Sunday, April 19 — our first day in New Orleans

What an amazing day!

We started off with breakfast at Zach's house, "Apparatus."

Zach, Tony, Anne Marie, Marie Therese

Zach made beignets from scratch!

And they were delicious!

We met some of Zach's friends:

Top: Aaron (visiting from Colorado,) Tennessee (the dog,) and John (who spoke Polish with Marie Therese!)

Bottom: Anne Marie, Tony, Marie Therese, Zach

And Beastie (the white dog)

Same people as in photo above, except that Zach is holding the camera and I am here, too. 

After breakfast, we drove up to "Parisite," the skateboard park that Zach has been filming for over two years.

This park is located under Highway 610, at the intersection of Paris Avenue and Pleasure Street. Hence the name, Parisite.

It was cool to see that even on a Sunday morning, kids were skating there.

I should point out here that Zach did all the driving today.

He's an excellent driver. 

Next, we crossed the Mississippi River to what they call the "West Bank," even though it's actually south at this point.  This is a neighborhood called "Algiers."

We went to a flea market. In French that's called a marché aux puces.

I was surprised to find that most of the vendors and shoppers here were Hispanic — from El Salvador, Honduras, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. 

Amazingly enough, Marie Therese and Anne Marie found a vendor from France!

Next, Zach drove us down into the bayous to the Jean Lafitte Park.

Anne Marie and Marie Therese walked a 3-mile trail, on boardwalks over bayous.

Here you can see "Spanish Moss" hanging from the trees.

The air here smelled very sweet.  This is a terrific retreat, a very calming place, full of natural history. 

These bayous are also full of the history of the exploits of Jean Lafitte, bad guy to some, hero to others. Back in the early 1800s, Lafitte smuggled slaves and goods through the bayous in what was then called "Barataria."  (A whole state park was named after this guy, as well as our dinner last night, "Soft Shell Crab Lafitte!")

 It was now after 3:00 pm and we were hungry!  Zach took us to a fine Vietnamese restaurant where we all had "Pho."

After lunch, we crossed back over the Mississippi and drove to City Park to see the "Music Box" installation. 

On the way, I was taken by yet another rendition of "You Go Girl," which has popped up in New Orleans many times in odd places.

We encountered a most creative endeavor in this park — almost indescribable — grownups and kids all playing with sound, having fun discovering sound and being surprised and surprising others.

For more information about this "Music Box," see this:  http://www.neworleansairlift.org/index.php/component/k2/item/63-the-music-box-roving-village

Next, we drove to the shores of nearby Lake Pontchartrain, where once again we met people who spoke a little French.

This is the bridge we had driven over to get to the flea market and the bayous and the Vietnamese restaurant.

Desiree, Anne Marie, Leon, Marie Therese

Leon had been in the U.S. Military and had traveled through many places in Europe, including France.

Lake Pontchartrain is so big you can't see the other side!

Now we needed to get a closer look at the Mississippi River.

There is a very attractive boat that takes tourists on a cruise down the river at sunset. We did not go on this boat, but we enjoyed looking at it!

Marie: Mississippi river c'est quelque chose, on a vu aussi des tankers qui allaient sans doute s'approvisionner dans le golfe du Mexique.

At the end of the day, we went up to the cocktail lounge at the Westin Hotel for a spectacular view of the river from the 11th floor.  We enjoyed locally brewed beers, and A.M. had a panaché. 

Then we went to the closing of an art exhibit where we met some of Zach's friends. I had to leave quickly because the music was unbearable! Anne Marie was equally traumatized.

And then we stopped for carry-out falafel, drove to get a bottle of wine, and came back to our AirBnB to enjoy our feast. We'll show you pictures of this BnB tomorrow.