SIghtseeing in New Orleans. Hats!
New Orleans travelog #5
French Quarter - Saturday, 22 Apr 2023, 6pm
After a delicious lunch today at the Court of the Two Sisters we continued our self guided tour around shops and sights in the French Quarter- or as it's named in French, the Vieux Carré (Old Square).
After ducking in and out of a few jewelry/antique shops on Royal Street, where a good many of them are located, I spotted a hat shop. I've always enjoy looking at good hats- and by "good hats" I mean not baseball caps or trucker hats- so we went in. I spent time looking at several more formal-ish hats then realized what I really need is a hat for today. It's sunny out, and t he top of my head is getting increasingly likely to burn.
Prices were expensive at the shop, but the hats were the real deal. Quality materials and workmanship. I chose a straw porkpie that would work well as a "today" hat. Also a more casual hat than the gray fedora I've owned for years. I was pretty close to buying a maroon fedora at the shop... but I reasoned that I don't have that many opportunities to wear a more formal hat, so it wasn't as good a buy as the straw hat.
Though maybe I will be wearing more hats in the future.... When I first noticed I was going bald years ago and swore I would never comb the last 3 hairs atop my head sideways I also decided that instead of doing that I would a) shave it all off and b) buy hats. Well, I've had a good, long run of losing my hair only slowly but now I can tell the time is approaching to fulfill my promise to myself. So maybe it's time to being stocking up on hats. 😅
Anyway, sightseeing. In the pic above we're at the St. Louis Cathedral. It's the back garden. We walked from there around the front to Jackson Square. From there we continued out to the Moon Walk (not sure why it's called that) along the Mississippi River and out to the French Market.
At the French Market, a two block long bazaar of food sellers and merchant stalls, I bought another hat. I kind of had a feeling when I bought the nice porkpie for a stiff price that I'd see similar hats way cheaper elsewhere and would kind of regret spending up. Well, I did kind of regret spending up. But I could also tell when I bought another straw hat for less than 1/3 the price it was nowhere near the same quality.
We then took a circuitous route home, walking back along the Moon Walk past the Holocaust Memorial. We turned inland to find the Audobon Butterfly Garden & Insectarium, but all that's on that block is a huge federal building. And as is with the case with pretty much all federal buildings since the late '90s, it was locked up like an ancient fortress. Was there even a butterfly garden there? We think so, because there was a big butterfly painted on the sidewalk in front of one of the totally fortified locked gates.
Update: At the end of the day I had a bit of pink on my cheeks, where I'd used suntan lotion but didn't reapply while I was out for 6+ hours. I did not have any burn atop my head where my hair is thinning.
French Quarter - Saturday, 22 Apr 2023, 6pm
After a delicious lunch today at the Court of the Two Sisters we continued our self guided tour around shops and sights in the French Quarter- or as it's named in French, the Vieux Carré (Old Square).
After ducking in and out of a few jewelry/antique shops on Royal Street, where a good many of them are located, I spotted a hat shop. I've always enjoy looking at good hats- and by "good hats" I mean not baseball caps or trucker hats- so we went in. I spent time looking at several more formal-ish hats then realized what I really need is a hat for today. It's sunny out, and t he top of my head is getting increasingly likely to burn.
Prices were expensive at the shop, but the hats were the real deal. Quality materials and workmanship. I chose a straw porkpie that would work well as a "today" hat. Also a more casual hat than the gray fedora I've owned for years. I was pretty close to buying a maroon fedora at the shop... but I reasoned that I don't have that many opportunities to wear a more formal hat, so it wasn't as good a buy as the straw hat.
Though maybe I will be wearing more hats in the future.... When I first noticed I was going bald years ago and swore I would never comb the last 3 hairs atop my head sideways I also decided that instead of doing that I would a) shave it all off and b) buy hats. Well, I've had a good, long run of losing my hair only slowly but now I can tell the time is approaching to fulfill my promise to myself. So maybe it's time to being stocking up on hats. 😅
Anyway, sightseeing. In the pic above we're at the St. Louis Cathedral. It's the back garden. We walked from there around the front to Jackson Square. From there we continued out to the Moon Walk (not sure why it's called that) along the Mississippi River and out to the French Market.
At the French Market, a two block long bazaar of food sellers and merchant stalls, I bought another hat. I kind of had a feeling when I bought the nice porkpie for a stiff price that I'd see similar hats way cheaper elsewhere and would kind of regret spending up. Well, I did kind of regret spending up. But I could also tell when I bought another straw hat for less than 1/3 the price it was nowhere near the same quality.
We then took a circuitous route home, walking back along the Moon Walk past the Holocaust Memorial. We turned inland to find the Audobon Butterfly Garden & Insectarium, but all that's on that block is a huge federal building. And as is with the case with pretty much all federal buildings since the late '90s, it was locked up like an ancient fortress. Was there even a butterfly garden there? We think so, because there was a big butterfly painted on the sidewalk in front of one of the totally fortified locked gates.
Update: At the end of the day I had a bit of pink on my cheeks, where I'd used suntan lotion but didn't reapply while I was out for 6+ hours. I did not have any burn atop my head where my hair is thinning.