What does a proper Frenchwoman think of New Orleans? I was recently visited by a schoolfriend who lives in Paris. She spent a week in New Orleans before reaching me, and here are some of her comments about "The Big Easy."
"Sitting on a sunny morning over café-au-lait and featherlight sugared beignets in the riverside Café du Monde I might have believed that the influence and heritage of the first French settlers still shaped New Orleans today. I was lodged in a charming boutique hotel in the vieux carrée, I had shopped in the French market (founded 1791) and I had admired a gleaming statue of Joan of Arc steps away.
"I was impressed to find many streets with French names—Bourbon, Chartres, Toulouse and so on—unchanged. The state capital, Baton Rouge, would sound quite odd as Red Stick. And New Orleans itself is named for the French Regent in 1718, Philippe d'Orléans. How agreeable, how French! So far, there was indeed much evidence that the French were here. Yet I could not fail to observe that French culture does not figure as large as tourist promotion suggests. Certainly menus list such delicacies as foie gras and boudin, yet it is easier to learn of po-boys, golf courses and how to get quickly married than of the French explorer, Sieur de La Salle, for instance,who in 1682 loyally named extensive territories in the New World Louisiane, in honor of his King, Louis XIV.
"Hearing so much about Cajuns, I ventured to Lafayette, Louisiana to experience the delights of a ‘Festival Acadien’, I found that Cajuns today, of independent temperament, with their own infectious music and savory food and speaking a unique mixture of French and English. More than once we heard the rallying cry 'Laissez les bon temps roulez', Let the good times roll.
"So pondering the 'Frenchness' of New Orleans, I concluded the city was more Deep South than French, but with enough carryover from the days of greater French influence to make it a unique blending. I enjoyed it and I will come back!"
As we all know, New Orleans has suffered tremendously, from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. Nevertheless it remains one of the most popular cities in the U.S. for visitors. Do you have any favorite places in and around New Orleans that you would share with other readers of this blog?
Paula "Muffaletta Lover" Gifford
Today’s blog comes from Nathaniel Lande, Author of The Ten Best of Everything, as well as at least eight other books that I know of. He’s been Creative Director of the Magazine Group of Time Incorporated, Executive Producer for both the CBS and NBC Television Networks, faculty member at the University of North Carolina and Duke University, and has so many awards to his credit that if we listed them all, there’d be no room for his wonderful guest blog, which follows.
I would urge any traveler and reader to buy travel insurance, before any trip to cover trip cancellation, lost bags, and most importantly, for medical expenses and medical evacuation abroad should that be necessary.
Never suspecting it would happen to me, I took a fall down a gang plank while in port in Moscow on my way to St. Petersburg, following the Waterways of the Czars, while on a very engaging assignment for the Third Edition for National Geographic Books, the 10 Best of Everything. While the Captain said it was the most graceful fall he had ever seen, I did end up at the American Clinic in Moscow with two fractured vertebrae, lying on my back for nine days, until I was evacuated home in care of a board certified doctor.
Luckily, I had taken my own advice, and had elected a Medex $100,000 policy for a 30 day coverage abroad, costing me just under $125. It was a fortuitous decision, because my expenses at this very good clinic were $30,000 dollars US, and the cost of evacuation home by air, $64,000 by a superb outfit contracted by Medex called Global Voyager, taking care of every detail and arrangement. If I had not taken the policy, it would have been a very expensive fall indeed. But now I am recovering quite nicely because of the initial care and concern afforded to me.
Now let me share the following about my trip home. It comes from my notes:
...An army of eight Aeroflot men dressed in blue and orange coveralls took me by special evacuation shuttle and we entered the rear of a Boeing 767 where they placed me in a specially designed compartment, which requisitioned eight window seats that had been reconfigured to allow a stretcher bed, a private compartment, around which was a curtain and behind which was me, offering coming attractions as a backstage performer of a Punch and Judy puppet show.
My accompanying companion, Doctor Anton, sat across, in the center rows, and he took wonderful care of me, a gentle, knowledgeable and compassionate man, and as a lover of Russian history, we had good time to talk and discuss the many events from 1917.
A couple of children were sitting near by, and so, settling in behind the curtain, and after take-off, I found a white napkin, and devised a plane-made puppet, with ears and mouth, that I could manipulate with my fingers, and I will take credit for some ingenuity, because it DID look like a bunny of sorts.
Every-time the Captain or flight attendants made an announcement preceded by a "bing-bing", out from the curtain, from high up, shot the rabbit, miming their words. At first there was astonishment, but with each proceeding announcement, update, and instructions, out came the rabbit, greeted by giggles and laughter, and by the end of the flight, applause from the gathering audience from the back of the plane. I never realized I had the skills of a puppeteer.
About seven hours into the flight, looking down from my windows. There were lakes of ice, separated by deep blue patches of water, and I imagined that I was lying on the back of a white swan gliding home.
An ambulance was waiting on the tarmac in Los angeles, with a customs officer, and soon I was dispatched, on the way to Santa Barbara, with Dr. Anton, and two friendly, agreeable ambulance drivers, Jesse and Steve (from Louisiana) dressed in official uniforms with arm patches. We bonded quickly.
Approaching the 101 moving swiftly with lights flashing, I asked if the boys were hungry. They were, and wanting to introduce Dr. Anton to barbecue, I called ahead to the Wood Ranch, not too far from Woodland Hills, just off Lewis Road in Camarillo, across from the Factory Outlets where smart shopping mommas find many brand names have shops and great buys.
I ordered four platters of well grilled ribs, onion rings, garlic rolls, southern style baked beans, and cole slaw made with their special recipe topped with peanuts, and at exactly 7:15, we pulled up to the take out. Then, and in the parking lot, the doors opened, me inside on a gurney, and we all had a tailgate picnic. No one coming to the Wood Ranch that Friday evening had seen anything like it. The manager came out and offered us free lemonade refills, and it was a culinary peak moment for Dr. Anton, who appreciated each taste of down-home cooked dishes...
Have you had any experiences of injury or illness while traveling abroad? Tell us about them.
Paula "Takin' A Trip" Gifford
P.S. Read Nathaniel Lande's current book, The 10 Best of Everything, for more such engaging stories.
Don’t you just love having a proper tea in proper surroundings? Taking out-of-town guests to tea is one of my favorite things to do. And it’s one of the items on my daily agenda when I’m traveling.
I’ve probably drunk more tea in more places than anyone who’s not a traveling tea sales representative. When done right, the whole experience is one of life’s unsung civilized pleasures. But it’s "doing it right" that makes all the difference. Sitting down to a freshly brewed cup of tea at home is relaxing and enjoyable, of course, but it’s not the same as have a full afternoon tea in a fine hotel or a cozy tearoom.
Making a good cup of tea is no routine matter. Dunk a teabag in a cup filled with hot water, and you might as well be drinking "instant" hot water. But although I know that making truly good tea is no simple matter, I’m not very good at it myself. I do try, though, to follow the rule that Charles Laughton laid down in the very old movie, Ruggles of Red Gap. "Never bring the teapot to the kettle. Always bring the kettle to the teapot." Nevertheless, my own teas are never as good as those I’ve had elsewhere, so I go looking for afternoon tea wherever I may be.
In London there are any number of places for afternoon tea, but my favorite is the Beaufort Hotel. The surroundings are strictly English country house, the cakes and finger sandwiches are divine, the tea superb and the service calculated to make you think they’ve mistaken you for royalty.
In Glasgow, it’s got to be the Willow Tea Room, designed by Scotland’s premier architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Here, the tea is accompanied by scones with plenty of jam and heavy cream, of course, but also crumpets and Scottish pancakes!
In Calcutta (I’ll never be comfortable calling it Kolkata) it’s the Hotel Sonar Bangla Sheraton, where tea is served in tiny screened tea rooms—ideal spots for reading or meditating when the heat and humidity make it bearable to be out of air-conditioned interiors.
I could go on and on, but instead, why don’t you tell me about some of your favorite afternoon tea rooms? I’m sure there still are others I haven’t tried.
Paula "One Lump, Please" Gifford