11 Jan 2019 - French Quarter, Bourbon Street, Pat O'Briens

11 Jan 2019

This morning we headed down to the Algiers ferry again and across the Mississippi to the French Quarter of New Orleans.

New Orleans streets suck - no other way to describe it.  Here is a pothole so old it has grass growing in it.

The pace here at New Orleans has been pretty hectic.  We try to cram as much as we can in the days we have at each location, and the days we allocate for each stop are just a guess.  Sometimes we have too many days, sometimes we don't have enough.  Sometimes we can adjust and sometimes we can't.  In retrospect I would have allocated a few more days here, but it is what it is.  

Today was kind of nice, slower pace as we were on foot, so we could stop and see the sites as we pleased.  We covered a lot of ground today and the French Quarter was fairly quiet until after noon, then things started to get really busy.  

We used a walking tour guide brochure but freelanced quite a bit.  We wanted to see various shops and I wanted to stop at Pat O'Brien's for a Hurricane drink.  Doreen wanted to check out a souvenir shop or two, plus she wanted to stop at Cafe' du Monde for some beignet's.  Both of us wanted to grab a nice meal some where along the way.  So here goes!

Louis Armstrong's statue at the Algiers Ferry Terminal

Some of the cast iron railings in the French Quarter

The streets are pretty quiet when we first arrived.  See how narrow they are.

Street musicians begin setting up and playing Jazz music!  

Some Mardi Gras decorum

More of the cast iron railings.  Beautiful!

Shops full of masks for Mardi Gras

 It's been years but both Doreen and I have been to Pat O'Brien's before.  Was nice to stop back during the day before the crowds arrive.

Not many in the main bar.  They have several bars including a dueling piano bar and an outside courtyard 

Toasting with the famous 'Hurricane' drink.  Includes 4 oz Pat O'Brien's Hurricane cocktail mix; 4 oz Quality gold rum; glass filled with crushed ice;  garnished with an orange slice and a cherry!

Dueling pianos at Pat O'Brien's

More cast iron railings.  Beautiful architecture.

Bazaar voodoo shops selling all sorts of weird stuff.

Strange!!

Many artists and performers are setting up in preparation for Friday night and the busy weekend.

We stopped at Pere Antoine Restaurant for lunch. 

Doreen ordered a roast beef Poboy and I ordered a 'half and half' Poboy - half oyster and half shrimp.  I also ordered a 'Drunken Oyster Shooter', which consisted of a fresh bayou oyster in an ounce of vodka and Bloody Mary mix, garnished with a pickled green bean. Oh yeah!!

This Drunken Oyster Shooter was really good!

 

My half and half Poboy sandwich.

Doreen's roast beef Poboy

 The Poboy buns were outstanding.  So fresh, almost unbelievable.

More street artists painting, performing street magic, playing jazz music, etc!  Fun!

Cafe du Monde.  We had to stop here and pick up some beignet's which are deep fried nuggets of sweetened dough sprinkled with powdered sugar, or also called 'Louisiana style donuts'!

So Doreen came home with a Mardi Gras mask and a nice sweatshirt!

Ready for Mardi Gras!

We had a lot of fun today just walking around and looking at the buildings and the sites.  This weekend we are going to avoid the downtown area and drive to see a couple lighthouses.  We will also do some laundry and make preparations to pull chocks Monday morning and head to western Louisiana for our next stop, before we head into Texas.