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Published: April 3rd 2010
Court of Two Sisters
The 90 year old wisteria was in full bloom, a jazz trio played in the corner, the brunch (served daily until 3pm $28) was to die for (CURED me of buffet phobia), we had a half carafe of mimosas, eggs benedict (Wes), omelette (me), pate (me), pastries (us), seafood several ways including oyster stuffing (much like my Irish grandmother's recipe). I could go on and on; we stayed for almost two hours. Thank you Frank, for suggesting this great restaurant.This is our first visit ever to New Orleans. We came armed with tons of advice, our AAA Tour Book, four or five maps, walking shoes, summer clothes and the SONY digital camera. Water bottles, sunglasses, sunscreen, a sweater, coin change (recommended for the trolley) and a back pack are options worth considering. We headed for Cafe du Mond where I got powdered sugar all over my black pants from the still hot beignets (not complaining they were delish)!
Then a three hour Gray Line Tour. This included one of the famous cemeteries, Katrina devastation (still) and evidences of recovery, the Garden District, City Park with a wonderful sculpture garden which we saw and an art museum (saved for next trip), Magazine St., the business district, and virtually the whole city. It was in an A/C mini bus - we would opt for the open air kind with hop on hop off privileges that you see in some cities like Boston; but it is what it is. Air conditioning can be very important here in New Orleans.
We soaked up the atmosphere, strolling along in the French Quarter, stopping in at the beautiful St. Louis Cathedral, catching
Brunch for Two, Court of Two Sisters
Amazing brunch - cured my buffetphobia! Trio played, wisteria in full bloom, great food, great service (a buffet with SERVICE!). music and street performers along the way, checking out the many souvenir shops and just doing the tourist thing. Our cabbie had mentioned good food at Tu Jacques and we had an incredible sandwich at the bar there. The dining room looks nifty with white linen and doesn't serve sandwiches.
We took the shuttle back to the RV Park, redeemed a “free drink” ticket and watched a movie “Message in a Bottle” with the bartender; definitely a different way for us to end the evening.
Client work was on tap for the next morning. We took a cab into the French Quarter and had an incredible two hour jazz brunch at the splendid Court of Two Sisters.
We located Preservation Hall so we could get there directly on Saturday night. Then we walked and enjoyed the sights. We hopped on the Riverwalk Trolley, rode to the end of the line, hopped off as directed and reboarded to go back to the French Market. The trolley fare is $1.25! We paid 40 cents each, one of those benefits of being 65+.
The French Market has four sections. The furthest one has poor quality imported
Azaleas in the Garden District
Our Gray Line Tour took us through the charming and oak shaded Garden District. The Manning brothers (football guys of note) grew up in this tony neighborhood. stuff; the goods got better as we walked toward Jackson Square. We stopped into Tu Jacques to wet our whistles and use the restroom (there is a bit of a lack of CLEAN public restrooms and the restaurants all post signs for customers only). We returned “home” via the free shuttle and were totally exhausted.
Stay tuned for Saturday night’s visit to Preservation Hall Jazz and Sunday’s Sternwheel Riverboat cruise and Aquarium visit.
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Mark and Jean
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The Big Easy eh.
Sounds like a good time in N.O. but you did miss a very good 4 stakes card at the big A today. I'm sure you have lots of suggested places to visit and time is short but if you get the chance, stop into Pat O'Briens (Ordering the Hurricane is optional) on St. Peter St. and let me know if Eddie is still there playing the thimbells. He'd have to be ~100 years old now but who knows. We spent a drunken but memorable night there once in another lifetime....