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Welcome to New Orleans and the St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square. This is the oldest and probably the most photographed cathedral in the United States. Although New Orleans was settled by the French, and the first church on this site was built by them, this particular structure owes its existence to the Spanish, from the period when they occupied this city. It was completed in 1794 after a fire had destroyed the previous church. A Spaniard named Don Andres Almonester de Roxas spent much of his fortune rebuilding the city after the second great fire, and this beautiful cathedral is a result of that great gift. He and other distinguished Frenchmen and Spaniards are interred in the church. The steeples were an addition during a remodeling in 1851. They are not compatible with the original Spanish architecture and have outraged architects ever since.

The statue in the foreground is of Andrew Jackson, beloved Southern general and later President of the United States. The square is named after him. There is a narrow cobbled street (Chartres) that separates the square from the cathedral, and all along that street on this Saturday that I visited the city there were booths and tables set up by artisans and craftsmen to sell just about anything you could imagine. I enjoyed looking and saved my money for beignets--French puffy pastries sprinkled with powdered sugar.

This fun old paddle boat, a stern-wheel steamboat, takes passengers on cruises up and down the Mississippi River for two-hour narrated trips. You can see the bright red paddle wheel at the back (or stern) of the boat. The wheel is powered by a steam engine deep inside the boat. When the steamboat is tied up at the Toulouse Street Wharf near Jackson Square it plays short calliope concerts that can be heard for several city blocks. The calliope on board the steamboat is powered by the same steam that powers the paddle wheel, and the music sounds exactly like what some would call circus music. It's impossible not to feel happy and want to dance when it's playing. The cruise along the Mississippi (which you see in the picture) is narrated on the first hour out, and the passengers learn all about the history and geography of the area that the boat is passing by. During the second hour of the cruise, as the steamboat makes its way back to the wharf, the passengers are entertained by a Dixieland jazz band on board. A most happy trip, indeed! Just try not to tap your toes!

Instead of just reporting on history, I got to see history in the making on January 6 in New Orleans. The people from the Guinness Book of World Records came to certify that this was, indeed, the longest King Cake ever made. It stretched five hundred feet (152 meters) (one way) along Bourbon Street on the Day of the Kings, which is the twelfth day after Christmas and the day the Wise Men arrived at the manger, according to tradition. The day has always been celebrated here in Louisiana with a King Cake, a coffee cake that has colored sugar sprinkled on it. The colors used are traditionally those of Mardi Gras (purple, green, and gold), and this day signals the beginning of the season of Mardi Gras. That celebration culminates in a huge parade and parties on the Tuesday before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (February 28 this year).

When I took this picture the bakers were doing the final assembling of the sections of coffee cake in two rows around the tables, which could make the cake 2000 feet (610 meters) long instead of the 1000 feet (305 meters) that I thought it was. We'll have to look that up when the new Guinness Book of World Records comes out. Where there was a joining of two foot-long sections of the cake, bakers wearing plastic gloves would scoop out a handful of white icing from a huge bucket and drizzle the icing over the joint. I was learning from one of them the significance of the cake and this effort on this particular day. I asked if anyone would ever get to eat the cake, and they said, "Sure, come back at 3:00." (It was nearly noon when I took this picture.) I looked doubtful, I guess, maybe thinking that no one would leave it alone that long. The baker must have mistaken my look for one of distaste, and he offered me a taste of the bits that were left on his trays. Ooh, it was tasty!

I did come back at 3:00, and the crowd around the cake was being surprisingly very orderly. This being Bourbon Street, of course the jazz from all the clubs around was filling the street with music. Some people were wearing Mardi Gras beads around their necks and had simple costumes on. Suddenly there was a trumpet blast, and several kings in various costumes came walking slowly down the center of the street between the tables. They are the kings of Mardi Gras, my neighbors in the crowd told me. One was actually dressed in the costume of a famous "king"-- Elvis! Others had crowns, robes, and scepters. It was all so much fun and nonsense. Many volunteers for the day's effort came out with knives to cut the cake, and the crowd duly lined up to wait at the various serving places for a piece of the cake. So I had another taste. And then another. There was much more cake than there were people to eat it, in spite of the number of people there. You ask why isn't there a picture of the kings and the crowd and the cutting of the cake? I had sticky hands and fingers, of course, because I got some pieces with all the icing on them!

Please see the January 25, 2001 entry in Flat Teddy's Journal.