Remembrance Day/Veteran’s Day, New Orleans on a Hot Day = Perfect!

St. Bernard, Louisiana

Bill and I were awake around 6 after what for me was a great night’s sleep. I woke once at 4:30 and happily rolled over for more sleep, which came easily. It was Monday, Nov. 11^th, I don’t need to tell you that. Remembrance/Veteran’s Day. I hopped out of bed first and was in the shower right away. It had been a warm night with no necessary heat and when I checked the outside temperature at 6:30, it was already a mild 61F/16C.

A nice day for a new adventure

We read blogs, catching up on what our blogger friends are up to and then went about getting some cereal for a quick breakfast. We are still being invaded with ants in that cupboard so need to put our feet in motion to find a hardware store today – well, no likely tomorrow. We have a busy day today already, heading out at 9 for the city of New Orleans. Another bag of cereal for the garbage. Unfortunately, the container doesn’t seal completely so it is our own fault.

With our bright clothing, funky beads and sunglasses
we are two gals ready for New Orleans

I’d left the cereal in the bag rolled up, clipped inside a storage container with a lid. One more wipe out with vinegar and Bill had no choice but to have toast. I made myself a bullet proof coffee, which is high in fat, and had a satsuma orange that Bob gave me. That should suffice until we get to a food place. I was told by my sister, Gayle, save up your carbs and sugar for Café du Monde. Ha ha, we’ll see when we get there. After that breakfast, we deserve another nice lunch.

Street lights lining the streets of New Orleans
The steamboat NATCHEZ
View from the parking lot

Looking down St. Anne Street
Cafe du Monde Coffee house and line up on the right

Bob drove today and with Bill as his co-pilot, they found the P401 parking lot where we’d reserved a spot. Because it was early enough, he had his choice of a few spots and got parked easily. Then we walked. First, and too early, we found Café du Monde and the tables were filled with a lineup of, at least 20 patrons already. No one was hungry yet. So, we walked down part of the French Market and followed a few streets off Decatur St. looking for a couple of places of interest.

A picture before the streets and sidewalks get too busy

Our eyes were opened and the nicest thing with our timing being what it was, is that all of the sidewalks and streets had been or were in the process of being washed down. Things looked pretty good. 

Lots to see and do
I liked the street signs on the sidewalks

Voodoo shops, musical legends park
$32 buffet which we denied but used their restrooms anyway (sssh)
Oyster bar and cool bar signs

More and more people arrived, and we just moseyed around, up and down the streets, in and out of shops. Eventually, around 12 noon we started heading back towards Decatur St to get something to eat and to peruse the rest of the French Market shops.

Bob and Jo-Anne ahead of us

There are some great old, interesting residences

We ate at 'The Corner', a restaurant with lots of empty tables when we arrived that soon filled up before we left. Erika was our waitress, reminding me of my daughter’s friend, Patty, back home. She was a tall ‘treat’, giving us cause to laugh along and enjoy our stay while we ate. Because there was breakfast served all day, I ordered a meat-lovers omelette and it was the largest stuffed one that I’ve ever had. Delicious.

And a few ways to be guided around the city
Here are a couple

We toasted with our Hurricane drinks, Bob's beer
and Jo's water

Bill and I had tossed around having dessert because they offered bread pudding (one of his favs) and a banana cheesecake (one of mine). That was before we ate our first course, but doggone it, why not? We’d also splurged and tried the Hurricane drink that Rob recommended. It was certainly good and I drank mine real slow. That was an expensive lunch but we don’t do that often and have no regrets. We worked our way back to the lot and Bob drove us out of this wild city. Today, we easily walked off the calories eaten at lunch.

Inside the restaurant with team flags on the ceiling
Erika (so Bridgette can see our waitress)
Men, Women, and Joint restrooms - don't ask

Our food

This performer was earning a buck or two

Back home by 3, we were tired out. Bill tried the antenna and pulled in a few local channels which is better than nothing. I sat outside for awhile with my book but couldn’t keep my eyes open. All this excitement! We had a great time downtown, brought home a few souvenirs and can now cross “New Orleans – Bourbon St. – French Quarter – Café du Monde (not the restaurant but the store) and Hurricanes” off the bucket list. We didn’t try any beignets but I’m not going to lose sleep over it, are you?

Another way to get a tour

Brewing Company - a massive building on a street corner looking over the
Mississippi River

I caught up on my blog post and downloaded the 79 pictures. If you’ve been there, you shouldn’t mind the collages, they will remind you of N.O. If you haven’t, hopefully they will give you a small taste of what we all witnessed and experienced today. At 6:30, we each had a piece of strawberry pie and whipped cream that I'd pulled out of the freezer yesterday. That was supper. Tsk tsk.

A couple of tourists at Jackson Centre

With Grit, a John Wayne movie, on in the background, I finished my post and then sat in my chair with my book. Bill went upstairs to watch another Christmas movie. It is unfortunate (for me) that the only channel we get on satellite only works upstairs and only plays the movies that I’m not keen on.

This building had Jo-Anne and I bouncing around in our seats
to try and get a picture - the Hard Rock Hotel's upper floors collapsed on top of each other
on Oct. 12th
Top right - Above ground Cemetery Tour

This was a great day and I hope yours was the same. We are going to be getting some cool weather for a couple of days so will have to adjust from 80F to approximately 46F. After tank tops and shorts, I guess long pants, long sleeves and socks are in order. Tomorrow is cleaning day inside. Bill put the barbecue away and slipped the chairs in the under belly too. No point in things getting wet if we're not going to be using them for a couple of days.

I-10 took us back home over the bridge
good night y'all!

Thank you for stopping in to see how our New Orleans adventure went.