Journal of Our New Orleans Trip - Chapter 2

This is a continuation of my post on our recent trip to New Orleans. I believe I left us resting in our room after our Saturday morning walking tour of the French Quarter.

Our original plans included a cruise on the Steamboat Natchez, and a visit to the Aquarium of the Americas, but we decided we'd rather have a more relaxing and "laid back" weekend, so we didn't do either.

After resting a while Saturday afternoon, we dressed for dinner and walked over to Harrah's Casino, which is across the street from Windsor Court. Someone had recommended The Besh Steakhouse in Harrah's, and after making a nominal contribution to Harrah's, we enjoyed a delicious steak supper.

My poor little feet still had not recovered from walking miles and miles that morning, so we turned in early that night in anticipation of an early Sunday morning visit to Cafe du Monde.

7:00 AM, Sunday Morning, June 29th ...

Photo courtesy of neworleansmenus.com

We arrived at Cafe du Monde right at 7:00 a.m., and started our day off right with two orders of "melt-in-your-mouth" beignets.

New Orleans Photo courtesy of Sbuser

"Delectable" is the only word that comes to mind to describe these wonderful little fried puffs of dough covered in powdered sugar. In fact, Webster's should just have a picture of beignets next to the word delectable in their dictionaries. Anyone who has ever eaten one would know exactly what the word means.

[On a side note: One thing I was disappointed in was that it seems like most of the restaurants now carry Pepsi products, and being a devout Dr. Pepper addict, I wasn't happy about that. However, Middendorf's (remember the great seafood restaurant I mentioned in Chapter 1?) had Dr. Pepper in the little glass bottles which came with a glass filled with ice. It just doesn't get any better than that, in my humble opinion, folks!

Now, where was I? Oh, yes ... we finished our beignets and walked up on the River Walk to see the river which was quiet this time of day. Jackson Square is across the street from Cafe du Monde, so I took advantage of being up on the River Walk and shot these pictures of the Square and St. Louis Cathedral from across the street:

This beautiful ornate iron grill caught my eye as we were leaving Jackson Square ...

I thought this balcony garden was pretty, too, and if you look closely, you can see Mardi Gras ribbons and trinkets hanging from it ...

I captured this pretty bronze lady "people watching" beside her fountain at the French Market ...

Street musicians are a familiar sight all over the French Quarter. Most of them are very talented, too ...

Another thing of interest to me in the Quarter are the literally thousands of doors and gates that open onto the maze of streets and sidewalks. Many of the doors have decades of paint and varnish covering them; others are beautifully stained woods, and others are weathered and worn. If only they could talk, I'd love to know their history. I'd also love to get a peek behind them. Many open onto lavish homes or apartments filled with gorgeous antiques, crystal chandeliers, and paintings, and it's fun to imagine what lies beyond those old doors.

The same is true of the beautiful ornate iron gates that open onto lush green courtyards. Here is a peek through one of the gates I passed on our stroll ...

We passed this old building on our walk back to the hotel ...

It was probably built in the early 1900s, and I don't think Katrina can be blamed for its state of deterioration. I think it just suffers from years of neglect, and there are many just like it throughout the city ... what a shame.

Well, that brings us back to the hotel and it's time to pack and head home. We made a few detours along the way which I want to share with you, too, so I hope you will check back to read the final chapter of our "New Orleans Weekend."