New Orleans Relaxed

April 2, 2018

Ah, a day off in New Orleans . . . today and tomorrow. Having been here before (after I biked the Natchez Trace from Nashville and then followed the Mississippi River Train, MRT, to New Orleans), I was in no need to play tourist. Still, I wanted to refamiliarize myself with the French Quarter and make plans for dinner. Dinner at my favorite place, the ACME Oyster House.

But first, breakfast . . . a traditional breakfast. And while it would be nice to enjoy a beignet and coffee, the lines at most places, and in particular, at Café du Monde, were too long and not worth the wait. On the other hand, there was no line at Belle's Diner . . . so that's where I wandered and spent my time over a leisurely meal. And then I just wandered the city with no particular agenda . . . and it was a beautiful day for that.

An eclectic "junk" or "collectibles" shop, depending on your persuasion!

Floodgates leading to Dumaine Station, which serves the streetcar, and the Mississippi River.

Café Du Monde . . . and yes, a beignet would have been nice . . .

. . . but the line was already huge (two of them), even at this early hour.

The view towards the river from Washington Artillery Park. It looks like they have a nice streetscape project under way.

And the monument to the unit, the Washington Artillery Park.

And on the landside, you get a nice view of Jackson Square and the St. Louis Cathedral.

And then along came Steamboat Natchez . . . which helped me decide on tomorrow's activities.

And then I visited the closed Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Preserve French Quarter Visitor Center (that's a mouthful) and wandered the streets looking for the homes I had read about on the publicly available placards. Along the way, I just took pictures of street cameos that interested me.

And I'm always a sucker for balconies with flowers . . .

. . . and interesting streetscapes . . .

These are the tiny, tiny police cars they use in the Quarter . . . as you can see, easy to park.

An interesting-looking structure. I'm sure they all have interesting stories to tell.

Maybe I should have just taken a walking tour . . . but had other things in mind.

This was an interesting place, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, that seemed to be open 24 hours . . . and always had customers.

So I finally made it to my first historic house (seen on the placard earlier), 1109-1111 Bourbon Street. Essentially unchanged since 1890, this is a double-barrel shotgun house under one roof.

On my way to the second one, I saw this house, which I liked, even without a balcony (ha ha).

And I liked these wooden stoops that led up to the first floor and looked good enough to sit on. Reminds me of Baltimore . . .

And this is a real historic house on the National Register at 923 Governor Nicholls Street . . . dates to 1887.

Then back to the hunt, and my second historic house from the earlier placard, 1218 Burgundy, dates to 1810 with little change.

Then back to my hotel, which is historic as well.

And I was soon poolside . . . for the afternoon, my real goal for the day, before heading out to Acme Oyster House for an "early" dinner.

Chargrilled oysters at Acme Oyster House. As the menu says, "sizzling, chargrilled oysters saturated in an herb butter sauce, topped with a special blend of cheese." Delicious and my favorite so far on this entire trip.

And one thing nice about the bar (the real bar, not the raw bar) at Acme is the people you meet. Always good company.

All supervised and directed by Miss Pat . . . who was also here in 2014 when I last visited.

And the walk home down Bourbon Street . . . fun to look at but not for me to partake of (I had my oysters and drinks at Acme). I'm still in the early to bed, early up mode!

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