In the city of Jazz: An' 'dey all aksed for you!

Hi everyone,

It's been a fantastic day here in NOLA.  What did we do?

I wen' on down to the Audubon Zoo

An' 'dey all aksed for you!

'Dey all aksed for you,

'Dey even enquired about you

I wen' on down to the Audubon Zoo

An' 'dey all aksed for you!

'De monkeys aksed, 'de lions aksed

An' 'de elephants aksed for you too!

Incidentally, the song itself is here.  It was always one of the girls' favourite songs, so it was great to take them to the zoo.

I got the bus out there this morning.  On my way from the street to the zoo I saw an incredible New Orleans image, a street lamp against an oak tree with Spanish moss.

Joni and the girls arrived with Phillip and Sabrina just after I got there and we went in.  It was a really great day.  We saw the canonical animals, including of course the elephants.  We wound up at the sealion pool just at feeding time and got the girls from their stroller.  Rachel didn't want to sit still and began to arc up a little, so Joni took her for a walk.  I held Grace on my lap during the show, which she enjoyed although she was always looking out for Mommy and her sister.  Almost as soon as the show was over she wanted to go find them: "Rachel's with Mommy ... I bet they're over there!" whereupon she'd begin striding in whatever direction she was facing.  Sabrina gave Joni and call and found she and Rachel were at the Dinosaur Enclosure (no, really, the Audubon Zoo has a Dinosaur Enclosure!).  We walked over there and found them - as soon as Grace saw them she broke into a run in her crocs to find her sister and Mommy.  Rachel, meanwhile, had been having a wonderful time chatting to each of the animatronic dinosaurs and watching as they moved and roared.  Outside, they loved digging in the sandpit to uncover the concrete and plaster "dinosaur bones" that were buried for little palaeontologists-in-diapers.

Picture from here.

We walked around for a bit more, and wound up in the "Louisiana Swamp" part of the zoo, which also has a suitably Cajun cafeteria in it.  The girls weren't that interested in lunch, but they loved the music.  I actually recognised the collections of New Orleans jazz and zydeco - they were the ones put out by Putumayo.

Image from here

Image from here

The reason I mention it is that there was a little stage in the cafeteria which the children present immediately converted into a dance floor.  I don't mean to brag, but Grace and Rachel started dancing and didn't stop till it was time to go.  And they both loved dancing with Daddy - I was so stoked and so happy!!!

The next port of call was the Cool Zoo - essentially, a small water park in a fenced off part of the zoo.  Joni had recommended I bring clothes in case I got splashed.  Best. Advice. Ever.  The girls wanted to go up to go down the water slides.  Because there were a lot of bigger kids, my two three-year-old angels were struggling to make headway, so I went up and was swiftly soaked through.  Both of the girls went down the water slides about 10 times, with me taking them up and Joni catching them at the bottom.  They adored it!  At one point Grace felt Rachel was taking to long to slide and gave her a push in the back - little ratbag!  They're fearless little troopers too - despite the bigger kids and some fairly strong jets of water, they couldn't wait to climb back up the steps to the slides.

The next step was the carousel

Image from here

Grace wanted a white horse with a green bridle, and I stood with her.  She immediately nicknamed him "Rowr".  Rachel went for a black puma and Joni stood with her.  She said it was the first time Rachel had been able to ride a carousel without getting upset.  They both loved being able to go round and round, and I'm double pleased with them.

By then it was a little after three, and the girls were getting tired.  Joni and the girls as well as Philip and Sabrina then headed off, and on their recommendation I walked across Audubon Park and got the streetcar down St Charles Avenue.  While crossing the Park, I passed the Louisiana First World War Memorial and Roll of Honour.  I noted that, interestingly, it gives the dates of the conflict as 1917-1919.  It also lists roughly the same number of names as the War Memorial at Colac, despite that latter being a medium sized town in a country at war from 1914-1918.  I'm not sure what to make of that.

I got to the streetcar, which only boards from the front-left rather than the side.

It provided a slow but very scenic ride down St Charles Avenue, which has the classiest and most beautiful architecture in New Orleans.

Image from here

I got back to just before the corner of St Charles and Canal Street and walked back to the Hotel.  I uploaded today's photos to Facebook, had a shower to wash the chlorine off and sat down to type this post.

Tomorrow will be brunch at Mulattes and then the Children's Museum.  I'm looking forward to it already!