New Orleans Style

Hello from the Big Easy!

This is my third day of work and the earliest I've been back to my hotel room yet - so I decided I had to post my latest adventures - yeah!!

I arrived Sunday night and I've been working hard - but luckily I have also been able to do quite a bit of sightseeing. Monday after a VERY long day at work - we ate dinner at Emerils restaurant.


The food was just amazing - I had paella that was just full of HUGE portions of scallops, shrimp, mussels, sausage and chicken. The scallops were three inches in diameter!! Yum!!

After work on Tuesday we headed to Riverwalk - a mall along the banks of the Mississippi River. We then strolled through the French Quarter and had a great dinner and ($1 Margaritas which I so needed after another long day!!) at Cafe Maspero. I had some tasty Jambalaya. After dinner - we had to get some of those famous beignets at the world famous Cafe due Monde



The powdered sugar on these things was at least an inch thick!!



Cafe du Monde is at the corner of Jackson Square - this square is at the heart of the French Quarter in New Orleans. I love all the wrought iron balconies with vines and flowers hanging down on sides of the square.



At one end sits Saint Louis Cathedral.



We were lucky enough to be there at sunset.



Here's my co-worker LaSonya and I in front of the cathedral.


Wandering further through the French Quarter - we of course had to go Bourbon Street. It was surprisingly tame - but then again it was a Tuesday night. We did see some interesting sights, crazy T-shirts, lots of beer, daquairies, hurricanes, and even clowns on stilts! Here are some of the views:


sites from new orleans


We even saw the trolley speed by on the walk back to our hotel.



Today - we took a drive through the lower 9th Ward - the part of New Orleans that experienced some of the worse devastation from Hurrican Katrina almost two years ago. It was extremely sad and sobering to see how much damage is still there and how much is still left to do. Most of the homes in this area - were completely swept away by the surge from the levy break. There were just concrete slabs on many lots, sometimes the front steps remained - sometimes nothing remained. It was amazing how much pride some of the owners still took in their empty lots. Many were mowed and manicured - while others like this one... were even more thoughtfully decorated.



I thought this lot where someone planted a field of sunflowers was such a powerful representation of the hope, rebirth and renewal that is going on in New Orleans. It really made my day to see this gorgeous site.



After this lovely site - we had dinner at a local "greasy spoon" called Praline Connection. We had alligator sausage as our appetizer...



followed by some great Cajun homecooking. I had stuffed peppers with collard greens, macaroni and cheese and a side of hot corn bread.... it was so delicious!

I also got to walk around part of the French Quarter after we ate and I snapped a few pictures of the gorgeous homes and architectural details that are everywhere down here.





I look forward to the rest of the week - I hope the work side goes ok so we can continue our nightly forays into the New Orleans culture!

Have a great week everyone!!