Sunday just after noon we ventured out downtown. Its only 20 minutes drive. We parked at Canal Place an up market shopping mall. We were just at the edge of the French Quarter. We started to wander down Chartres Street and gradually zig-zagged our way to Bourbon Street arriving just at the famous Pat O'Briens bar - home of the Hurricane - a drink not a tropical storm!
That part of Bourbon Street has lots of bars - some with music some with food. All seemed to require you to be over 21 to get in the door. Food was now becoming an urgent requirement as it was a long time since breakfast at 7.30 this morning.
We found a nice looking Bistro near the river. Mags and Lisa ordered burgers while Senan ordered the southern fried chicken and I decided to go local and ordered Jambalaya. We got some drinks and waited for food - we were now ravenous and dangerous! We finished our first beer and still no food.
Then our waiter arrived with three appetizer-sized bowls and an apology - the chefs had decided to hold a meeting and our order was delayed - the appetizers, of course, were on the house. The appetizers included a bowl of Gumbo which is a spicy soup this one has shrimp and fish stock. I loved it the others were less enthusiastic! There was also a red bean stew which was ok, but not as good as Tays! Our food arrived the Jambalaya was delicious as were the burgers and chicken.
Well fed we wandered out to inspect the river close at hand - it is about 2500 feet or half a mile wide as it runs through New Orleans. We found an interesting group of craft and tourist shops with lots of New Orleans themed stuff. We also ran into some pretty good street musicians.
Street Musicians, Uploaded by M+MD.
It was a typical first look around - we sort of knew where we were, and generally got a good feel for the place. All in all a very good taster for New Orleans - though, through it all, it was very very hot - the shops provided welcomed air conditioned respite.
French Quarter, Uploaded by M+MD.
On the way home, we paid another visit to Roberts, the local high quality supermarket, on the way home. Back in the house we just lazed around and soon enough it was approaching 9 pm and we were all knackered and we headed for bed. We are still on an inbetween time zone - rising early at 7.00 am and ready for bed by 9 - just about 2 hours off a sensible holiday schedule.
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