The Big Easy

There is certainly a lot to see and do in New Orleans.  It is divided into districts, of course, the French Quarter is probably the most visited.  Today, it smelled a lot like garbage, mainly because I think today was garbage day.  It is cramped and there a lots of photo opportunities not to mention oyster shacks, hot sauce shops, candy shops and tee shirts and bead shops.  The street artists are excellent.

We started with a trip into the Quarter and a visit to the Cafe du Monde for morning coffee with chicory and beignets.  Turns out we went to a different place but from all accounts, Honey would not have been able to sit with us at the Cafe du Monde.  We were able to sit with her and enjoy these treats at New Orleans Famous Beignets and Coffee.  These folks were great.  Invited Honey to sit with us and even brought her a dog dish with ice water in it.  We got three powder sugar covered beignets and I had the Chicory coffee that my son Jeff had envisioned me enjoying.

This deep fried piece of pastry was wonderful.  The chicory coffee was pretty damned good considering that chicory is the root of the endive plant.  Created by the French during their civil war when coffee was scarce.  The endive plant is basically lettuce.  Apparently, the root is roasted and ground and added to dark roast coffee to soften the bitter edge.  Add a little warm cream and it is damned tasty.

We strolled through the Quarter and I took a lot of pictures.

Mia and Honey with "the Butcher"

Okay, negative note.  After resting for a bit, I left Mia at the hotel and took off to find the Garden District.  That didn't work out so well.  I ended up on the a trolley heading the wrong direction and by the time I figured it out, the weather was changing.  I ended up getting off the trolley and waiting for a return one in the rain.  It started to rain really hard, but the trolley showed up before I got caught in the down pour. The only picture I have is a video and it doesn't want to load to this site.  I did post it to Facebook for those who are friends.  I made it back to the hotel after getting wet and then drying out. Interesting error on my part.  Never made it to the Garden District.

Hope all is well and thanks for dropping by.