TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD: The Historic New Orleans Collection
While visiting New Orleans we found a very interesting place to visit. “The Historical New Orleans Collection” is housed at 533 Royal Street in the heart of the French Quarter. Hours are Tuesday thru Saturday, 9:30 to 4:30 and Sunday, 10:30 to 4:30. Closed on Mondays.
The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. It was founded in 1966 by General L. Kemper Williams and Leila Hardie Moore Williams who were collectors of Louisiana memorabilia and wanted to share their collections with the public.
Guided tours give visitors an inside look at the elegant residence of the founders including the magnificent architecture and plush courtyards and it includes 7 buildings that compose the complex.. It truly is a remarkable tour and true New Orleans history at it’s finest. They have beautiful period furniture, silver, porcelain and oil paintings. There are different exhibits at different times. In addition they have a very interesting Gift shop.
The Williams Research Center is located just a block away at 410 Chartres Street. Their hours are Tuesday thru Saturday, 9:30 to 4:30 and they are closed on Sunday and Monday. They have over one million items from more than 300 years, documenting New Orleans history. Scholars, historians and the general public can do research there.While we were there, they had an exhibit of photographs by the Louisiana photographer, Clarence John Laughlin who was an American photographer best known for his surrealistic photographs of the South. The exhibit . also included photos by his contemporary photographer/friends. It was a remarkable and interesting exhibit.
The subject matter ran from landscapes to people in the area as well as buildings, trees, nature and a good general range for all to enjoy. Laughlin’s business and personal correspondence, notebooks, negative index, clipping file, and published and unpublished manuscripts for books and the articles are available to research at the Williams Research Center there. This certainly a “must see” place to visit and tour when visiting New Orleans!
Before visiting the Collection, visit their website at www.hnoc.org. Their phone is: 504.523.4662.
When we visit museums and historical places, we always enjoy complimenting some of the people who were outstanding. Among the people that we found truly friendly and professional were Docent Kurt Owens, Receptionist, Frances Salvaggio, Volunteer Barbara Louviere and Marketing Associate Anne Robichaux. You could tell that they all enjoy doing what they do. They were all very knowledgeable about New Orleans and full of information.
After visiting the Historic New Orleans Collection we highly recommend these restaurants in New Orleans,
MONA LISA’s, 1212 Royal Street, THE CHEEZY CAJUN.
To really get the ‘feel’ of New Orleans we like to stay at the BLUE60 Guest House, 1008 Elysian Fields Avenue.
Always remember to have fun when traveling, meet new people and talk to everyone!
TRAVELING IN OUR FABULOUS GAY WORLD is written by Donald Pile and Ray Williams, Award-winning, Celebrity travel columnists who write for gay publications from coast to coast (And now legally married).
Proud members of the IGLTA. You can email them at gaytravelers@aol.com and visit their website at http://gaytravelersataol.blogspot.com/
I spent the bigger part of the past week in Israel before returning to Berlin, where I was greeted with snow. It couldn’t have been a greater contrast: On Thursday, I went running in a tank top on the beach, and on Friday I went running across icy & snowy Tempelhof airfield.
After a couple of days in Jerusalem we took the bus to Tel Aviv and spent my final days in Israel in what is one of my favorite cities in the world. It was the perfect way to end my trip – after a few chilly days, the weather was sunny and warm, and we splurged on fancy hotel right by the beach, using a discount code for Hotels.com.
We did all the things I love doing in Tel Aviv: morning runs along the beach promenade, strolls through Carmel market and Jaffa flea market, eating lots of sabich sandwiches (I fit in two visits to the legendary sabich sandwich place on the corner of Frishman and Dizengoff Str). Luckily we took advantage of Tel Aviv’s bike sharing system, which I discovered during my last visit, and cycled off some of the calories.
Good afternoon,
Today was a day to just relax by the pool. Susan and I have had a week of relaxing, but we also learned about some of the culture of Mexico, and especially about the state of Jalisco. I am always open to learning new things.
We took a trip up to two of the towns in the Sierra Madre mountains, Talpa and Mascota. Although I had been there before, I learned new things about these towns this trip.
Both of these villages are listed as Magical Towns (Pueblos Magico). This is a designation given to the by the board of Mexican tourism. To qualify, a town must have:
1). A history of a significant event, either real or legendary,
2). A unique everyday life, and
3). The town must be well preserved.
Once the town has this designation, it receives money from the tourist board to keep the town clean and in good repair. One thing one village did was put all the electrical lines underground, rather than have the unsightly mess so often seen, of lines running all over the place.
Mascota also has a high school where students can elect to learn a trade, as well as obtain the usual high school education. The specialties of this school include cheese making and butchering, as the countryside has many farms. We also saw two woodworking classes, one for boys and one for girls. We could not discover why the classes were segregated. Both classes made furniture, cabinets for houses, and other practical wooden items.
The products from this school are sold in town, or at the school, and all proceeds return to the school.
The other town we visited, Talpa, has a lovely city center dominated by a church. This town’s historical event was a miracle where a statue of the Virgin that was made of leaves and grasses was converted into a beautiful golden statue. That statue now resides in the church. Pilgrims come from all over to pray to the Virgin.
The area, despite being in the mountains, is very dry. It must be extremely hard to grow things in this arid climate; however, sugar cane flourishes, and several stores in this village are candy stores, making their treats from the sugar cane, as well as some of the tropical fruit of the region.
Another town in Jalisco that has the Magical Town designation is Tequila. Yes, that is the name of the town. This town is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is known for the blue agave from which the liquor, tequila, is made. I did not visit that town, so I don’t have any pictures, but I did learn something about tequila.
The true tequila from the blue agave is only produced in Jalisco, with limited amounts being allowed to be produced in other states. If the tequila is not made from only the blue agave, and is made with a combination of juices from other agave plants, the liquor is called Mezcal. Therefore, all you tequila lovers, the Mezcal with the worm in it is not a true tequila.
That is only one of some well-known facts (to me) that was shot down during my cultural lesson. I also discovered that Mariachi music is not Mexican in origin, but Austrian, although it sounds more like German polka music to me. That makes sense, given that Maximilian from Austria, was a king here for a short time, before he was assassinated. Mexican beer also has its beginning with Austrians.
Last night, we took a boat trip to the island of Las Caletas for dinner and a show, depicting the culture and some of the fables of the native Indian cultures. The show was more like a Cirque de Soleil, in that many acrobats, a flying butterfly who was playing a violin, a walking tree, along with the fire jugglers. A mermaid greeted the boat as we approached the island.
Our dining tables were along the water’s edge. A harpist and a guitarist played soft background music. The lighting was torches and votive candles. It was truly a relaxing evening, with good food and wine.
When we left on our boat to return to Puerto Vallarta, we were entertained by our ship’s crew, who did a tribute to Kiss, the 1980’s rock group. They did a pretty good job of singing the songs, although their guitars were made of wood and had no strings. To me, the epitome of the evening, though, was when the captain turned off all the overhead lights, allowing us to see the full moon overhead, with barely a wisp of a cloud in the sky. We could still see the Sierra Madre mountains in the background of the city of Puerto Vallarta as we travelled back to the Marina. The lights along the shore of the city lent an air of a place of festivity and holiday, but also a place of peacefulness.
Today, I just enjoyed the quiet and solitude of Club Regina.
Too soon I will leave this enchanted place and return to cold weather. Until I write again,
Adios,
Dolly]]> 
“A man who rides Peruvian paso horses is referred to as a “chalan” – not to be confused with a “chalon” – that’s Peruvian gay slang for a guy with a huge dick!”
Our Peruvian buddy Aaron from Lima is always keen to show off the highlights of his country.
Tourism in gay Peru has exploded over the past decade and alongside this, it has been one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Peru has historically been a very conservative society and quite hostile to its LGBT community.
For example, there are no laws in place for gay couples to enter into civil unions, let alone gay marriage. On top of that, laws meant to protect public morals are often used against gays and lesbians: a protest called Kisses Against Homophobia over the Valentine’s weekend in 2016 was brutally and violently interrupted by the police showing the government’s lack of progress in protecting its LGBT Peruvians.
However, fast forward a year and there is hope for change. More Peruvian politicians are slowly coming out to support the LGBT community. The Civil Union bill was reintroduced into Congress in late November 2016 with strong backing from President Kuczynski.
Then in January 2017, the same President issued a decree prohibiting all forms of discrimination and hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Very slowly, Peru is evolving and getting ready to take her place in the pink limelight.
Phew, where do I even begin? Let’s start with the good news: I won the lottery! No, I didn’t win a million dollars, but I won a green card.. i.e. permanent residency, the right to live in the US. Did you know that you can win green cards? Chances are that if you are from the US, you aren’t aware of the fact that your country gives away 50,000 immigrant visas through a lottery. Or at least most Americans that I told I won a green card didn’t know that this was possible.
And most foreigners I’ve met in the past few months who I told about my green card win had heard about it but didn’t think it really existed, they thought it was more of an urban legend. But yes, the US have an amazing initiative called The Diversity Visa Program, which was introduced in the early 1990s to attract immigrants from countries with low immigrant quotas.
You can enter every year (it takes place in October, running all month), and it’s completely free of charge. The only requirement to qualify for the DV lottery visa? You must have a high school diploma or its equivalent; or within five years of applying, at least two years of work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years’ training or experience. Some countries – those that sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants (those issued green cards) to the US – aren’t eligible to participate, but millions of people from all over the world enter the lottery every year hoping to make their ‘American Dream’ come true : to emigrate to ‘The Land Of Opportunity’.
Pisco Sour is the national drink of Peru and one of our all time favourite cocktails. It’s a mix of Pisco (a grape brandy), lime juice, egg whites and sweetened with syrup.
The famous Peruvian Pisco Sour was invented in the early 1920s at Morris Bar in Lima by its owner, Victor Vaughen Morris who came up with the idea of adding Angostura bitters and egg whites to Pisco.
Morris Bar used to be located at 847 Calle Boza but it closed down after Victor passed away in 1929.
Pisco Sour has become an institution in Peru and in 2003 it got its own official government holiday: Día Nacional del Pisco Sour (National Pisco Sour Day) is celebrated on the first Saturday of February.
In Lima, we met local boy Aaron, who also goes by the nickname The Pisco King. Aaron sat us down and showed us his recipe for making the perfect Peruvian Pisco Sour cocktail…
Catedral de Avila or Avila Cathedral is the first Gothic cathedral in Spain. Going inside was the first thing I did when I arrived in this city known for its ancient fortress.
Instead of joining a tour, I opted to do it alone because, as you can guess, I abhor to be rushed. And besides, a lot of the Spanish descriptions on objects and icons aren’t really that hard to understand. I survived with my limited Spanish without any difficulties.
Avila Cathedral has a long name – Cathedral of Christ the Saviour of Avila. It is a UNESCO Heritage Site.
This past week has been an absolute roller coaster of emotions: 
The average length is 7 inches! Surely a reason alone to book your flight over…
Quito itself is a beautiful city to explore, perched up high in the mountains, almost 3,000m/9,840ft high. Once you’ve caught your breath from the altitude, you’ll quickly discover a fun, vibrant and exciting gay scene.