New Orleans

Jan 19 (Sun) Saint Charles, IL - New Orleans, LA

Travel Day

Fortunately, the winter storms of Fri/Sat were over so our flight was on time and uneventful. Arrived in New Orleans around 1:15p with a temperature of 50deg. Cooler than normal but much better than Chicago's 15 and windy! We decided not to rent a car as parking is very expensive and hard to find. So, we cabbed it to the airbnb. We are staying in the warehouse district which is about a mile West of the French Quarter.

Went out for a late lunch/early dinner so we could get back to watch the Packers in the NFC championship game. Lots of restaurant options within a few blocks so, we just walked.

Dinner at Cochon

Kathryn and I shared Spicy Alligator Bites for an appetizer. Kathryn had Smoked Ham Hock and I had Pulled Pork Cochon. All was quite good. ***.5

NFC Championship: Packers vs. 49rs Game

We had some trouble with the TV. Seems they were too cheap to pay for cable so they had some hokey setup using a free trial on YouTubeTV on your smart phone. Usually, we could care less about TV BUT, the Packers were playing in the NFC championship! We ended up watching it on our phone. It was UGLY. The Packers were down 27 - 0 at halftime and lost badly. Stars: *

Lodging - Airbnb - Constance Lofts: 1041 Constance St.

This is a converted warehouse which, is really cool. As you can see from the pictures, it is quite unique. The place is clean and big (2 bdrm, 2ba) and unique. Stars: ****

All six nights.

Jan 20 (Mon) New Orleans, LA

Weather is unseasonably cool around 50 windy and sunny. Still much better than Chicago.

Lunch NOLA Caye

Late morning we headed out and stopped at NOLA Caye for an early lunch. Food was good. Staff was friendly.

After lunch we did a little grocery shopping for the week and then headed back to the airbnd.

French Quarter

Late afternoon we walked to the French Quarter (only about 1.2mi). We walked down Royal Street, a few side streets and then down famous Bourbon street. Having not been here before, I think my expectations were a little different than what we experienced. A fun party atmosphere for sure and since it was mid Jan, not crowded. I was was expecting lots and lots of small pubs with jazz, blues and good eats. I know we were early in the evening but, all we found were a couple of very loud and crowded rock venues which we skipped. We stopped at Pat O'Brien and had a drink, then wandered a bit looking for a decent restaurant. We ended up back on Royal street and found a nice restaurant for dinner.

Dinner at Mr B's

This was a nice find. Both had Gumbo and then Kathryn had Trout and I had Bacon Wrapped Shrimp and Grits. All the food was very good.

Based on what we saw on Bourbon street earlier, we decided to just walk back to the bnb instead of hanging out.

Jan 21 (Tue) New Orleans, LA

Weather cool and windy again today. No problem, just need to dress a little warmer.

Culinary Walking Tour - Dr Gumbo's

SoBuo: Dishes: Fried Pork Skins- ok, Boudin Balls - very good and Beignets - very good

Pepper Place: Dishes: Unlimited samples + 1 bottle of Pepper Palace Heat hot sauce - Sauces were tasty, and we got two bottles to take home.

Leah's Pralines: Dishes: Traditional Praline and Bacon Pecan Brittle. Saved the Praline for a snack.

NOLA PoBoys: Dish: Muffuletta - a bit greasy but good and Fried Catfish Poboy - very good

Tujague's: Dish: Creole Beef Brisket with German Horseradish Sauce - excellent. 2nd oldest restaurant in New Orleans.

Creole Cookery: Dish: Gumbo - deliciuos

Our tour guide was really informative, learned alot about the history of New Oleans and about the Creole and Cajun food New Olreans made famous. Most importantly, we got a lot of very delicious food! Stars: *****

French Quarter

We walked through the French Quarter taking a couple of pictures on our way to Frenchmen St for some live music.

Frenchmen St

Frenchmen St is the place for live music (unless your a head banger then Bourbon St is your spot). We were early but bands were already playing.

Stopped in and listened to several bands at Bamboulas , Three Muses and 30/90. We also stopped at the Spotted Cat but it was pretty crowded and between bands so we didn't stay.

Frenchmen St Music Scene Rating: ****

We did not need dinner tonight. The Culinary Tour had us covered. Took and Uber back to the bnb.

Jan 22 (Wed) New Orleans, LA

Weather cool and windy.

French Quarter / Cabildo Museum

Light day today. Breakfast at the bnb. Then we went back to the French Quarter and toured the Cabildo Museum.

It is a small museum with one floor dedicated to the Battle of New Orleans at the end of the war of 1812. The Americans won the day and Andrew Jackson who led the outnumbered American forces against the attacking British was the hero. War memorabilia and lots about Jackson. There was also a cool interactive display of how the NOLA area geography and city evolved over the years. Ok Museum. Stars: **.

Lunch at Cafe Mesparo in the French Quarter

Had a late lunch near the museum. Kathryn had red beans, rice and sausage, I had a Chef Salad. OK.

Jazz - Delfeayo Marsalis and the Uptown Jazz Orchestra at Snug Harbor

In the evening we took an Uber back to Frenchmen Street and had tickets to a really fun jazz show. Turns out, our good friends Eric and Kay from Chicago are vacationing in NOLA same week as us. They had tickets to the show and so we joined them.

The band was huge! Piano, Bass Fiddle, Drums, four trumpets, two trombones, one clarinet and five different saxophones ranging from Alto sax to Baritone Sax. The show was fantatastic, Delphius (Trombone) made it fun between songs and the sound was huge. Throughout the show they highlighted each musician in the band at least once, each delivering great performances. Big sound, lot's of energy and lot's of fun. Stars: *****.

A few of movies 1 in the street and 3 at Snug Harbor

Dinner at Snug Harbor

After the show we stayed for a light dinner with Kay and Eric. Really nice spending time in NOLA with our friends.

Jan 23 (Thu) New Orleans, LA

Weather warmer and rain.

We had anticipated rain today so planned our visit to the WWII War Museum for this day only a couple of blocks from our bnb.

World War II War Museum

The WWII museum was amazing. The place is huge and has amazing curated exhibits with lots and lots of videos and personal accounts throughout. Exhibits included: "The Arsenal of Democracy" highlighting the tremendous effort put forth by all Americans once we were in the war to build the industrial war complex. "Campaigns of Courage: European and Pacific Theaters", "US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center" with all kinds of weapons and planes, and the "John E Kushner Restoration Pavilion" to learn about the science, technology, engineering and math advancements (which we didn't see). We also watched a 4D experience narrated by Tom Hanks called "Beyond All Borders" which took you through the whole war in an hour. We spent 6 hours and were both impressed and moved by the museum. Stars: *****.

Dinner at bnb

Tonight we just ate in and watched Better Call Saul on Kathryn's Laptop.

Jan 24 (Fri) New Orleans, LA

Weather is warming up. Around 60 today and sunny.

We had a late breakfast at the bnb finishing up most of the groceries we had bought.

Katrina Tour

Kay and Eric did this tour earlier in the week and was highly recommended. We walked back to the French Quarter to catch the tour bus. Only one other couple was on the tour which was nice.

Katrina was the 2005 hurricane which devastated the city of New Orleans. The French Quarter which sits slightly higher than the rest of the city was flooded but the water receded fairly quickly. However, much of New Orleans was under water (up to the 2nd story in places) for weeks which destroyed everything. Much of New Orleans sits on swamp land and through a series of pumps and canals water is pumped out into Lake Pontchartrain to the West. Levies are built up so much of New Orleans sits in a bowl like depression. Storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain caused water to reverse through the canals back into New Orleans. The power of the water caused levies to fail in over 50 places. The failed levies caused the flood.

The tour was 3 /12 hrs, the tour guide was a retired news reporter that covered Katrina and was heavily involved in trying to help citizens work with FEMA. FEMA failed the people of New Orleans badly and in many ways. 1800 people perished in the disaster. The guide showed genuine anger (at FEMA) and sorrow as he recalled his experiences. We stopped at several places and drove through many of the neighborhoods. Since it is 15 years since the Hurricane, most is already rebuilt. In the affluent neighborhoods, homes were rebuilt on raised foundations from a few feet to many feet off the ground. Levies have been repaired and improved. Gates have been put in the canals that can close in the event of future storm surges.

In a couple of the pictures you will see and X and writing on a house. This is where recovery teams marked the date, if any deaths were found, and if they entered the building. Striking is how high these marks were made. The rescue crews were in boats and you can see some of the marks were well up on the second story of the building.

The tour stopped a few places including a cemetery, a Katrina memorial, Lake Pontchartrain, and City Park. Stars: ****.

Note: I added four pictures from the web to better show the extent of the flooding.

Katriina from the Web 2005

Katriina Tour

Dinner at Deanie's

Originally we had dinner reservations at Antoine's which is the oldest restaurant in New Orleans. However, we mentioned that when we were on the tour and the guide said they had a dress code and you probably needed at least a sport. I had not packed anything but casual clothes so, we canceled. The tour guide mentioned Deanie's as one of his favorite seafood restaurants so, that is where we went. It was in the French Quarter so, we walked around some after the tour and then headed over for an early dinner. We really enjoyed the meal. We shared our entrees of Crawfish Etouffee and Blackened Grouper. The restaurant was not too crowded or loud and the food was Delicious!. Stars: ****

Bourbon Street

Since it was our last day we decided to head back to Frenchman St for some more live music. We walked down Bourbon St which was starting to party. Kathryn described it as one long dive bar, which is pretty accurate. But, it was festive and full of energy so, it was fun to pass through.

Frenchmen Street

Frenchmen St is the best place for live music. We went back to 30/90 which wasn't too crowded yet so we got a good table. The first band was John Ronger and the Good for Nothing Band and the second band was Simple Sound Retreat. Both were good.

Jan 25 (Sat) New Orleans, LA => Saint Charles, IL

Weather Clear in both NOLA and Chicago so good for travel.

Early travel day. Took an Uber to the airport at 6:15am for our 8:30 flight on American. Had breakfast at the airport and had an uneventful flight back to Chicago. American Coach took us home.

Home Sweet Home!

Summary

New Orleans is a fun place to visit. Probably come back.

People in general were pretty friendly. The homeless were sad to see and there is a grunge vibe, especially on Bourbon Street.

Food was great. Stars: ****

Music was great, especially Delfeayo Marsalis. Frenchmen Street is the place. Stars: ****

Walkability was great. Walked everywhere. Only did ride share later at night.

Culinary Tour was great, excellent food, good guide. Stars: *****

Cabildo Museum was kind of boring. Stars: **

WWII Museum was amazing. Stars: *****

Katrina Tour was good. Stars: ****

Lodging was OK. The airbnd Loft was pretty cool, very unique and hugely spacious. It was located just a few blocks from the French Quarter in the warehouse district which also had its share of restaurants, etc. The TV did not work, and the internet was weak, otherwise I would have added another star. Stars: ***

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