The French Quarter -- It's Still There!

     . . . . The brutal arctic blast that sent temperatures plummeting, from the midwest, into NYC and New England over Thursday, Friday and Saturday last week, also hit Louisiana, though there the unaccustomed cold was in the 40's, not minus 20° or 30°, or, as in NYC, 4 degrees at the coldest span.

I hadn't brought a winter hat; the blustery wind was damp and chill even in the sunshine some days, so off el V took me, to Meyer the Hatter, about 3 blocks from our hotel in the CBD. He's bought hats himself there previously, one of which he was wearing during "For the Funk of It", a smart, stylish red straw, that made it easy for him to be found in crowds by the Funksters (he's wearing that hat in the previous post).  He got compliments on that hat continuously throughout from strangers, friends, White and Black.

  . . . . I got a Basque beret -- yes, really, made there -- of the softest cashmere and wool blend, in a lovely tone of pale purple -- which of all the berets I have, hands down, is the softest, the warmest, and looks the best on my head.

   

Nor were we the only Funksters who availed themselves of Meyer the Hatter. The shop did very well out of Postmambo.  In fact, one of our Travellers, who was on the same flight as we back to NYC on Wednesday -- his last foray into New Orleans alone on Tuesday, despite his resolute decision not to: "I already have more hats than I can wear if I live to 500!" took him  to the Hattery.  He's bought hats and berets all over the world, but no hat lover could resist this shop, owned by the same family for three generations, born into covering the heads of some of the most innovatively stylish people on the planet, thanks to the Haitian and French heritage of so many of its multi-generational families

     . . . .  I didn't take many photos on this trip; for one thing I've photographed so often the classic photogenic locations over the years, on a succession of cameras. This visit I had only my foney-fone camera, which isn't optimum, particularly for distance and landscape -- and particularly shooting in outdoor daylight -- I can't see a thing on the screen, so impossible to size, etc. But, it is convenient. It is a lovely resource to share in real time experiences with dear ones who weren't with us, but at home, staving off the cold. Mostly I photographed people, not places, or people in places, and those, generally, for the obvious reasons, won't be shared.

Mid Season Mardi Gras, Mid Evening, Royal Street, My Favorite French Quarter Street 

Still Royal Street, Night, the Glory That Is Mardi Gras.

Jackson Square Still There! Continuing straight behind the St. Louis Cathedral it's a straight shot to Louis Armstrong Park - Congo Square across Rampart Street.

More Jackson Square; the shops in these arcades are lovely.

High School band rehearsing to parade for Mardi Gras in Jackson Square.

Canal Street, i.e. "the Neutral Ground -- the canal was never built --which back in the earlier decades of the 19th century, after the Louisiana Purchase, separated the French Quarter from the American side of New Orleans. Way in the distance is a street car that is invisible, due to fone's limitations.  I wanted the palm trees too, of course.

I took the above photos on the first two days el V and I were in New Orleans, before the Travellers began arriving.

I could not stop marveling that these places are still there exactly as they were the last time (2019) I was in them, exactly as they were long before I ever arrived there the first time in 2003.  Which makes one think of the resilience and strength some cities have.  Not all of them do of course, and nowhere, nothing survives eternally.  Still, I fervently hope these two of my list of favorite cities, for history, for unique experience, continue for a long time yet, as different as their strengths area: one for its roots in the mud of the past, the other forever reinventing itself.