New Orleans Post #1

I have been so busy running around this city with Travalon that I haven't had a chance to blog until now, which is almost midnight on Sunday. The train ride to New Orleans was eventful, just like last time; this time, there was a freight train that derailed just outside of Jackson, Mississippi so we had to take a detour to Hattiesburg, Mississippi and approach the Big Easy from that direction. This only added an hour to our travel time, but by then the rental car place had closed. Fortunately some other people on the train had been calling them, so they knew we were coming and opened just for the people who were on the train. That night we went to Fritzl's, a jazz club on Bourbon Street.

Yesterday we went to the State Museum of Louisiana and to the National WWII museum, which for some reason had an NFL display going on. Travalon loved the 1940's style soda shop, which was very cool, and I had some red velvet ice cream there. Travalon is a big WWII buff and took photos of tons of things at both museums. Then we rode the streetcar through the Garden District, where one house had lights in Mardi Gras colors. We went to Frenchmen Street, where there are a lot of jazz clubs, and had dinner at Snug Harbor. The Spotted Cat was way too crowded to get into so we went to a place called Maison which had an excellent band called the New Orleans Smoking Section or something like that. One guy was playing the biggest saxophone I'd ever seen. (I got photos of some of these things and will be posting them later.) We were told there was a bar on Rampart Street that made gin fizzes, but the one we went to did not, plus it was a gay bar so they looked at us very strangely. You would not believe how hard it is to find a gin fizz, which is supposed to be an iconic New Orleans drink, in New Orleans.

Today we went to Mass at the historic St. Louis Cathedral, which is the oldest cathedral in the US. Then we took a riverboat cruise to the site of the battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812. It was cold today, but not as cold as y'all are. (Yes, they do say "y'all" down here all the time.) We finally were able to get into Cafe du Monde for some coffee and beignets. Then we found a bar from 1856 (the same year as my parish) called Tujague's that made gin fizzes, so if you want one, that's the place to go. It's on Decatur Street. So I had my gin fizz fix, plus plenty of Abita beer, both the raspberry (Purple Haze) and the strawberry. We went to Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith, the oldest bar in the US, from 1773 or so, we can't remember at this hour of the night. (Travalon is helping me write this post.) Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe and finally Preservation Hall for some real N'Awlins jazz. Now I really want to learn to play the trombone, besides the fact that then I could play the sackbut. So it was a great New Orleans day of food (I had jamabalaya, gumbo, catfish, shrimp, etouffe, and oysters), drink, and music!! I LOVE New Orleans!

Famous Hat