Contemplating The Big Easy

I admit it. I was never a big fan of the Big Easy.

Of all the times I visited the city, I was not impressed. But rather came away depressed. Each time was in the summer with the stifling humidity. Each time the police force was on a "Blue Out." One time, a male co-worker--a large young guy--came back to the hotel announcing he had been mugged in the middle of the day in a busy part of town. And also each time I tried out of the local famed eateries I was surprised how dirty they were--this from a native New Yorker. And this too from a girl born and bred in the Big Apple, New Orleans was the one city I truly felt unsafe in. One minute you're walking down a brightly lit street, the next you turn down a dark alley. And, of course, there would no one on site to help since the all the police were out "sick." And speaking of walking down the street, one or two trips down the French Quarter was enough for me--what with the open drinking and people puking up and down the block. Don't get me started on the sales tax--it was outrageous. I thought if the taxes were this high and supposed to go to the upkeep of the city, then someone's got to be pocketing some of it for sure. 'Cause the city was just plain run down.

But despite this, the state of New Orleans today is staggering to me. For some reason I am becoming nostalgic for a city that really didn't thrill me. Maybe it was the people. During my travels there, the people always seemed so proud of the city. They wanted to talk about their city. They wanted to show me the highlights of the city. They wanted to feed me. Then, of course, with it being birth place of jazz, you can't help but feeling a heart sting or two pop. After all, this Louis Armstrong territory. Also, I had an open invitation to the International House Hotel. After writing a piece on the boutique hotel for Black Enterprise because it was the first major hotel in the Crescent City to have black investors, the owners offered me the Penthouse whenever I came to "N'awlins." And for some reason I still believe this--and the article came out in 1999. Maybe that's how New Orleans gets into your system--southern charm with a dash of sass--for good measure.

Maybe I will return to New Orleans and check out the hotel's Sanctuary Love, a Voodoo ritual they do to bless guests. I'll say a blessing for the city while I'm there.

TRAVEL TIPS...It's March madness in Toronto at the Delta Toronto East hotel---well, sort of. March is when they pull out all their March break promotions. And this year is no exception. One package, for example, includes: one-night's accommodation in a Delta room, Toronto Zoo passes for a family of 4; pop & popcorn delivered to your room one evening; cookies and milk delivered before bedtime a second evening. The March Break Packages also includes the following: supervised resort activities, $20 Angel’s Spa & Wellness Centre voucher per room, use of indoor pool, monster waterslide, saunas, whirlpool, new exercise room, squash court and mini-putting green. Kids eat free in any of the hotel's three family restaurants. There's also a kids check-in desk and kids get a welcome bag upon arrival. Available March 10-18...Le Blanc Spa Resort just had a grand reopening following the passage of Hurricane Wilma in late October. To celebrate, the Cancun resort is introducing a winter/spring special offering 20% off new bookings when guests stay for three nights or more from now through April 22. A Le Blanc Spa Resort vacation package includes luxurious all-suite accommodations with double Jacuzzis, haute cuisine, premium drinks, dazzling entertainment, taxes and gratuities, to name just a few. Discount, the savings averages out to be about $93 nightly, making the new rate $369 a night. For more info, call 877-753-2526 or visit www.leblancsparesort.com ...Toronto's finest Chinese restaurant will create menu items for business class on Air Canada, as the airline has partnered with Lai Wah Heen, renowned for its traditional Chinese cuisine with a modern interpretation. A series of authentic Chinese dishes will be offered to guests of Air Canada flying business class from Toronto and Vancouver to Hong Kong and Beijing. In total, seven dishes were created for Air Canada by Lai Wah Heen's executive chef, Ken Tam, and Hemispheres Restaurant executive chef, Raymond Cheung, (Lai Wah Hee's sister restaurant at the Metropolitan Hotel Toronto). The dishes range from Pan-Seared Beef Tenderloin in a Sweet Tomato Sauce paired with Seasonal Chinese Vegetables and Egg-Fried Jasmine Rice to Shredded Peking Duck Breast in Braised Vermicelli and Pickled Mustard Greens to Deep-Fried Tofu stuffed with Shrimp Mousse, topped with Egg White Sauce and complemented with Seasonal Chinese Vegetables and Crab Meat-Fried Rice on the side. Each month, two of the seven items will be featured on the menu, alongside Air Canada's other gourmet selections.

The Purple House in Texas

There had been such uproar about it. A purple house in the middle of a landmark neighborhood in a suburb of San Antonio, Texas, where color restrictions applied. What made matters worse was the home's new owner, celebrated writer, Sandra Cisneros--who painted it purple--was Mexican American and the rest of the hood it seems was predominately Anglo. People protested her house; it was in the news; curious folks stopped by at all hours.

Cisneros even wrote about the whole situation in HispanicLink. "My life is such a telenovela! One day I painted my house tejano colors; the next day, my house is in all the news, cars swarming by, families having their photos taken in front of my purple casita as if it were the Alamo. The neighbors put up an iced-tea stand and made 10 dollars!," she wrote.

The block is the King William neighborhood, lined with stately homes. According to the now legend, Cisneros thought she had received permission from the landmark review board and went ahead, painting away. But it wasn't approved after all. Then when the other residents complained, Cisneros realized this was more than just about the color of a house. If the home were to be in traditional colors, well her's was in a color traditional for her culture. The issue had a much larger scope. Cisneros argued that the color was historic to her and her people.

"My history is made up of a community whose homes were so poor and unimportant as to be considered unworthy of historic preservation. No famous architect designed the houses of the tejanos, and there are no books in the San Antonio Conservation Society library about houses of the working-class community, no photos romanticizing their poverty, no ladies' auxiliary working toward preserving their presence. Their homes are gone; their history is invisible. The few historic homes that survived have access cut off by freeways because city planners did not judge them important," she later wrote. "The issue is bigger than my house. The issue is about historical inclusion. I want to paint my house a traditional color. But I don't think it unreasonable to include the traditions of los tejanos who had a great deal to do with creating the city of San Antonio we know today. I wouldn't mind painting my house a historical color, but please give me a broader palette than Surrey beige, Sevres blue, Hawthorne green, Frontier Days brown and Plymouth Rock grey. Purple is historic to us. It only goes back a thousand years or so to the pyramids. It is present in the Nahua codices, book of the Aztecs, as is turquoise, the color I used for my house trim; the former color signifying royalty, the latter, water and rain."

With all this attention, I had to see this home to understand for myself what the fuse was about. While on a press trip to San Antonio, I asked the trip organizer, Geiger & Associates PR, help me house hunt. Finding our way to the purple house, we passed house after house of loud, almost gaudy colored homes. We could not find the purple one. We didn't have the house number, just the color and the street name, Guenther Street. Finally we asked a little boy testing out his obviously new two-wheeler where we could find the purple house. He pointed to one we had just passed.

"Purple!" I thought. I was expecting Prince purple. But here before me was a lovely lavender home. Periwinkle was the exact color. In front was a man painting the trim white. I asked if Ms. Cicernos was home. No, he said, as if used to the question. So I asked if many still came by. "Yes. They come all the time," he replied. He motioned for me to add my comments to a special mailbox the owner had set up. Obviously, even a few years into the debate, it was still a hot topic. I asked if the neighborhood still wanted the home repainted. "Yep," he answered and went back to work.

Well, it has been a while and the latest rumor is Cisneros changed the color of her house from periwinkle to pink. I wonder if it's hot pink.

Travel Tips
There are MoBay Packages at SuperClubs Resort Start from $149 per person, through April 16. The newly renovated Breezes Montego Bay in Jamaica includes 124 air-conditioned guest rooms and suites have been rejuvenated in a facelift that includes mahogany furnishings, upgraded linens and drapes, new TV sets and re-appointed bathrooms. Guests in oceanfront suites can unwind on new leather sofas, while the soundproofed sliding balcony doors can be opened to let in the comforting sounds of lapping ocean waves and fresh sea breezes. Two of the resort's popular restaurants have also been upgraded--Jimmy's Buffetand Pool Bar and Grill. For more information visit www.breezes.com, call 800 GO SUPER...Funjet Vacations just launched an "On Demand" Virtual Tour of the Riviera Maya, offering travelers a unique way to research Mexico's premier vacation hot spot before booking. The interactive "Mayan calendar" format lets travelers choose the content they want to see, from resorts to tourist attractions. This one-of-a-kind virtual familiarization tour is available through the Funjet Vacations website at www.funjet.com/specials/rvm_virtualfam.asp?pageMode=D&plCode. The broadcast includes post-Hurricane Wilma footage of 15 hotels and several attractions--all filmed the week after Thanksgiving. "Our goal is to get travelers excited about visiting the Riviera Maya again," said Ray Snisky, president of Funjet Vacations. "Right now, there is some confusion about the status of the recovery effort post-Wilma. This interactive video allows travelers to see for themselves that the Riviera Maya is the ideal destination for a winter vacation." There's also a web log (blog) dedicated to providing travelers with tourism updates on the Riviera Maya. The Riviera Maya blog is at RivieraMayaUpdate.Blogspot.com...New happenings at Club Med, Peisey-Vallandry, France, a charming village bordering the Vanoise National Park is at the heart of a ski paradise. This fabulous ski resort with its 425 kilometres of ski runs and two glaciers just got more fabulous with the opening of the NUXE Spa at the new Club Med Village. It has nine luxurious treatment rooms, one private spa for treatments for two, one traditional hammam with two adjoining exfoliation areas, one sensory bath...Foodies, it's time for Denver Restaurant Week, Feb. 25-March 3. A total of 117 restaurants will participae, offering multi-course dinners for the fixed price of $52.80 for two or $26.40 for one. The culinary festival will encompass everything from Denver's oldest restaurant and saloon--the Buckhorn Exchange--to some of the Mile High City's newest eateries. Denver Restaurant Week special menus can be found at www.denver.org, under the Beringer Denver Restaurant Week button. Bon Appétit.

Finding Friends & Family In DC

Touring DC I never expected to run into people I knew. Well, not actually bump into them, but to find their names, their lives memorialized for eons to come. After experiencing the Vietnam Memorial, designed gracefully and powerfully by Maya Ying Lin, you truly feel the lives lost. But when I checked out the The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial little did I expect to find a relative who had died not long before my trip. Right there, carved into the stone was the name Van Derick Johnson, my step-mother's young, handsome brother who was run down on a Los Angeles highway while on his patrol motorcycle. He was a celebrated policeman and his funeral in L.A. drew the Mayor and other local officials. Along with his name were more than 17,000 federal, state and local law enforcers who have been killed in the line of duty, dating back to the first known death in 1792. The person who hit Van never stopped and was never caught. At the site, I took a pencil scratched his name onto a piece of paper for his my step-mother. It was a sad awakening that was too close to home.

Then making my way over to the Women In Military Service For America Memorial, I met my mother, who is still alive and thankfully well in New York. But there she was on the screens at the memorial, which honors both living and deceased women who have served in the military. My mother, Teresa Del Rio Brown, was featured for being the first black woman for West Virginia to join the Navy, which she did in 1952. All the information about her service was there for anyone interested to see. But she had not sent in a picture, which I asked her about. "Oh, I did get something about that," she said when I told her later. I asked if she was going to send in a photo. "I'll see. They can get one from the military. If I get around to it," she said. She still hasn't gotten around to it. And frankly these days whenever I speak to her about the military she remarks about how ashamed she is for the way the military is underpaying and treating service men. "I can't believe some of these men and their family are getting very little help, even the one who have returned home injured. They aren't getting good medical care and I keep hearing about how so many of the families don't have money for food. I can't believe the military is treating them like that."

So I guess, she'll never get around to sending in her picture, especially one of her in uniform.

Travel Tips

Great for the Kids: Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers (www.sheratonchicago.com) is offering Kids Kulinary package for chefs-in-training and tea aficionado wannabes. Starting at $194, the package includes cooking lessons for kids (ages 5-12), etiquette course, a tea party for tykes, one-night accommodations (with parents, or course) and more. Feb. 11-12...Over at the The Westin Chicago River North (http://www.westinrivernorth.com/) will be serving up a Teas from Around the World weekend package, which includes a private high tea session with a Certified Tea and Etiquette Consultant. The entertaining and educational class focuses on the history of the herbal beverage and on the art of giving an elegant tea party. Guests will also head to Argo Tea of Chicago for a tea tasting. The one-night package is priced at $251 per room, double occupancy...Ready for Valentine's Day? If not, Chicago’s Loews’ House of Blues Hotel (www.loewshotels.com/hotels/chicago) has somtsomethingque this year. Their varied collection of packages includes such perks as a book of poetry, love potion cocktails, adult movies, flavored warming lotion, or even a session with a psychic for those who want a glimpse of their future love life. Available February 10-19, 2005 and priced at $269* each, the Nice, Naughty or Nasty packages include: "Nice": One-night stay in a deluxe guestroom, breakfast in bed, champagne and truffles upon arrival, bath beads, a book of love poems. "Naughty": One-night stay in a deluxe guestroom, breakfast in bed, basket of Kama Sutra amenities upon arrival, two complimentary "love potion" drinks in the hotel's Kaz Bar. “Nasty”: One-night stay in a deluxe guestroom, breakfast in bed, bottle of Hpnotiq Liqueur, basket of “Very Naughty” amenities upon arrivalm, 1 Adult Movie Selection...Speaking of V-Day, take your loved one to Ithaca (http://www.visitithaca.com/), yes Ithaca. There's a bunch of romantic getaway options. Throughout the month of February, the Finger Lakes region is offering lovebirds a bevy of deals with rates starting at $65 per night, based on double occupancy. At the William Henry Miller Inn (607-256-4553 or 877-25MILLER), for example, they have the Un-Valentine’s Day package on February 15 and 16. The recently divorced owners of this quaint B&B created a special package for the dateless. Starting at $150 per night, single occupancy, the offer incldes an eveincludesll of decadent desserts (triple chocolate cake, white chocolate brownies and chocolate-covered strawberries). You'll also receive a box of truffles and sparkling grape juice and a three-course breakfast...Meanwhile, the Ithaca Best Western (http://www.bestwestern.com/) has a "Lovers Valentine’s Day at $150 for Fireplace room. You'll get champagne and chocolates upon arrival; shuttle service to any local restaurant for dinner, and deluxe continental breakfast for two... The Ithaca Hilton Garden Inn http://www.ithaca.gardeninn.com features a Romance Package at $159, February 1-28. Besides the special rates you'll receive a bottle of sparkling wine and breakfast for two...Grenada's (www.grenadagrenadines.com) world-famous Grand Anse Beach has a new hotel. Jenny’s Place (http://www.jennysplacegrenada.com/) has six studio apartments facing the beach. Guests will also enjoy the property’s Turning Point Diner, which offers a variety of local and international cuisine, together with a well-stocked bar and plenty of rustic atmosphere on the water's edge. Owner Jennifer Hoston, a newly returned national of Grenada, made the island famous in 1970 when she won the prestigious Miss World. Weekly rates for one to two people per room start at $420 from now through April 14th, 2006. From April 15th – December 14th, rates start at $350 per week, for one to two people per room. For each extra adult in any room, a $140 fee is applied, while children from 3-12 years old can stay for an extra $70.