Blogs from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, North America - page 17

Sunday - Easter Sunday - we walked to the famous Cafe Dumond for their famed beignets and cafe au lait. There was a huge lineup but we got take out quickly and ate them for our breakfast on a park bench. The famous French donuts smothered in icing sugar were ok but not all they were cracked up to be. We caught the Charles St. trolley and went to the National World War II museum. It is reputedly one of the best WWII museum in the country. There are three pavilions - The Boeing Center with WWII aircraft hanging and 4 levels of walkways where you can view from any angle. (Marv - Larry didn't know where the Douglas SBD was used in the war. Do you?) The Pavilion that has the exhibits of ... read more

We arrived in New Orleans at about 4:30 into a traffic jam. We are staying at the Quality Inn just beside the French Quarter. I asked if they could upgrade our reserved double queen room and we got a king suite on the corner! Scored! Walked to Bourbon St for supper at Oceana as recommended by the hotel. Looks like it will be expensive to eat and drink in NO. First impression of Bourbon St is that it is full of debauchery and all that is decadent (including people) and tourists. Hugely noisy and busy. Apparently it is like that day and night. Food and drink are a big part of experiencing New Orleans. So far we've tried a Mint Julep at the plantation, (bourbon with sugar syrup and mint) - liked it; a ... read more

NEW ORLEANS FEBRUARY 22 - I flew in from Tampa via Atlanta arriving at 5:30 (CST) as scheduled. I had a nice surprise, I was upgraded from economy to first class. The mileage programs pay off! What a pleasure it was. The cloud formations were exceptionally beautiful! A shuttle to the Hilton Riverside was good, the only problem I experienced was the long lines at registration of this big hotel (they had a weekend competition for elementary and middle school age cheerleaders going on). I survived and got to my room and changed before going to dinner at Emeril’s. I walked from the hotel to the restaurant and made a stop at Gordon Biersch for a great draft beer. What an experience Emeril’s was! First class in every way. I sat at the chef’s bar and ... read more

Geo: 29.9567, -90.0687We took the streetcar from Canal Street into the Garden district which was originally named Lafayette but was later incorporated into New Orleans. The name later on was used by another city in Louisiana. We joined a tour group with a very well informed and entertaining tour guide. The tour began in the Lafayette cemetery. Legend says that people are not buried under the ground. This is not entirely true. Most of the graves look like ovens and are exactly that. The bodies decompose rapidly and the remains are removed from the coffin and allowed to settle into a pit allowing more burials into the same structure. The coffins end up in a dumpster. There are "timeshare" plots where bodies may be stored temporarily until the graves can be opened for another body. Basically ... read more

Geo: 29.9566, -90.0687Uneventful flights from Bellingham to Seattle to Houston and finally New Orleans. It is11:15 pm here. More tomorrow.... read more