There's something delicious about sitting in a room that more than 5 of your literary Gods have sat in as well.
Here are just 3 literary HOT SPOTS:
The Hotel Monteleone
The Hotel Monteleone on Rue Royal, is situated in the heart of the French Quarter, just a few easy blocks from Jackson Square and the Mighty Mississippi. The hotel is a literary landmark (bestowed by the Friends of Libraries, USA) because it was often frequented by Truman Capote, Ernest Hemingway, Eudora Welty, Anne Rice, William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Rebecca Wells (Ya-Yas!).The balcony where Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire. (This play had that line where the guy screams, SSTTEELLLAA!!!)
The Old Absinthe House
This bar was frequented by including Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain.- Crazy fact: Real Absinthe is not legal in the U.S. You may see it in a liquor store, but the bottles do not list the amout of Wormwood(hallucinogenic element that can make u trip)--They are not nearly as strong as the older version that's still allowed in France. Since they can't use real Absinthe, the bar makes a "fake" version of the liquor.
Here's a glass of Absinthe. It is usually poured into a glass, and then a slotted spoon is placed on top with a sugar cube that is slowly allowed to have water dripped on it until the sugar discentrigates into the bright green liquid turning it a cloudy color.
At 'The Old Absinthe House', they light the glass on fire for a sec, but it is just for show and was not done in the past.
Absinthe is also known as 'The Green Fairy' because people used to believe that when you drank it, you would see a green fairy. Maybe you do- I dunno :)
A poster banning Absinthe from Switzerland
In addition to the Absinthe liquor now sold in stores, you can get these Absinthe lollipops from Lollyphile.Lollyphile says that the Absinthe Lollipops "contain an amount of thujone that is within the legal limits set by the US regulatory authorities and of the European Union"
From what I've read- Drinking the legal US versions of Absinthe are comparable to drinking any other liquor. If ur into the real stuff--You have to go to France or other European nations.
5 comments:
Interesting about that Absinthe! Cool places, thanks! I would like to visit there one day.
i agree about poetry being more feminine; in my conception of poetry as a person, it's certainly a woman, as are all the muses, the sirens, the fates, etc. i don't know why that is. i think part of it is the lightness, airiness of poetry; it suggests something much different than the blocky, chunky approach we expect from masculinity.
--thanks for your comments, by the way. they always lift my day.
New Orleans has such facinating history.
That's why I love Anne Rice novels you really can learn much about the character and tradition of old New Orleans.
Wow, I stayed at the Hotel Monteleone a few years ago and hardly saw the outside of the hotel because it poured rain the entire three days we were there. I love New Orleans and visited again the May before Katrina. Great post on literary New Orleans.
great post penny! new orleans is awesome. i need to go back for another visit.
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