional Catholic with me to explain different parts of the church. It was very interesting to learn about.
The Cathedral is facing Jackson Square. Yes, they have a square dedicated to Andrew Jackson...my most favorite president. Said no one ever. But it's extremely pretty. There are many artists painting and vending their art there. I wish I was rich so I could have bought many of the pieces I saw.
The nuns will wander around in the square and I guess today was "ask a nun to take a picture with you" day
There's the "lovely" Andrew Jackson on a horse in the center of the park with the Cathedral in the background
The French market is huge. This is only the end of it, and there are three different lanes down the whole walk of vendors with different works of art, and souvenirs. I'll have to get more pictures the next time I go. It was so crowded.
And I even ate an alligator sausage for lunch. Alligator is one of my top favorite meats now.
To avoid some of the traffic to back track to get treats, we got to see more houses and walk along the Mississippi walkway.
We finally got to Cafe du Monde to eat the original beignets! They are a french style doughnut. If you've seen Princess and the Frog, it's the food Tiana is making that is COVERED in powdered sugar. It is so good. There is only one other place that I know where you can get them, and it is in Baton Rouge. Thank goodness! This place is so busy I think we stood in the to-go line for close to 20 minutes and it is open 24/7.
As we walked back to the car, we passed many different houses and buildings that are included on the Haunted House tour
I was told this place is now a hotel, but before it was a dormitory school for boys. There was a really bad fire and killed many of the boys. Supposedly they still haunt this place today.
This is the very first convent in the United States. This is where rumors of Vampires originated. The Frenchmen requested that the King in France send them women that were worthy of marriage. In order to keep them that way on the ship ride here, they put them, and all their belongings in a coffin shaped box and shipped them over. By the time they got here, they had scurvy, pale, teeth falling out, all sorts of things. So the nuns took them in right away and took care of them. The men started spreading the rumor that the convent was full of vampires.
As we were walking out of the French Quarter, we got to watch a street jazz group
We parked by a Mausoleum. Unfortunately they were charging an arm and a leg to enter, so we didn't go in. We did find an even bigger, prettier one that is free that we are going to go visit next weekend.
This is my pretty souvenir that I got. Mardi Gras masks are a big deal here. Now all I need to do is go to a masquerade ball and I'll be the most legit one there!
