We had our Thanksgiving meal on Saturday night since most French aren’t free on Thursdays. I asked each person there what they thought Thanksgiving was and after the meal I asked what food they had liked best. At one point the camera got turned so you see me or the wall and not what I wanted to show. I didn’t show their faces just to keep it anonymous. I used to get depressed each Thanksgiving in Paris as it just wasn’t the same but time rolls on and now it’s fine. It was fun to share the meal with some French friends.

So, I’m back in Paris. It feels like home now. I got out on a pretty day for some photos of course.

The sunrise as the plane neared Paris. I can usually sleep on planes but just never managed this time. The seats seemed really uncomfortable and my back hurt, I couldn’t get my head in a comfortable position and at one point I dropped my glasses somewhere on the floor and couldn’t find them in the dark so I started worrying about that. I finally found them when the lights came back on next to the seat behind mine. I’ve had jet lag for over a week and don’t know if I will ever sleep well again. That’s just what happens when you travel overseas.

Anyway, not far from Palais Royal I found this fountain all lit up. I’m not sure who decided to make the lights colored but it was pretty.

Beaujolais Nouveau came and went, a day when new wine comes out to sort of give you an idea of how the wine from that year will be. I only sort of like it. I like a light Rhone wine better or a really good Bordeaux but prefer rose most of all. Many people use this day as an excuse to start drinking early in the morning and late into the night.

I saw this pretty autumn decoration up in Montmartre.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers. I am once again celebrating this holiday in Paris and having the actual Thanksgiving meal on Saturday since the French people coming work on this day. I made a trip to a store in the Marais called Thanksgiving owned by a couple from Louisiana where you can find things that can be difficult to find in Paris such as cranberries. It’s very expensive from my point of view but everything is imported. I entered with a friend and the store was full of Americans. My friend struck up a conversation with one of the women and my friend asked her why she was in Paris and she said, “I married a Frenchman” and my friend said, “So did I!” and I said, “So did I!” I asked her if she had a blog but she didn’t. An American man asked the difference between condensed milk and evaporated milk and we all told him. He was making pumpkin pie so we directed him to the evaporated milk. It was just a lot of fun in there, sort of like a party. I bought some items for my coming meal.
This video, which I can’t get imbedded for some reason, shows a bit of the trip there and the interior of the store. Just copy and paste at Youtube to see it.

A few more photos of our trip to mystical magical New Orleans.

It was near Halloween and this lady looked great I thought.

Some how I just couldn’t try alligator, no matter how it was fixed.

We took a street car out into the suburbs, a nice experience.

I loved the plants on this French Quarter balcony.

The gate to the Cornstalk Hotel with cornstalks in rod iron on its fence. A night tour went by(there were many) and we heard that this hotel was haunted.

We took a steamboat tour down the Mississippi River which was so tranquil and relaxing.

A man on top of the boat used the steam to play songs.

The big wheel behind the boat. “Rollin, rollin, rollin on the river”

This guy was on the dock when we left the boat. He stayed in this position for a very long time.

What a rich history New Orleans has. It is still recovering from hurricane Katrina-it may never be a total recovery-but it is still full of life and beauty.

Beads left over on a lamp from the last Mardi Gras celebration.

The beautiful and intriguing French Quarter in the middle of New Orleans should actually be called the Spanish Quarter(in my opinion) as you can see from this sign.

Many balconies in the quarter were decorated, many supporting the football team, the Saints, as well and the college football team, LSU.

The lovely cathedral there with a beautiful park in front of it.

Swamp Man? We were there near Halloween.

There were many psychics there. I found them a little expensive though. I’ll pay maybe $10 or $15 but not $45.

An artist painting in the French Quarter.

The famous Cafe du Monde known for their Beignets.

They are covered with a ton of powdered sugar and are very good. Vaughan showed us a shortcut to get in as there were hundreds of people in line.

The whole time you have been reading about Cornwall, I have actually been in the States for three weeks visiting family and friends and, in fact, I am now back in Paris. We started off in Lafayette, Louisiana with the friends who we bought our Paris apartment from. The woman, Vaughan, is a true Cajun with all sorts of ties to Louisiana. She and her husband gave us a great tour of Lafayette and New Orleans.

A 500 year old tree in front of the cathedral in Lafayette.

The front of the cathedral.

Vaughan and her husband, Amos, have been professors for years at the college in Lafayette. One of their students was the historian of Avery Island, the home of the famous Tabasco sauce, and he gave us a private, VIP tour of the “island” which is actually not an island but a mound of land. They have found Indian mounds there. There is oil drilling going on and also a salt mine as it is on top of a salt dome that goes down thousands of feet. The family lives on the island and it is very protected. There are three off shoots of the original family and they all receive some money from all that goes on on the island.

Our guide showed us all sorts of historical items having to do with the island and/or tabasco sauce including this guitar which was signed by some famous rock band that I can’t remember the name of-maybe Bon Jovi?

We had very good sandwiches at the deli. We went to the gift store too and bought some tabasco sauce with adobe chilies and some tshirts.

The next day we went on a swamp tour. As you can see the water is full of a plant that is overgrowing everything, taking over. Our boatman was a fun Cajun with a very strong accent who took us out into the water.

There are, as you might expect, alligators in the water. This stuffed one was in the cage there.

A look at the trees there that have been cut off. They were cedar trees. One of Vaughan’s relatives, her grandfather I think, used to take her out with him to harvest them. She is a true Cajun, from the group of Acadians evited by the English from Acadia in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Our boat captain banged on the side of our metal boat and two alligators came out to get the chicken that he threw in the water. It was really interesting and fun out on the water looking at things I have only read about before.