Day Two: New Orleans

The homeless don't just sleep on the street, they snore.

Susan and her children had a morning date at Reverend Zombie's House of Voodoo to meet up for a walking tour of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. However, they opted to leave their hotel late then chose a very leisurely paced establishment in which to order their breakfast dooming them to reschedule till the afternoon.

Magic 8 ball: By the afternoon it would be pouring.

They put their morning to good use inside a vintage store which had the added benefit of assisting Susan's daughter to overcome her terrible mood, one which was really starting to bug Susan. It was also an opportunity to scope out new breakfast spots, specifically ones which would not cost $60 after tip and without liquor.

At noon it was drizzling, by the time they got to Reverend Zombie's it was raining. 

Susan saw a line of tourists wearing disposable slickers and inquired where she might get some for herself. They pointed two doors down and within minutes she & her children were outfitted in glorified plastic bags at $2.99 each.

The rain was unrelenting, coming down harder as the tour progressed. But underneath Susan's plastic bag she was comfortable and dry. Tour guide Jill told everyone about the town's history, religious influences, burial practices over the ages and specific residents of the oldest City of the Dead. 

 

Eventually, everything outside the protection of Susan's garbage bag got soaked, her shoes squeaked as she walked along, but she didn't care. It was fun to be in the rain, even her kids didn't complain. After the tour concluded she stopped for cafe au lait and beignets then a long nap.

The end.

Susan spent a crisp Saturday on a walking tour of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with her little sister and two nieces.

Susan's a sucker for a good cemetery and this one's on the National Register of Historic Places, plus it's right in Headless Horseman territory. It's got a lot of famous and infamous residents, folks like Leona & Harry Helmsley, Washington Irving, William Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, William Chrysler, Brooke & Vincent Astor, as well as the dude who wrote Yes Virginia There Is A Santa Claus.

After the two hour walk Susan needed a cocktail, then a nap.

Susan's fave, the final resting place of The Queen of Mean

A peek inside, nice right?

Susan and her daughter spent a lovely day together in the East Hampton cemetery. They took a pad of large sketch paper and a cookie tin filled with crayons that have been in use for the last thirteen years and did some grave rubbings.

East Hampton is a wonderful cemetery for this sort of thing, it’s got primitive headstones, soft grass, and is a very relaxing place to spend time. Susan doesn’t think much of East Hampton town however. Over the years all of the interesting little shops have been devoured by Tiffany, Coach and Juicy Couture, but the cemetery is reason enough to visit.

Susan is in love with old headstones and is always willing to walk through a cemetery to see some. One Veteran’s Day Susan, her little sister and their kids took a side trip to an upstate cemetery to visit an old pal from the neighborhood and spent time cleaning off all the veterans’ headstones. On another occasion Susan and her daughter spent an hour in a witheringly hot cemetery in Maine where they read the headstones of seven children who all expired over the course of a few months.

Sad stuff, but not today.