NOLA

If it's Monday it must be New Orleans, LA (NOLA). We hit the street (Bourbon) early this morning while it was still quiet. We walked down Bourbon a ways then headed down to Jackson Square and the Cafe Du Monde for Cafe Au Lait and Beigneis. We tried to remember what year it was when we were last there, but can only approximate that it was around 1974 give or take a year or two. We sat in about the same area as last time, but it was a bit cooler today (low 60s). I'm pretty sure the guy playing the trumpet just outside the seating area was not there in the 70s. Otherwise, the coffee and donuts were the same. Well, we did get decaf this time!

We walked all over the French Quarter stopping in several shops and taking lots of pictures. Of course we had to "collect" the cathedral (St. Louis Cathedral). Since there was no service going on, we went in and looked around. It has really beautiful paintings on the ceilings as well as some very interesting, old commemoratives and crypts.

We had lunch at the Court of Two Sisters. They had a jazz brunch that was kind of so, so as it turned out. It was a bit expensive, though. I think they charged based on their reputation and history.

After a lot of walking, we took a street car back to our hotel. We actually only rode it for about four blocks, but by that time, we were ready to ride. The street cars are very neat. They are old electric powered wooden cars with wooden seats. I don't think the one we road was named Desire, but we liked it anyway.

We then drove out to the Garden District to look at the big old homes there. We saw a variety of architecture including a lot of "shotgun" houses. Some of those were very narrow. I took a picture of one that didn't look to be more than 15 feet wide. We came across an old cemetery (Lafayette No. 1), but it had closed at 2:30 PM, so all we could do was take a couple of pictures from outside the gate.

From there we drove west on US-90 into Jefferson Parish, then back north and east to one of the areas (lower 9th Ward, I believe) devastated by the storm. The good news is that there is a lot of rebuilding and restoration going on. The bad / sad news is that there appears to be a lot left to be done. It was getting pretty dark by the time we got over there, so we may head back tomorrow. We did see one entire development of townhouses or condominium type apartments (it was hard to tell which) that was completely boarded up and abandoned.

After returning to the hotel, we walked back down Bourbon Street then down St. Peters to a restaurant we had spotted earlier named The Gumbo Shop. We ate Creole food there as well including gumbo, crawfish etoufee, red beans and rice, and jambalaya. The food was excellent, and the price (including two glasses of wine) was about the same as we paid for lunch. From there we walked some more, ending up at the Harrah's Casino where we quickly disposed of a couple or three twenties. Then it was time for the street car back down Canal Street to our hotel.

To get an idea of where we are from the French Quarter, our hotel is on Carondelet Street about two blocks from Canal Street. At Canal Street, Carondelet becomes Bourbon Street. From Bourbon to the river is three blocks. From Canal Street to the French Market at the other end of the Quarter is 12 blocks. So, we are just outside the French Quarter and within walking distance of everything.

Tomorrow we plan to tour the D-Day Museum and drive around to see the Katrina damage a little more. I keep wanting to post some pix on Picassa, but by the time I get around to it, I'm too tired.