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Monthly Archives: December 2016

New Orleans news from Royal Carriages Tours

2016 Best Christmas Decorations in New Orleans

Posted by on December 19, 2016

New Orleans is a city that loves to celebrate. Give us the opportunity to throw on some glitter and have a party, and we'll make sure everything is dressed to impressed for the occasion. The Christmas holidays are especially exciting because in many ways they are the beginning days of our carnival celebrations. The countdown to the new year and Mardi Gras is already upon us, but before the year comes to a close, let us remember New Orleans' best Christmas decor of 2016. 

Royal Sonesta Hotel
Enjoy a historic carriage tour and view the best christmas decorations in New Orleans' French Quarter
Royal Sonesta Hotel Lobby Christmas Decorations in the French Quarter of New Orleans

Hotel Montelone
Enjoy a historic carriage tour and view the best christmas decorations in New Orleans' French Quarter
Beautiful Christmas decorations in the lobby of the Hotel Montelone of New Orleans

Roosevelt Hotel



French Quarter Homes
Enjoy a historic carriage tour and view the best christmas decorations in New Orleans' French Quarter
Enjoy a historic carriage tour and view the best christmas decorations in New Orleans' French Quarter
Enjoy a historic carriage tour and view the best christmas decorations in New Orleans' French Quarter

Garden District Homes



 


If you would love to see the lights while seated comfortably on one of our authentic mule-drawn carriages, we'd be more than happy to provide you and your family with one of the most memorable holiday experience in New Orleans. If these holiday photographs made you miss New Orleans, share them with someone you love! Happy Holidays from all of us at Royal Carriages! 
 

What's the big deal with cemeteries in New Orleans?

Posted by on December 13, 2016

“The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds - the cemeteries - and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here.” - Bob Dylan

What makes a graveyard attract more than a hundred thousand visitors each year? In New Orleans, most will say “The Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau”. It’s true that the legend of a powerful and influential voodoo priestess has enchanted spectators since her death in 1881.

Top rate cemetery tours in New Orleans show visitors Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen's family tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #1 

Tall tails were weaved by locals and visitors resulting in a tradition that encouraged visitors to leave their mark behind in the form of XXX on the tomb in exchange for a wish granted. With more than thirty years of graffiti, the tomb of Marie Laveau finally received a much-deserved restoration in 2014.

St. Louis Cemetery #1 isn’t the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. The original graveyard was located two blocks away in the French Quarter and is now home to condos and a swimming pool. Unlike the original St. Peter's Cemetery, St. Louis Cemetery #1 was established in Spanish Colonial Rule and built in a swamp, resulting in strange above-ground tombs that resemble “Cities of the Dead”. Above-ground burials are efficient since each tomb can be used countless times.
 

Top rated on Trip Advisor, Bare Bones Walking Tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1 in New Orleans shows visitors Nicolas Cage's pyramid tomb

Beside a renowned voodoo priestess, who else is buried in St. Louis Cemetery #1?

  • In 2010, actor Nicolas Cage purchased a lot of land in the cemetery and commissioned a pyramid-shaped tomb to be built as his future final resting place
  • The plaintiff from the landmark 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision on civil rights
  • A womanizing gambling political millionaire who’d challenge anyone to a duel
  • An architect who allegedly became one of Jean Lafitte's pirates
  • Earliest World Champion of Chess
  • Chief of the Golden Star Hunters and President of the Mardi Gras Indian Council
  • The Governors Wives who both died of Yellow Fever
  • The first mayor of New Orleans also doubled as a wealthy pioneer of the sugar industry
  • New Orleans first African-American mayor

Recent changes to St. Louis Cemetery #1 require that all guest must be accompanied by a licensed tour guide working for a tour company registered and approved through the Archdiocese of New Orleans. While this may seem strange, supervision and education by a licensed guide have reduced the amount of desecration by tourists and vandals to the sacred burial ground over the past few years. The money paid to the Archdiocese by each tour company also pays for full-time security at St. Louis Cemetery #1. 

Join us as we walk amongst the orphaned and abandoned tombs, the disrepair, and decay. The architecture and symbolism found throughout the cemetery are utterly fascinating. Did you know that a flame or candle can represent the spirit?


 

Royal Carriages provides the most affordable tour of St. Louis #1. Our 1-hour Bare Bones Walking Tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1 is only priced at $15 per person. While other tour companies have tour groups of up to 25 participants, we believe in providing smaller group experience. Often times our groups are no larger than 10 participants total. 

Click here to buy tickets for an upcoming tour. 

Enjoy Royal Carriages Bare Bones Guide to St. Louis Cemetery #1

Royal Carriages Bare Bones Walking Tour of New Orleans' St. Louis Cemetery #1 Fact Sheet

10 Reasons Why Mules are like 1500lb Toddlers

Posted by on December 06, 2016

Carriage Driver, Mark Orfila, has worked in the French Quarter with carriage mules for about 5 years now. As a father who's raised two lovely kids, his experience working with our mules seems oddly family to the early days of parenthood. 

10 Reasons Why Mules Are Like 1500 lb Toddlers

  1. Oversize fears of everyday objects. A plastic bag blowing down the street or a discarded couch on the sidewalk can send a mule into a full-on tantrum. A few words of encouragement usual helps us get past the scary plastic bag. 
  2. Speaking of tantrums, if you think that a spoiled toddler in the checkout line can create a lot of drama, just wait till you see a mule demanding a treat with every trick at his disposal. 
  3. Dirty diapers. We're talking ten pounds of wet stinking mule poo in a single dump sometimes! It's our job as carriage drivers to keep the diapers empty. 
  4. Hating baths. (To be fair some mules -- like some toddlers -- love baths.)
  5. Needing routine. Even minor changes to a route can sometimes be stressful. We try to do our best to keep them on new routes so that they don't develop bad habits! 
  6. All-around stubbornness (as stubborn as a mule), which truly is also a sign of their intelligence. They know they can win. 
  7. Testing limits. 
  8. Putting every disgusting thing they can find in their mouths.
  9. Rough/mean play. Ever wonder where the expression "horseplay" comes from? 
  10. BUT... at their best, they can be incredibly sweet and affectionate. 

When I started driving the carriage five years ago, a colleague said to me, "Working with a mule is like working with a 1,500 pound 3-year-old." Four and a half years later I'm still discovering how true it is. 

Written by Mark Orfila 

Veteran Carriage Driver & Tour Guide at Royal Carriages. 

Our driver James was really informative and was great about telling the history of New Orleans. James was really great with Pearl the beautiful white mule who was obviously well cared for. As a horse person, I was initially cautious because of the stories you hear about abuse, but Pearl and the other Royal Carriages mules were well cared for. James and Pearl are tremendous assets and I really hope this company recognizes what gems these two are.

Facebook: Melinda Riddle of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, USA

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