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| Church in St Rochs (St Lukes) |
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| World Famous Frankie and Johnnys Furniture.. |
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| Church in Marigny |
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| St Paul ;Church (Lutheran) |
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| St Pauls |
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| There but for the grace of God and a good woman sit I. |
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| Holy Trinity Church |
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| Holy trinity Church |
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| Fr Seelos |
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| Fr Seelos |
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| Decateur in Bywater |
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| Last BLock of ByWater |
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| Dr Bobs in Bywater |
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| BW's (bywater) |
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| By Water BW's |
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| Dr Bob's |
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| Dr Bobs |
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| Our Lady Star of the Sea |
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| St Peter Claver |
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| St Peter Claver |
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| St Peter Claver |
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| Franklin Ave. |
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| Franklin Ave. or Ursuline , forgot . |
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| Entrance to ByWater, Press St. |
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| Historic St Rochs Meat Market |
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| Our Lady Star of the Sea |
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| Our Lady Star of the Sea |
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| St Rochs Playground |
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| Just a neat picture |
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| Our Lady Star of the Sea |
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| Our Lady Star of the Sea |
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| St Rochs |
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| Beautiful Cemetary |
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| Tile Mosaics at St Rochs Cemetary |
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| Street Placard in the Cemetary |
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| Adolescent Cherub/Angel |
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| Another Mosaic |
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| Old and New merge. |
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| Our Lady Start of the Sea, big church but closed . |
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| Entrance way to St Rochs Cemetary |
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| Other entrance way to St Rochs Cemetary |
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| St Rochs with bike path. |
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| Old entrance to St Rochs Cemetary |
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| Old Store in the Marigny |
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| My next profession Punishment awaits me for I have cheated mother nature consistently this winter, dodged rain and cold last 3 weeks,expanded my circle of travel , have been interested in seeing the rest of ByWater, St Rochs , Franklin Ave, Ursuline, St Rochs Ave from the lake to the quarter. Interesting ride, can only be absorbed by bicycle, miss too much in a vehicle, too long to walk 35 miles . Not a long distance for me but it is winter, ( the off season for European bikers). Lance and I ride year round. Friday night I shot straight to the Quarter, met with Andy on the first block of Bourbon, we chatted with another gentleman and were discussing recent events at the Krystal, as we spoke an ambulance pulled up, removed a patron on a stretcher and drove off. Andy was decked out as usual, giant of a man, calls me Mr G. works till 3 am. sees it all. Caught an impromptu parade on Decatur ( for tourist) , was hit by a St Patricks Day parade doubloon, The air was heavy, temp was fair, legs were powerful, ass was tough, vision clear,, head clouded with drugs, making of a good ride and it was. I stopped on the riverfront to eat my yogurt raisins admiring the tourist , tapping my foot to my mp3 player (1100 songs now), Riverfront air has more bite than cement air in the city, makes my knees cold, my ass tight, yet feels good on the face. The homeless man living on the bus bench at Broad and Canal was taken away by ambulance Saturday morning and returned there by Saturday night , he's ok , brown paper bags holding and hiding beer cans guarded the underside of the bench. Saturday and Sunday wiggled my way to the lakefront , Leon C Simon , one day Franklin Ave then Sunday St Rochs to the quarter. Both routes bring me through Bywater, Marigny, Milneburg, Old Old Gentilly, St Rochs, and skirts the edge of the upper ninth ward. Not all are Faubourgs, Farbourgs are neighborhoods adjacent to the central city or the main city, this limits them , no Kenner is not included. the CBD is Faubourg St Mary. Sidebar , as I write this my left ear listens to "To Have and Have Not" on TV, starring Bogey and McCall, she was only 19 playing a sexy vixen, it's the one where she says "you know how to whistle don't you, just put your lips together and blow ". It's based on a book by Hemingway about the period between WWI and WWII, as a lot of his books were because that's when he lived. Hemingway was a decorated soldier in WWI and a decorated Correspondent in WWII. No he didn't write "Casablanca" or "Paths of Glory" . The period is interesting , Germany was marching across the planet with little resistance, Americans were evacuating , Jews were evacuating , Pols were evacuating, French were evacuating, pockets of futile resistance popped up here and there with little impact. My right ear is listening to Jimi Hendrix playing "Third Stone from the Sun" his first big feedback wierd sounding track, it has faux voices and plenty Telecaster feedback. The important part is he states " You'll never hear surf music again", he was right, his style was adopted industry wide. the conservative guitars of "Dick Dale"', The Ventures", The Castaways", The Searchers", all great instrumentalist but it was surf music ,, it died hence forth. Now back to biking. I was overwhelmed by the traveled area , it's crowded with cottages, bungalows, many refurbished, brilliant facades, their stoops call out to me with woeful empathy to sit down sip some wine and smoke a Winston like it would please them as much as me. All that's missing is a "Counting Crows" CD and I'm set till the ambulance comes. . Now a little Beatles as I write.... Beatles are to music as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Madison are to government. My left ear just picked up Lauren saying to Bogey " Got a Match", he plays cool and tosses her a pack of matches , then she says "now I need a Cigarette" , he tossed her a pack of cigarettes,it was like the Sirens singing out to Ulysses , tied to his mast, wax in his ear so he could enjoy the song of the Sirens, 19 year old McCall ..could have done as "Circe" witch goddess and turned me into a swine. ..It would have taken me more than 10 years to get home and Penelope would have to wait, let Telemachus slay the suitors. Ah , my right ear hears "Creed " playing "My own Prison" a man is overwhelmed with guilt , he self imprisons his soul and doesn't really await judgement from God only the impending vengeance. He is imprisoned by his own guilt and expects no mercy.. Royal St was kicking Saturday, the man sitting in the gutter playing his guitar, smoking a Winston, begging for money "could have been me" if life took a few different turns. My scanning left eye caught vision of a Great Dane (dog), huge, off white with dark markings, led by Tom Thumb dressed in a white tuxedo and black boots. They were the same height Wow!, no more blotter acid before a ride.. Suddenly I"m blasted from the right side by Cajun Music, not a band, a PA system from a T Shirt shop, almost knocked me off my bike. . Here she comes again, long dark hair, medium built, wearing a flowered sundress, tattoos on the outside of her legs , one on her back and a ring in her lip. She rides a fat tire beach bike with a front basket carrying a jacket. I concentrate on her as she passes and goes up the block , her figure begins to pale , thin, then disappears. Kinda like a Ichabod Crane on a bike.We crossed paths many time with the same result. I think her name is Delilah Valium...there are 500 references to differing Delilahs, pick one, they all apply. Did 25 Friday night, me and my brass balls, did 35, Saturday, and 25 Sunday, good for an off season ride. I get home feeling refreshed, relaxed, rejuvenated, and stoned... It's been a Jack Kerouac weekend. I love it. . gary...... |
