When we got on the plane to fly out and the flight crew was introduced, one of the pilots was our neighbor -- big "YAY" and sigh of relief to pre-flight jitters! We landed and took a taxi to our hotel in the French Quarter. The hotel was very nice. Somehow our reservation had been cancelled, but fortunately, they had rooms available and honored the conference pricing. We finally got checked in around 10:00 p.m. and decided to take a little walk around. Wowsers! The alcohol flows freely and there is plenty of smoking to go along with it as well as people just hanging out. People of all sorts and street performers playing music. Bourbon Street of course is the most well known party zone, and our one block stroll of that street was enough!
Thursday Mark attended his work conference. I got to relax and do whatever. The hotel had a rooftop exercise room and outdoor pool, so I headed up there to run on the treadmill. The treadmill had a fabulous view of the Mississippi River and so I got to watch the boats going along the river while I ran. I have always loved watching boats. I spent the day reading, watching TV, taking a nap, and checking out the sights on Canal Street. Before Mark & I headed to dinner, we got our first look at Jackson Square:
The picture is a perfect example of how my camera isn't working -- notice the lovely pink hue and fuzziness. We also had our first taste of beignets at Cafe du Monde -- YUM! Our evening dinner and entertainment was at the House of Blues. The food was good -- especially the appetizers and the cornbread with VooDoo Shrimp. The entertainment was of course a jazz band and they were quite good. I realized that I'm getting old because I thought the music was too loud. We left around 8:00 or so and walked around Jackson Square and along the riverbank for awhile before heading back to the motel. New Orleans is definitely hot and humid, so we headed up to the rooftop pool for some cool breezes and a dip in the pool before bed. The music never seems to stop, except at like 5:00 a.m., but that night we had an especially good trombonist playing outside our hotel all night. If we'd have been out on the street we probably would have given him some money.Mark had a half a day of meetings on Friday, so I spent a leisurely morning of exercise and reading and getting sunburned at the pool. During the afternoon we headed down along Canal Street to the river to ride the free ferry across and back. I was able to get these two good pictures:
A barge and tug boat and below a picture of the paddlewheel boat Natchez. I love watching the tugboats -- they are little work/powerhouses! And the sternwheelers are slow and regal.
Later we went on a culinary history and tasting tour of the French Quarter. We visited lots of restaurants and our guide talked about the history or stories behind each one. We got to do lots of taste testing too: seafood gumbo, pralines, chips and dip, red beans & rice, beef brisket with a mustard & horseradish sauce, muffalatas and gelato. The food was soooo good!We finished up our New Orleans stay with a little bit of shopping, another river walk, a light dinner and another taste of beignets. We got up way early to make our way back to the airport and catch our early morning flight home on Saturday. It was nice to get away for a couple days and do something out of the ordinary and experience a different place. It's always good to be home again too.
2 comments:
Sounds like a great trip and a nice little break for you.
That stroll down Bourbon street sounds oh, so much like Ukraine! Except it wasn't just one street. It was the whole country! There was no escaping it. It was very heartbreaking, especially when we'd pass very obviouly drunk teenagers. Their empty eyes, stoned faces, and hungry souls will haunt me for the rest of my life...as will the guy who just suddenly dropped his drawers right there for all the world (and my daughter) to see and used the public city park as a restroom. Nice. Of course, we were always shhhed by our facilitator and cautioned against speaking English in the presence of people like this. You never know when they'd stir back to life or what they might do when and if they did. Most of the time, though, they just sat there staring off into space and too out of it to move.
that food sounds good. I hope you had a Barq's rootbeer in a glass with your muffalatas. Supposedly, New Orleans is about the only place you can get it.
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