New Orleans Photo Gallery
August 09, 2017
New Orleans is such a photogenic city that we ended up with way more pictures than we could use in the Big Easy Posting—so here are some more in case you'd like to stroll the streets with us.
When in New Orleans, you have to photograph the architecture.
Those balconies!
The mansion below is famous for its "cornstalk" fence. The story goes that the owner had the fence made to bring a touch of home to his wife, who was homesick for Iowa. Of course, that same story is also told of another cornstalk fence in town; you may draw your own conclusions.
Here's a house that fronts on a park—notice that there is a sidewalk, but no street!
Smaller homes can be equally charming.
Even the signs for the street-car stops are elaborate, sporting the ubiquitous fleur-de-lis . . .
. . . and the cemeteries have street signs.
A stroll through the downtown wouldn't be complete without window shopping.
Unfortunately, the mask shop didn't allow photos inside.
This restaurant has a fun way of advertising its specialty. (I've been watching too many British shows on Netflix: I just typed that as speciality and wondered why spellcheck didn't like it!)
One store's goods are made entirely of cork: not just coasters, but purses, bow-ties, and even shoes! (The store's name is Queork, which spellcheck doesn't like either, but you might enjoy checking it out online.)
Probably my favorite store, though, was this next one. (They also forbade photos inside, or I can assure you that I'd have plenty of shots of me modeling the wares.)
And then there's always people-watching.
And since there was a festival going on, there were plenty of people to watch.
Many of them, incidentally, wearing hats. I was so disappointed that I hadn't worn one of mine. (By the way, this is Jane writing, not Steve. Had you guessed?)
Of course, no festival is complete without street vendors . . .
. . . and artists.
Towering over the main festival space was the St. Louis Cathedral.
It's also a "minor basilica." Latin students will know that a cathedral is the seat of a bishop; as far as I can tell, any Roman Catholic Church can be declared a basilica by the pope. Personally, my favorite thing about basilicas is the word tintinnabulum; I can't help but think of Poe's "tintinnabulation that so musically wells/ From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells." I am nearly equally entranced by the canopeum, which seems to me to give a festive, almost circus atmosphere to the church. (Fans of the old series The Prisoner may also be reminded of The Village, a less festive place.)
Unfortunately, we seem to have failed to get a picture of either the tintinnabulum or the canopeum, but you can see them here as part of this article about the basilica.
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We did, however, get some other photos inside the cathedral.
And here's something that financially struggling churches may want to emulate: advertisements in the bulletin.
Lest you think, however, that the cathedral is all about making money (I imagine the ad revenue and more goes toward building maintenance), let me close our tour of the cathedral with this photo. I've often read of the "poor box" (largely in the British novels that inspire the British shows I watch to much of), but I hadn't realized just how literal the name is.
No tour of New Orleans would be complete without a nod to Mardi Gras.
We were in New Orleans about two months after Mardi Gras, which was fine with us—crowds, drunkenness, and public nudity don't particularly appeal to us—but it was lots of fun spotting evidence of that famous party in the form of beads in sometimes unexpected places.
If you'd like this kind of "photo gallery" post, let us know, and we'll see about doing more of them about other places. We have plenty of pictures . . .
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