January 12, 2013 by Rae

City Tour of New Orleans

When I come to a big city, I like to take a city tour to get my bearings. I had pamphlets for a bunch of them here in New Orleans and picked the one that seemed to offer the best value, then I searched for online reviews to solidify my choice. I went with the Louisiana Tour Company, offering a three-hour tour for $44 (plus a $5 tip to the driver).

This tour is really a full three hours. They do not count the time it takes to pick up everyone at their hotels and drop them off again as being part of the tour. I was picked up in Gretna on the Westbank at about 1:20 for the 1:30 tour. By the time we’d picked up everybody and payment had been taken, it was well past 2:00. We finished the tour past 5:00 and I didn’t get back to my car in Gretna until 6:30.

The tour offers a general overview of the main areas of the city that are of interest to tourists, including the Central Business District; the French Quarter; and the Lower 9th Ward, the area most devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We also got out of the bus to explore a Catholic Cemetery and took a break for beignets in City Park.

Our tour guide, Eugene, is a New Orleans native whose love and knowledge of his city was obvious. I couldn’t even begin to get into all the information he gave us, from talking about famous landmarks to pointing out little architectural details I would never have otherwise noticed. He was very friendly, professional, and spun a good yarn without sounding like he was full of bull. I’ve been on city tours where the drivers liked to feed cockamamie stories to gullible tourists and this was not the case here.

The best part of the tour was definitely the visit to the Lower 9th Ward where Eugene gave us the scoop on what really happened down there by sharing the story of a man who chose to ride out the storm with his family. This man has returned to his neighborhood and lives in one of the Brad Pitt foundation homes.

The Lower 9th Ward, being the poorest area of the city, is the slowest to come back to life and is still full of blighted homes. But the community that is rising from the ruins appears to be full of promise. The tour companies are not allowed to actually go into the community, as per a federal decree, but apparently the residents liked having the tour groups go through as they made money selling lemonade, cookies, and pralines to the tourists.

We covered a lot of ground today, but I am now well prepared to explore the French Quarter (possibly tomorrow) having seen where the Algier Ferry docks (right in front of Harrah’s) and being armed with a list of good restaurants that won’t break the bank.

Eugene and I had a nice chat about my RVing life on the way back to Gretna and he pointed out a few restaurants I could try, but admitted that he drives into the city to eat as the Westbank options are uninspiring.

I’m really glad I did the city tour offered by the Louisiana Tour Company!

The following pictures are the best I was able to take on a moving bus through glass! I really wish I had been able to get a few good ones of the ginormous magnificent homes along St. Charles Avenue.

The architecture feels very French.

I like the mix of old and new architecture.

This 50-story tall building used to be Shell Headquarters, which have now moved to Houston, Texas.

These bleachers are for the Mardi Gras parades.

Robert E Lee

One of Emeril Lagasse’s restaurants.

The streetcars are good value for getting to some parts of the city. I witnessed a ton of construction going on to prolong this line.

There were Mardi Gras beads hanging from the trees on St. Charles Avenue. I couldn’t believe that nearly eight years ago, St. Charles Avenue was under 16 feet of water.

The owner of this house dresses up his stone pigs for every possible occasion.

A lemon tree!!!

This house that looks like it was cut in half was built on a property line.

This building with a lighthouse sticking out of it is for sale.

US. Marshal parking only!

The Harrah’s casino. Gambling is illegal in the area, so there is no gambling in the casino, only gaming. 🙂

The Riverwalk shopping centre.

Driving down Decatur Street in the French Quarter.

You can rent these hilarious little cars.

These are mules, which are hardier than horses.

The Central Grocery, home of the Muffuleta sandwich.

A statue of Joan of Arc.

One of the many beautiful statues in a Catholic cemetery.

Everyone is buried above ground in New Orleans.

Perpetual care means that extra money was paid in the 18th century for the church diocese to maintain the tombs forever!

This new tomb is a monstrosity, methinks. Some people have more money than sense.

Masons sneaked into this cemetery and built a tomb, but only one person was ever allowed to be interred here.

This tomb is getting a new door.

City Park

This little boy was catching small flat silver fishes.

We stopped at the Morning Call café for refreshments, including beignets and café au lait. I was unable to get service and didn’t really want to eat there anyway since the place did not feel clean.

The New Orleans Museum of Art.

Statue of Beauregard, the guy who fired the first shot of the US Civil War.

The rich parts of New Orleans look like nothing happened. But when you reach the 9th Ward, you see many houses that need repair or to simply be bulldozed.

This is where the levee broke that flooded the Lower 9th Ward.

All those colourful houses were built by the Brad Pitt Foundation. He promised to build 150 homes and 90 have been built so far. To qualify for a home, you had to have a home in the Lower 9th Ward with a clear title. The homes cost $125,000 and up and the residents have a 10-year interest free loan on them, which is about $700 a month in payments. They all have solar panels to reduce the monthly power bills.

The water levels in the Lower 9th Ward rose to over 25′ feet, then settled at 16′, which is the top of the tallest blue post.

December 15, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Seven: The Wig Maker, Armory, Blacksmith, Magazine, Shoemaker, Nursery, and Weaver

It was getting close to quitting time as I left the Capitol and meandered my day down the other side of the main street to catch a few more exhibits before heading to the museums. The light was already starting to fade and it was getting quite (and surprisingly) cold out.

I still had lots to see, though, and I didn’t hurry my way through the next exhibits, taking the time to ask questions and look at demonstrations. None of these were tours, hence why it was possible to get in and out fairly quickly and see so much in a short amount of time.

: Wigs were fashionable in the late 19th century. Different colours and styles could represent different jobs. Everyone wore white wigs for evening events because it made them look best by candlelight.

: The wig maker said it is a myth that people wore wigs because of lice problems.

: the wig maker’s shop

: On the top shelf are wigs with a bald spot for clergy. The grey wigs were for lawyers.

: Exiting the wig maker’s shop.

: In the 18th century, the word for wig was the same as the French word, perruque (albeit spelled differently)

: I liked this cozy cottage that appears to be two apartments. It’s next to the armory and blacksmith.

: Entering the armory, you see this building.

: It looks like a working kitchen.

: The courtyard of the armory. The building used to be a tavern, then it was expanded as barracks with the armory and blacksmith in the rear.

: The folks out here are making food to feed the armory staff who mostly repaired rather than manufactured weapons.

: One of the many forges in the blacksmith shop.

: A blacksmith hard at work.

: The rear of the cozy cottage.

: A stately home.

: The magazine, where armament was store.

: Staircase leading up into the magazine.

: We could not go further up the staircase.

: This interpreter gave an excellent demonstration on how the rifles were fired.

: Lots of guns.

: More military supplies.

: Inside the shoe maker’s shop. I came in right at the end and did not catch the difference between the shoemaker and the cobbler. I did learn that the most difficult thing is to make the second shoe match the first!

: Inside another shop where you can buy souvenirs found in any of the other shops, I find this mix for piri-piri peanut soup. Huh? AH! It’s the type of chili I saw growing at the Hopes plantation!

: The church.

: At the nursery, there were whistles for sale. This sign states in 18th century language that those with communicable diseases should not blow the whistles.

: Lots of lovely stuff growing in the nursery. I heard someone gleefully pointing out a big head of spinach.

: Dye samples in the weaver’s shop. A weaver would not be a dyer and vice versa. Dyers could create any colour once, but could not match colours. I asked how the colours were made and got an excellent explanation. Red comes from the cochineal South American insect. Yellows, come from turmeric. Brown is from walnut. Oranges and brick red come from the madder plant. Purples and blacks come from indigo. I don’t remember the rest.

: The weaver’s shop had looms.

: More dye samples.

: There were also spinning wheels.

: Ladder leading upwards, perhaps to living quarters.

: Exterior of the weaver’s shop.

December 15, 2012 by Rae

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Three: The Wythe House

After the governor’s palace, I wandered over to the first house that had a flag. There was a waiting period for the tour and the lady out front told me that I was much better off getting in line to view the Wythe house across the street as it closes at 1:00 and there were only a couple of tours left.

This is because the house is one of the few period buildings remaining and it even still has all the original 18th century woodwork, including the floors. Of greatest importance to most guests is this is the house where Thomas Jefferson studied law, so you can actually walk on the same floor and through the same doors as he did.

George Wythe was the first American law professor and a prominent opponent of slavery. The Wythe house was a wedding gift from his second wife’s father. They had no children, but they did received nieces and nephews regularly, as well as the Jeffersons.

: The Wythe house seen from the palace green.

: Cemetery beyond stone walls near the Wythe house.

: Surface coverings in Williamsburg are mostly gravel or brick-paved sidewalks.

: We waited for the tour in a little building next to the Wythe house that might have been a kitchen. It was built on an original foundation.

: The foyer of the Wythe house has this bright blue wall paper. All of the wallpaper in the house is an authentic reproduction by a company in England that has kept records of colours and patterns.

: The bright green in the dining room is a little shocking! Meals were breakfast, dinner, and supper. Dinner was around 2:00 and the biggest meal of the day so you could cook and clean up in daylight.

: The parlour had fuchsia wallpaper. Not normally my favourite colour, but it is exquisite here!

: On all the tours, the rule was that women over 21 were seated first, men next if there were seats left, and children had to sit on the floor. In the Wythe house, seating options included these window seats.

: All the windows in the house had big wooden shutters.

: The upstairs master bedroom had my favourite colour scheme and decor of the house, cream and dark purple, with the walls being stripped and the bedding being flowered.

: The master bedroom even had a closet!

: This is the guestroom where Jefferson would have slept. I don’t much like the shade of green on the wallpaper.

: But I really like the checkered green bed canopy.

: In this room, Wythe, Jefferson, and others studied the natural world. They felt that they did not need God to explain the world to them if they only just observed and studied.

: We were allowed to look through everything on the desk, including images of birds and insects.

: We used this microscope to view a cow’s taste bud.

: a reproduction of an 18th-century Bible

: All the floors were rough wood because there was so much grit coming in from the streets it would have been nearly impossible to keep them shiny.

: That’s about 250 years’ worth of the study door opening and closing.

: This light pink room is where the nieces and nephews stayed.

: There is a guest bedroom downstairs next to the dining room with this rather lovely carpet.

: This guest bedroom is decorated in a darker shade of pink.

: Another closet, this time inside Mr. Wythe’s office.

: Downstairs, this is Mr. Wythe’s office where he practiced law.

: Love these old secretaries.

: View to the gardens from the office. There were many outbuildings on the property.

: Stables.

: Wythe house from the gardens.

August 19, 2012 by Rae

Fort Chambly (and a Bonus Side Trip to Downtown Montreal)

Canadian history is a bloody mess of conquests, racial tensions, thrilling battles, crushing defeats, and centuries-long grudges. How anyone can call our history boring is beyond me. It is such a shame that many Canadians know about, say, the battle of the Alamo or Custer’s Last Stand but know nothing about the raid on Deerfield or why the political situation in Quebec is as it is.

Canadians need to go to places like Fort Chambly and read the placards or to sites like Fort Lennox where history is brought to life. Our country was born here, along the Saint-Lawrence, Ottawa, and Richelieu Rivers. You can’t understand what it is to be Canadian today without understanding how it is that we got here. I believe that if more Canadians knew and appreciated their history, we would be able to get over our linguistic and cultural grudges and form a strong, united, country. But as long as we keep this nearly four-century year old resentment alive without understanding its basis, there can be no resolution.

Fort Chambly sits at the heart of Canadian history, rooted in the French-Indian Wars of the 17th century, the English conquest of New France of the 18th century, and the 1812 war against the United States.

Located on the banks of the Richelieu River, an important north-south link with New York state, Fort Chambly is now a park where families come to picnic and I used to spend long hours up a tree writing, reading, and day dreaming. I spent my late childhood and adolescence just a few blocks away and the grounds of the fort were like my second home

I’d been meaning to return to the fort all summer. Since I was due for a date with my grand-mother, I proposed that we go to Fort Chambly today. I felt a little trepidation at coming back for the first time in 15 years, but I was glad to see that it was the same place. The trees have grown a little, but that’s it.

I’ll put all the information in the photo captions, but will say that after we toured the fort, we enjoyed a picnic under the trees. Then, we drove to Saint-Lambert to drop off something for my aunt and I got spirited away on a short jaunt to downtown Montreal to see my cousin’s loft; hence the bonus Montreal pictures.

Merci pour la belle journée, grand-maman!

Fort Chambly from the parking lot. You used to actually see the Fort; the trees have grown!

The bridge from the parking lot to the Fort, looking towards the Bassin

Looking up towards Bourgogne Avenue (I took the bus to high school up there for a year).

I couldn’t believe how much the trees have grown!

the Bassin de Chambly (a large spot in the Richelieu River), with the marina (the water is FILTHY, so while there is boating, there’s no swimming)

The Bassin de Chambly

approaching the entrance to the fort

looking up river

entrance to the fort

names of some of the major military leaders who commanded the fort in the 17th and 18th centuries (names added at the end of the 19th century)

inside the fort

map of New France

most of the exhibits are about the fort in the late 17th century at the time of New France before the British conquest

Fort Chambly was built along the Richelieu between Albany and Montreal

map of the Iroquois Wars/French-Indian Wars, 1641 to 1701

looking downriver from Montreal to Albany

at the time, it took four hours to go from Chambly to Longueuil (now about 20 minutes!)

I remember this pottery

Fort Saint-Jean was the next fort south of Chambly

Fort Chambly was the last defensive outpost of Montreal

I remember this pottery

Albany and Montreal were rivals in the fur trade but Canada never attacked the city. In the 18th century, it took eight to make the journey by canoe. I made this route in just a few hours northward this spring.

from Albany looking up towards Montreal

Albany, 1760

Montreal, 1760

looking out towards the middle of the fort

Lake Champlain

I still love the plank floors

wow, this place hasn’t changed!

fierce Iroquois warriors

his tattoos are impressive!

He was a Mohawk chief known as Brant

the fur trade was the pillar of the New France economy

reasons for Fort Chambly: in short, to prevent invasion and to provide a staging ground for invasion

a tomahawk

a variety of snowshoes

remnants of a shovel

The population of New France was 4,415, of which the split was 30% soldiers, 30% women, and 40% civilian men. In other words, women were a commodity in short supply!

a musket

the raid on Deerfield was in 1704

New England prisoners from the raid were forced marched back to Fort Chambly with the woman forced into arranged marriages and the children given to French Canadian families

18th century wedding bands

18th century children’s clothing

children were stolen from their families and brought back to Canada to be raised French

17th century toys

a key

17th century tools

the existing fort was rebuilt from 1750 plans

how the fort was constructed

powder magazine

view from the powder magazine

powder magazine

we’re now on the second story and I am showing how the wooden turrets seen from outside are decorative (save one)

looking out over the Richelieu

the fort is square with loopholes and other defense mechanisms at each corner

I’ve always loved his sneer!

soldiers at work

that drum looks heavy!

sword

a 17th century screwdriver!

17th century personal effects of a soldier

a 17th century shoe

soldiers having dinner (the corn still looks good, the stew still looks like dog food)

in the 17th century, the daily ration was about 2,000 calories while today the military rations are about 2,500 calories

modern rations have changed!

soldiers grooming (there’s even one sleeping in the bed)

soldiers with families billeted in the village

soldiers at rest

a soldier “enjoyed a good life and a bad reputation”

tobacco

an imposing commander

Fort Chambly was surrendered to the English in September of 1760, just before the capitulation of New France

In1763, the King of France conceded defeat and handed New France to the British. Two hundred years later, the French would take back their country during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. Two centuries of English oppression cannot be forgiven and now the English in Quebec are paying for the sins of their ancestors. How many generations will it take for this rift to be healed?

“All conquests go deep — they are among the deepest of human experiences.”

a dormer window looking into the courtyard

comparison of the population in different years

lovely window

a typical French Canadian homestead (seigneurie) was 10 times as long as it was wide and was set against the river

sample 18th century homestead

bread was a staple food, with wheat comprising 50% of the diet

other grains, like rye and corn, comprised 10% each of the diet

toys

we are about to go up to the watchtower (watch your head!)

it’s very claustrophobic up there!

gorgeous view from the watchtower

I always thought this model of a bird was pretty

entering the Albany room (named for the singer Albani), which holds temporary exhibits (currently about the War of 1812)

“For Canadians, the War of 1812 was about the successful defense of a small colony against attack by a much larger neighbor.”

a cocky 13-year-old boy did not believe the Americans would win

“For the United States, the War of 1812 was a second successful war of independence from Britain.”

I am really amused that the US thinks it won the War of 1812 because Canada didn’t conquer it.

Tony Blair apologizes for the British/Canada burning down the Library of Congress during the War of 1812.

While US and British relations normalized after the War of 1812, Native Americans were left vulnerable.

modern Britain has almost completely forgotten the War of 1812

back in the courtyard, we’re heading towards the luxurious (for the time) privies

this luxurious privy was over fast moving water, meaning no smells or diseases

looking up the rapids

looking towards the rear of the fort

Grand-maman packed lunch. It doesn’t look like much, but it got me to dinner, which is no small feat! We had crackers, cheese, almonds, a fig, half a banana, and a couple of bite-sized oatmeal chocolate chip cookies each, plus water. We ate on the grass in the shade of a big tree.

the watchtower we visited

the rear of the fort (with fake watchtowers)

In 1775-1776, during their War of Independence, the Americans invaded Canada. In 1812, we finally had enough and burned down their White House. 🙂

Saint-Jean was favoured over Chambly for defense starting in 1840

I used to climb this tree and read in its branches for hours!!!

The big hole was smaller back then, but the seat-like branch where I’d make myself comfy is still there

the tree looks a lot worse for wear now!

🙁

the father of one of my high school friends was the reverend of this church

the guard house (closed to visits)

my grand-mother thought it was hilarious that my best memory of this park and community centre was of the time I stepped in dog doo there!

The Ducharme residence (formerly a garrison, then converted to a stately home)

it’s for sale!

the house was bought in 1908 and used as a saddlery, then was converted to a residence in 1938

Fort Chambly is a National Historic Site

intersection of Bourgogne and Langevin, the street where I grew up. I took my bus here one year and resented it badly since I lived on the opposite end of the street (quite a distance) and the bus passed just a block from my house.

looking down Langevin street

I lived here from 1987 to 1998 (age 8 to 19). It’s not a mansion! There are three apartments; we lived in two and rented the third. The joke was that the guy who built it was missing only two tools: a level and a square. The house was a bunch of rooms added to each other and we actually discovered a secret room off the garage (cold cellar) and there was a secret passage going from my room to the downstairs apartment!

Bourgogne Avenue (further back, the street has really been developed into a touristy strip)

downtown Montreal, place Ville-Marie (building that looks like a carpenter’s pencil)

Place Bonaventure (the train depot, mega shopping centre, and the hub of underground Montreal)

the hideous Palais des congrès

we’re on the roof terrace of my cousin’s loft (shared space) looking at the Hôtel Inter-Continentel

church from the terrace

water tower?

National Bank headquarters (on the right, behind the crane)

close up of the Hôtel Inter-Continentel

closeup of the church

I like churches 🙂

Hydro-Québec headquarters (they have the monopoly to create and provide electricity)

July 23, 2012 by Rae

A Sunday in the Eastern Townships

Sunday, I’d promised my dad’s brother that I would go visit him at his trailer in East Bolton in the Eastern Townships. I took off around 8:30 and arrived around 9:30.

Uncle K has had a trailer in that campground for about 30 years. Until a few years ago, his trailer was from the ’60s but he has since upgraded to a trailer from the ’70s. The RV spot is large and he planted all the trees on it, so he saw them grow from saplings to the mature, shade-providing, trees they are today.

The campground is on Trousers Lake, so named because the general shape of the lake is a pair of pants. It’s a lake with an inlet and an outlet, so the water is cool, but clean. Motorboats haven’t been allowed in years, so the fishing is very good (bass and pike mostly).

Uncle K took me for a brief walk to see some of the sights and then we were joined by Uncle J (dad’s late sister’s husband) and his grand-daughter (my second cousin).

We piled into Uncle J’s tiny Nissan to go check out the site of the cottage my grand-father started to build in the ’60s and never finished because of his untimely death in an accident caused by a drunk driver.

The cottage was on Lake Gilbert. Today, you could drive to the site, but in the ’60s, you had to park on shore and pack everything over by boat. From shore, it was a 20KM walk round trip to get groceries.

The next stop was the Benedict Abbey (Abbaye Saint-Benoît), known for its beautiful grounds and superb cheeses. Had I not had several hours ahead before access to a fridge, I would have bought some treats at the large monastery store! Uncle J picked up a jar of caramel spread, something that was obviously a treat he gets whenever he’s in the area.

The abbey was founded in 1910

this is the older part of the abbey

the brickwork is gorgeous!

simple stained glass

floor mosaic

the left part of the abbey is ‘new’ from the 1980s

the little chapel

We drove around the countryside a little more after this, looking for, but failing to find, our family cemetery (I should have printed off the directions, but I can always go back later this summer; it’s not far). The Eastern Townships (Cantons de l’est) is one of the most scenic regions in Canada and very popular cottage country. You can run into politicians (eg. former Prime Minister Paul Martin) and movie stars (eg. Donald and Kiefer Sutherland) here.

We grabbed some goodies from a popular bakery for lunch, ate at the campground, and headed back to the Montérégie mid-afternoon. I was glad to have my iPod because I got caught in the expected Sunday afternoon traffic jam on the 10:

It started 3KM from the exit for Chambly and it took me almost a full hour to get home from that point. I could have walked home almost three times as quickly! I just cranked up the Cowboys Fringants and had fun watching the RVers run out of their rigs to use the bathroom and fix snacks!

A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Religious Sites/Cemeteries

City Tour of New Orleans

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Seven: The Wig Maker, Armory, Blacksmith, Magazine, Shoemaker, Nursery, and Weaver

Colonial Williamsburg, Part Three: The Wythe House

Fort Chambly (and a Bonus Side Trip to Downtown Montreal)

A Sunday in the Eastern Townships