December 12, 2004

December 12, 2004

New Orleans

DAY 178

 

" Have mercy and say Hallelujah "

" Laissez les bons temps rouler "

Welcome to " The Big Easy ". I have no idea why New Orleans is called that.

What a great day ! Woke up to a sunny, warm day. I stepped outside to take Bo to the bathroom. We both stepped off the trailer's bottom step, and ... SPLOOSH ! Geeeez ... we're camped in a swamp. Once off the asphalt parking pad, there's grass with an inch of water. There are rabbit droppings on the asphalt pad that the picnic table is on. Poor little bunnies have to climb up on the asphalt pad to find a dry enough place to have a dump. While I unhitched the truck from the trailer, and did my regular daily preventative maintenance, Joanne phoned to make reservations at Dan Akroyd's / Elwood Blue's "House Of Blues" Sunday Gospel Brunch. We drove downtown, to the French Quarter / Vieux Carré, and parked in the indoor parkade of the Wyndham Hotel. Gee ... Dee-Dee is not very easy to get in and out of an indoor parkade, especially one where you have to drive 5 stories up a spiral ramp to get to the parkade, then, of course, 5 stories down the spiral ramp at the end of the day. Sunday Gospel Brunch Buffet at The House Of Blues included mimosas, cheese grits, chicken jambalaya, blackened catfish with caviar, huge boiled shrimp, white chocolate bread pudding, and everything else one would expect to find at a Louisiana Cajun / Creole Sunday Brunch. The performers were a large, black, female Gospel singer, Paulette Wright, and a group of a dozen or so men called The Zulu Gospel Ensemble. It was quite a performance, and quite a meal ! Hallelujah ! Amen !

After the performance and brunch, we went outside onto Decatur Street, where I went shopping at Zydeco Blues Cajun Country Store while Joanne went shopping at The House Of Blues Store. I bought myself Joanne's Christmas gift to me, and Joanne bought herself my Christmas gift to her. Well ... at least we end up with what we want ! We walked a few blocks down Canal Street to the beginning of Bourbon Street, then wandered slowly down Bourbon Street, about 3/4 of the way down its 14 block length. In and out of stores, and bars, and restaurants, it's easy to imagine the atmosphere of Mardi Gras. We walked a block over to Royal Street, then a few blocks down to Preservation Hall. < sigh > It's closed on Sunday afternoons. So ... a couple of blocks over to Jackson Square, which was filled with painters, musicians, fortune tellers, and buskers of every sort. We listened to some street musicians performing blues. We watched a fascinating street performance by a group of acrobats. As the sun began to set, we wandered from Jackson Square towards French Market. In the Flea Market section of French Market, we bought another Christmas gift from me to Joanne. By now, we were pretty tired, and our feet were pretty sore, so we started to head back to the Wyndham Hotel where we were parked. Our last stop was at the world famous Café Du Monde, for café au lait, and, of course, their famous beignets. Man ... their café au lait was sooooo good, as was the coffee at the House Of Blues ... I sure would like some New Orleans Coffee for Christmas !

We were / are still so stuffed from brunch, that the café au lait and beignets was quite enough for supper. We finally got back to where the park was trucked, and began the 5 storey spiral descent. I don't think I should ever take Dee-Dee up into an indoor parkade again ! I just took her up there because the House Of Blues validated that parkade's ticket. We found our way out of downtown, and onto the bridge over the Mississippi River, no easy feat, and made our way back to Bayou Segnette State Park. We realized as we were driving "home" that we forgot to leave any lights on for Teddy and Bo, so we were a bit concerned. It was the first time Bo was left alone in the trailer, and we had been gone for the entire day. We were pleasantly surprised to find that there were no "accidents" or misbehaviour. What a good little pup !

Whew ... we're both suffering heartburn tonight. I wonder why ?

DSK