New Orleans

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

My computer crashed yesterday morning and Jeff had to pry me away from it to catch our flight. I left it for my father-in-law to fix. My mother-in-law is happy because it gave him something to do...

We had a perfect flight and easily found transportation to the hotel. Our room has a lovely view of the bend in the river by the French Quarter.

We ate dinner in The Old Absinthe House at a place called Tony Moran's. The food was excellent, I had lamb with mushrooms and Jeff had pork chops with bacon and we polished off a bottle of a nice Syrah. A guy who sang like Tony Bennett was playing piano and there were absinthe fountains at the bar.

Dinner was absolutely perfect, but I did notice that the amount of people in the French Quarter was down significantly from the last time I was here, about 11 years ago.

Jeff left for his conference and I am waiting for the stores to open to go shopping In a few minutes, I am going to walk down to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and hopefully a Diet Coke, since I don't drink coffee.

[kayrharris]

Sounds like a perfect trip so far. I hope the weather stays perfect as well. Enjoy your time there and with Jeff and have a safe trip home.

[Bob Juch]

I'm glad to hear you're having a good time eating your way through the French Quarter!

The Old Absinthe House is owned by the same folks who own the Jazz Café at Disney Downtown.

[lilclyde54]

Have a great time. I think the Baboo and I are going down for a few days the week before Thanksgiving. I was down there by myself in July and saw a guy with a 4 ft long live Iguana he was wearing as a hat. Don't be shocked by anything you see.

[MarleysGh0st]

In a few minutes, I am going to walk down to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and hopefully a Diet Coke, since I don't drink coffee.

Beignets and a Diet Coke?

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

In a few minutes, I am going to walk down to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and hopefully a Diet Coke, since I don't drink coffee.

Beignets and a Diet Coke?

The line at Cafe Du Monde was scarily long. After waiting for a 1/2 hour and not getting anywhere I opted to head to the Italian Grocery for Muffaleta instead becuse I was sure they would have Diet Coke

Later I went to Riverwalk and there is a Cafe Du Monde stand there, so I had beignets and Diet Coke for lunch. It was yummy.

I had been to Riverwalk 11 years ago and noticed that many of the storefronts are empty, which is sad. While I did my shopping in the French Quarter, most store owners told me that business was bad and that many people were going out of business.

I also spoke with another gentleman, Indian, by way of London, who told me that he lost his business due to Katrina and had to send his son to live in NYC. He was working in the store that I was visiting until he could get money together to start another store. He told me that many owners complain about business because they want tourists to buy more stuff He said that there isn't as much tourism as there used to be, but it's getting better.

By the way, Jeff hates it when I putter in stores and talk to the owners, so it's nice that he is in conference while I shop.

[dodgersteve182]

"Jeff had pork chops with bacon and we polished off a bottle of a nice Syrah."

Blessed by the resident rabbi I presume? LOL! the food is too good and too fattening for my survival. I lived there for a year a long time ago, great fun. Stay out of trouble.

[earendel]

In a few minutes, I am going to walk down to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and hopefully a Diet Coke, since I don't drink coffee.

Neither elwing nor I drink coffee so we had hot chocolate with our beignets and it was delightful.