Todays menu is not vegan friendly.
Okay so in deference to those of you who haven't been to NOLA and since I don't have my hard drive with all my tourist pics from previous trips, I took this afternoon to gather some shots of the tourist sights that most come to New Orleans to see. Not all of them, like the WW2 museum, Audubon Park, gator wrestling and all the strip bars on Bourbon St., but some pertinent wholesome family oriented historical locales.
After catching the St. Charles trolley ($1.25 one-way) downtown, it's a quick walk to Jackson Square, home of the St. Louis cathedral. Built in 1794 it's a beautiful building both inside and out. Here's a view from across the street by the waterfront.
The statue in the foreground is Andrew Jackson, erected to celebrate his victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
While I was at the waterfront I just had to get a picture of a paddle wheeled riverboat loaded with tourists. (Yes, I've done it. More than once.)
On to Cafe du Monde, home of the world famous unbelievably heavily powdered sugared beignets. This shot is taken at 2:30PM. It's open 24/7 364 for those who want powdered sugar all over their hands, lips and clothing.
Here's the beignets. Did I mention POWDERED SUGAR? (They are quite tasty).
On my way back to Bourbon Street, I actually found a place that had escaped me in previous visits. It's called Madame John's Legacy. A French colonial styled home built in 1788 after a fire had devastated the French Quarter (See Interview with the Vampire). It escaped the next big fire in the 1790's and is one of the oldest in town. It's now hosting a exhibit of pottery from the Newsome School from the 1890s. Very avant-garde.
I also found this listing for a condo on Dumaine St. Check it out. Hard to read I know. Here's the highlights. 531 sq. ft. $285, 000. No parking. $313 monthly condo fees. Someone will buy it.
Looking back towards downtown and the "busy" part of Bourbon St. Notice the lack of foot traffic here. It's like a normal street. The bars and restaurants here are for locals mostly.
And then there is the oldest building in New Orleans. Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop from the 1770's. It's a bar now.
At last we come to the Bourbon House Oyster Bar. Home of the New Orleans Bourbon Society (NOBS) it has somewhere around 80 bourbons for tasting including a Pappy Van Winkle 23 year old at $215 A SHOT. (It's a two ounce pour the bartender says. Cool, only $107.50 an ounce. Gimme two I'm on an expense account.)
If you don't like Oysters you probably won't get it. But these babies are fresh from the Louisiana bays and even though BP polluted the hell out of the Gulf, the oyster industry has rebounded very nicely and is rigorously monitored for pollutants. (They can't have silly tourists getting sick ya know). I, like many others, have always wondered just how hungry the first person to ever eat oysters was.
Seventy five pounds of goodness.
My dozen on the half shell. (30 seconds later and it would have been a picture of shells.)
Followed by a cajun fry of oysters, catfish and shrimp. (This is the only time that I will eat this in the next month in consideration of my now sky-high cholesterol numbers. But I did walk about 6 miles today.)
Then there's dessert.
Hey that's it for me today. One more day of warmth. 80 or so. So I'm gonna enjoy it before the 50's return for a couple days.
I'll try to get some shots of houses in the neighborhood. As I said last night it's really a mixed bag of places. On my walk today I saw the good, the beautiful, the unfortunate and the abandoned. The neighborhood is still being redone. New homes, remodeled homes sprouting up all over.
Les bon temps roule!! (Let the good times roll!!)
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