All in all, our trip to New Orleans was good but not as great as was hoped – but that’s okay. Every trip can’t be a Grand Slam, and most of our trips lately have been Grand Slams, including camping trips and Key West last year. A lot of it is the destination, but when you are with great friends you can make the best of it.
I think New Orleans kind of disappointed us all this time around. James and I had a lengthy post-mortem during our trip to East Texas to retrieve the dogs from my parents’ house. Thanks to them for dogsitting 🙂
More on the post-mortem, but for now, here’s a short list of thoughts:
What I Like About New Orleans:
The history
The architecture
The culture
The food
The drinks
“Go Cups” (Geaux Cups?)
The river
Jackson Square
St. Louis Cathedral
The artists
The weird people
Antiques
Authentic jazz
The Garden District
Cute men
St Charles Ave streetcars
Audubon Park
Oz (still magical!)
Bourbon Street Pub/Parade
Good Friends (and good friends at Good Friends)
Pat O’Brien’s
Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop
Blue Dog
House of Blues
Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo
Cafe du Monde
Place d’ Armes
Coop’s Place
Small cafes in courtyards
Out-of-the-way courtyards
Royal Street
What I Dislike About New Orleans:
The tourists
The bums/hustlers/crazy people
Traffic
Constant construction
Neglected buildings
Talentless quasi-street performers
Crappy restaurants masquerading as non-crappy ones
That special smell only New Orleans can achieve
Taxis
Pat O’Brien’s
Cafe du Monde
Every voodoo place except Marie Laveau’s
Every t-shirt crap shack on Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street
Just Blah?
Some places were in both lists. Were they just blah? Or do you have that hate/love relationship with them. Kind of the relationship I have lycra.
Love/Hate
It’s the love/hate relationship. I love the drinks, the courtyard, the history of Pat O’Brien’s, for example. I hate the tourists, the crowds (on the times it is crowded) and that it has gotten so corporate. And that they put chunks of pineapple in their pina coladas. 🙂
New Orleans
Chris, I just read about your trip to my home town. I’m not crazy about Cafe du Monde, either. There used to be 2 of those coffee shops right next to each other. The other one–Morning Call–is now located in the part of Metairie known as Fat City, and I like the ambience there 10 times better than Cafe du Monde. The fare is exactly the same, only at Morning Call they don’t put the powdered sugar on the doughnuts (yeah, that’s what natives call beignets). Instead they give you a powder sugar shaker. It’s an art form to get the sugar on the doughnuts and not all over yourself. I’ve never been to those clubs you mentioned, although I have heard of most of them. Pat O’Brien’s is an exception, and I’ve always thought that place was over rated. Our favorite restaurant is Commander’s Palace, and it’s in the Garden District, not the Quarter. We like Brennan’s pretty well, and one very good place that isn’t well known is The Alpine Restaurant. It’s in the upper Pontalba Building on Chartres Street. It’s authentic creole food, and it doesn’t cost and arm and a leg. Actually, it’s sort of a neighborhood restaurant for people who live in the Quarter. Did you make it to any of the (relatively) new world-class museums? I’m thinking the D Day one and a new art museum that opened about a year ago. They’re building the National World War II museum there now, and it promises to be world class, as well. Take care of James and yourself. Ed