Monday, April 25
New Orleans
A good 5 miles on foot

I slept late and started the day at Swan River yoga studio, a gorgeous space in a former library. I got there early and got to eavesdrop on a children’s yoga and singing workshop. “All I want is a happy hippopotamus, a happy hippopotamus!” What fun!

Haiyun was substituting for the regular teacher. He made sure he knew who everyone was before class started. We worked on hand balances and handstands for fun. One of the women had her baby, Indigo, napping next to her mat. It seemed like a lovely symbol of rebirth following the Easter holiday. I have really never before felt such strong energy vibrations during savasana.

After class, other students gave me suggestions about what to do in town, which mostly were about eating yummy desserts! These included the Creole Creamery, Audobon Park for snowballs, Sucre, and Angelo Brancatos for gelato or cannolis. The last was close to Louis’ house and had been featured on Treme last night. Unfortunately, they had been closed for Easter and were closed on Mondays.

Haiyun invited me to join him for lunch at Dosun, a Vietnamese restaurant. We had wonderful noodles, tofu, bok choy and mushrooms. I’ve had almost no Asian food since I left San Diego. It was delicious! He sais a Vietnamese population had developed here after the Vietnam war.

Haiyun had moved here about five years ago from Los Angeles. He runs the Swan River studio Arabi location. His studio is a donation based studio in St. Bernard, 9th ward. He is really working on community involvement. It was so exciting to hear about. It has been open three months and is covering costs so far. He’s also going on a trip to Haiti soon to do volunteer work.

We had a great conversation about yoga and traveling. So many people express their fear of me travelling alone, for example. We are surrounded by fear, but it’s an emotion, irrational, and might not necessarily reflect actual experiences. At the same
time, New Orleans has a very high murder rate. It’s good to be respectful of that, but pay attention to the energy you carry with you.

He dropped me off at Audobon Park, which was lovely.

I enjoyed this group of sculptures.

I was not surprised to read the title.

Audobon Park is across the street from Loyola University.

I zigzagged through the Garden District on my way to get ice cream. The homes there are known for being beautiful, and they were. A surprising amount of them were off white on off white.

I had expected more color. Though perhaps it was just primer, and that is the stage of hurricane recovery in this neighborhood.

I savored some Lavender Honey ice cream at the Creole Creamery! An excellent suggestion.

I headed back to Louis’ on the St. Charles line street car.

The trees all along St. Charles are full of Mardi Gras beads. I had to take it to the Canal St. line, take that, and then walk a few blocks.

Later I took the street car back down to the French Quarter to hear some music on Frenchman’s Street. Now that Bourbon street is a parody of itself, (I even saw puke on the street on a Monday night!) Frenchman’s is the place for music. Louis had recommended Glen David Andrews. http://www.glendavidandrewsband.com/ It was his birthday, and as the night went on, he also found out he had lost to his cousin for local Big Easy performer of the year awards. A singer in town for next weekend’s Jazz Festival joined him on stage. He played trombone in the crowd and out in the street. The chorus of his new song goes, “I’m gonna melt your ass like butter!” The trumpet player held a note for nearly five minutes. I am not exaggerating. They played the theme song from “Treme,” which might actually be his song. I’m not sure. I only heard it when I saw the show for the first time last night, but it’s awesome live. I wish I could listen to music in New Orleans clubs every day!

I left an hour after I should have, long after I was already too tired to stand up anymore. I stopped at Cafe du Monde for beignets for sustenance to get all the way home.

A day that ends with fried dough is a good day, indeed!

• «Previous Post
• Next Post »

---