Goin’ to New Orleans

Well, we know we need to go back to New Orleans now, cause it’s a fun, interesting and beautiful city with so much culture! And, um, the food is amazing!

This was the only place we had reservations for when we left home, because we wanted to see Mardi Gras finally (well, we were a week early for the culmination celebration, but hell, it goes on for a month!!). The RV park we stayed at was within walking distance of the French Quarter and short Uber rides in either direction to other activities. Thanks to Dana, Ryan, Janet, Anna & Spragues, we checked a number of boxes off on recommendations for food, music, bars & attractions that don’t fit into any of those categories.

The first thing we did upon arrival was race down to the WW2 Museum to meet a curator we’d been corresponding with, regarding some mementos that we had of John’s dad from his service. They’re interested in soldiers’ stories, and after looking at what we brought and talking about Nic, she asked us to send photos of other things we have at home and she’d look at the whole package. As I mentioned earlier, John’s dad was in Patton’s 3rd Army, 5th Division, 7th Company. They saw a lot of action, well known campaigns such as the landing at Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation of Paris, to name a few. We agreed to come back to the museum when we could spend more time.

From there we wandered on foot and ended up in the French Quarter. Of course there was a parade, and it was a smallish one-no floats, but plenty of characters. It was the Krewe of Cork.

At one point, The Dude and Walter come walking by, and John yells out, “Hey, like, that’s just your opinion, man,” and The Dude turns around and says something like, you should tell that to Walter over here, then Walter comes strolling by, and John yells “You’re not wrong Walter. You’re just an asshole.” He got laughs from a bunch of folks around us and The Dude and Walter. If you need a reference, you should watch the film The Big Lebowski about 100 times, like we have, then you’d get it and think this was hilarious.

Most of this first afternoon was just wandering around looking and watching and listening. We retreated early by N’awlins standards and went back to our park for a soak in the hot tub. The next morning, we prepped for the entire day out and about and on our feet with sensible shoes and appropriate layers.

We ventured down to the huge line at the infamous Cafe du Monde for the requisite beignets and coffee. It was actually surprisingly quick for such a massive amount of people waiting, but next thing you know, we were seated and looking at a huge pile of powdered sugar with some delectable fried pastries buried underneath. They did not disappoint!! Check that off the list of must-dos in NOLA. I did learn that Cafe du Monde is open 24/7 in case you ever go there and the line is daunting in the morning!

We walked a lot, rode a trolley, checked out the craps tables at Harrahs (wayyyyy too much for us- who plays for $20 minimum bet? Not us!), and found ourselves at another parade, this one much bigger and with blocked off streets and lots of floats. And beads. So many beads! I think we got 20 lbs worth!

We had early reservations for a wonderful restaurant called Clancy’s, located in Uptown, so we cleaned up and Ubered there. The meal was excellent and it felt like the clientele were locals, (thumbs up, Anna!!!) and it was nice to get out of the hubbub of the French Quarter. The drive took us through beautiful neighborhoods with stately homes.

Once done there, we crossed town to head to Frenchmen Street, an area that has a number of clubs with a variety of music. Most had no cover charges, so we were able to move freely around and enjoyed the different venues.

The only logical thing to do after a day on our feet was to return to the park and have another soak in the hot tub. We met a couple who are traveling the opposite direction as us, and had some great recommendations for us in the Alabama & Florida regions.

Another day found us back at the WW2 museum, this time for a visit. It’s extremely well done, and since it was pouring rain outside, we didn’t mind spending time inside looking at the exhibits.

After a mere 4 hours, we decided to get back outdoors and do some walking. We kind of followed a parade while we were walking, on our way back toward the French Quarter.

Back to home base, we cleaned up and walked back into the French Quarter to go have dinner at Galatoire’s, another thumbs up recommendation by Anna. John had to don a dinner jacket, because they have a dress code, but they also have a couple racks of jackets for guys like John. This place also seemed like it was mostly locals, even though it was right on Bourbon Street. It’s an historic restaurant, and total class. Loud, but we were ok with that.

Another walk down the FQ, a few stops along the way and it was a wrap for NOLA!

I have to admit, the whole time we were there, I had a Four Year Bender song on replay in my head: New Orleans Lament https://youtu.be/nIgG5RlYNis – you should look it up and have a listen.

On the way out of town, we swung back by Clancy’s to pick up John’s hat that he’d left there the other night, and while we were in the neighborhood, had lunch at Franky & Johnny’s.