Nawlins

We arrived in New Orleans on Monday afternoon and went straight to the gym to blow away the travel cobwebs - and also because we hadn't been on Sunday, like we said we would :). Between Monday evening and Thursday evening I didn't see Rob a whole lot as he had conference stuff to do and people to see, but I spent the week hanging out with Keri, Annabelle and Corgan, which was very cool.

Tuesday we went to Audubon Zoo, which was a trolley ride away from our hotel downtown, then we had a walk through the Garden District on the way back to the hotel. On Wednesday we had a walk around the French Quarter and got roped into taking a horse & carriage ride round the area, which we hadn't planned on doing, but it was great. Thursday we visited the Louisiana Children's Museum then walked back towards the French Quarter, stopping at Cafe du Monde for some beignets. Then on Thursday evening all the SpringSource people who hadn't already left to go home went out for a meal on Bourbon Street. Afterwards I went with a few of the guys to the bar in our hotel, but left after one drink just after midnight, when I heard they were planning to stay out for a while. Rob didn't get in until 05:00, which pretty much put paid to us doing anything on the Friday as he went straight back to bed after breakfast at IHOP, so I went to New Orleans City Park with Keri, Keith and the kids. On Saturday after the Donalds left, Ben, Rob and I had a look around the French Quarter (me for the third or fourth time; them for the first) then we left Sunday to come home, arriving this morning. Actually, I came home; Rob went straight from T5 to T2 at Heathrow to get on a plane to Prague for another conference...

New Orleans is an interesting place. Our horse & carriage tour guide told us that the French Quarter didn't actually get damaged all that much during Katrina - everywhere up to about 12ft above sea level was flooded, but the French Quarter is 14ft above and was barely touched. My first reaction to that was 'Great!' At least the main historial and tourist area wasn't badly affected. But that then led me to ask 'So what's its excuse for looking so shabby?' Sure, it's old (well, by American standards it's old), and I guess that brings with it a certain amount of charm, but I think the French Quarter in particular has crossed the line from 'charming' into 'a bit tired'. We didn't find a whole lot of jazz in New Orleans. What we did find a lot of were bars and strip joints. Which I'm sure will interest some people, but me not so much.

All in all, a worthwhile trip to visit a new city; glad I've seen it, the weather (barring one afternoon and evening when there was a storm) was much nicer than at home, and some areas - the Garden District and Audubon Park in particular - are beautiful, but it's no New York.

I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few: -

At the Zoo

French Quarter

St Louis Cathedral

Corgan making bubbles at the Children's Museum

Cool Statue/Monument in Woldenberg Park

Steamboat (obviously)

Capital City

This week it's the fifth annual SpringOne conference, but this year it's in New Orleans in October rather than Florida in December. I didn't go last year - a combination of no holiday entitlement left and no money, plus the fact that I'd been for the previous three years - but with the change of location this year, I decided to go. We knew there was no way we could get a direct flight there from the UK, so we took the opportunity to do something we've been talking about for years - at least, since we started watching the West Wing - and spent the weekend in Washington DC. Turns out there was a flaw in our plan though, as none of the direct flights from DC to New Orleans was with anyone who partnered with our trans-Atlantic BA flight, so we ended up connecting in Dallas, but it was pretty painless, as connections go.


It was pouring down when we got to DC on Friday afternoon. In fact, just walking 5 or 6 blocks from a restaurant back to our hotel was enough to soak Rob's shoes and socks right through, so he resolved to find a pair of slightly more waterproof shoes on Saturday morning. In true man-on-a-shopping-mission style, he walked into the men's shoes department of Macy's, picked up the first pair he saw, tried them on, liked them and bought them. And put them on straight away, leaving his rain-soaked shoes at the store. He remarked that these new shoes were great because they struck a balance between smart and casual - they didn't look out of place with jeans but they were equally good with smart trousers, so he would probably wear them next week at the conference, instead of wearing the shoes I had packed for him. That was when I remembered I had forgotten to pack his more formal shoes…


Weather-wise, Saturday was pretty much a repeat of Friday. After Macy's, we got the Metro over to Capitol South and had a look around the Library of Congress, then we walked across the road to the Capitol Building and did the free tour. We walked up the Mall towards the Washington Monument but it started raining really heavily so we ducked into the Air & Space Museum to escape the rain for a while. Turned out everyone else had the same idea - it was packed. So we got the Metro up to a micro-brewery Rob had found and had a late lunch. We were pretty wet and cold by then - we had brought waterproof jackets with hoods etc, but once my jeans were wet through and my legs got cold I started feeling a bit fed up. Plus we were both quite jet-lagged so we made our way back to the hotel via the White House, got in our pyjamas, watched a movie, ordered milk & cookies from room service and went to bed at 9pm. Bliss.


Sunday was colder than Saturday, but it was dry, which made for a much better sightseeing experience. We started out at the Jefferson Memorial and walked to the Lincoln Memorial via the Washington Monument and World War II Memorial, then we walked across the bridge and into Arlington Cemetery. We got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to watch the changing of the guard ceremony, and we also saw the Kennedy graves. Then we walked up to the Iwo Jima Memorial, jumped on the Metro at Rosslyn (remarking that we hadn't realised that the place where President Bartlet got shot was quite so close to Washington) and rode back to our hotel.


I loved the Jefferson Memorial. It was far more beautiful - and less crowded - than the Lincoln Memorial. I really liked Washington generally: it was quite European in its feel; it reminded me of somewhere like the Ringstrasse in Vienna. Well worth a visit.

Next stop: NOLA.

The Pines

Our staff team (minus Smithy who was ill) just got back from 2 nights away to discuss the various aspects of the Church's work. We went to a house called The Pines in Coldwaltham, which is a place in the middle of nowhere the other side of Chichester. I went for a run each morning, and yesterday morning the sunrise was beautiful, so I resolved to take my camera with me this morning. Trouble was, the sunrise was rubbish this morning. Typical.

Still, I took some pictures while I was on my run. I really must read that Lightroom book I borrowed off Andy and learn how to use it - these pictures are just slightly retouched using iPhoto.

I think this one would look nice if I could black-and-white out the background. It's pretty much there already.

It took me forever to get this shot. I had my zoom lens on the camera, and it took me so long to find the dragonfly through the viewfinder that by the time I did, it had flown off again. I'm really pleased I got this one in the end.