Typical Tourists

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – We stumbled out of our modest, but convenient, hotel bordering The Business District and the French Quarter, down the Quarter to the Mississippi waterfront park near Jackson Square and joined the crowds at Café du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets. They were delicious, but it was so hot and muggy that we should have been spooning sorbet.

Gus takes in the Big Muddy

Street Jazz

Coffee! Beignets!

One of many lovely scenes.

Then, a morning of touring around the old town. Bourbon Street could not be more zany and, at its core, tasteless, especially at night, but as we skipped around it, the Quarter was serene, charming, and surprisingly authentic given all the money that could have made it into a Disney set. Lots to see, but the cooks in us were fascinated by the Central Grocery. We could have filled a box of exotic spices and foods to take back to Vermont, but we settled instead for watching the day’s muffalettas being made.

Gumbo for lunch, nothing like the gumbo we learned to make in South Carolina, but better.

We had an early dinner at Bayona, the top-ranked spot in both our guidebooks, and it lived up to our high expectations. We finished early so that we could get good seats to hear Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and their Wednesday night jam at the Sonesta Hotel. They were amazing. We don’t think jazz gets any better. Still, a little after 10 our own lights went out and we headed for Canal Street and our hotel. As we navigated the heavily policed Bourbon Street, near-naked women dropped cheap necklaces on passersby from the balconies above.