Wofford Travels – 2019-10-28 – New Orleans-2
Greetings,
We started our day at 8:30 with the full breakfast at the Drury. It had pretty much everything you would include in a breakfast meal.
By 11:00 we were out the door, ready to explore the environs of New Orleans. The day was mostly going to involve walking around the French Quarter. We covered a number of streets before reaching Jackson Square, which has many artists along the sidewalk and a number of shops and galleries. I checked out some of the shops and made a nice purchase in one. I was ready to see if we might get to eat the famous beignets of the Café du Monde. I couldn’t leave New Orleans (NOLA) without that experience.
Alas, the line was long, and we’re not good at waiting in long lines (you get spoiled from being retired for so many years because you can pick when you want to do things, which is often not during busy times). So, we walked around some more, and then at some point, Tom could see that the Café du Monde line had shortened considerably. We immediately got on it and were seated within a few minutes. What a stroke of luck!
If you haven’t had the experience of eating that beignet (otherwise known as a French donut), you are missing out. It has a more chewy consistency than an American donut. And…they load it up with powdered sugar. It’s a trick to keep it off yourself, especially, your face, while relishing this iconic dessert. That, along with the famous Café du Monde Chicory Coffee, can’t be beat. By the way, this original French Market Coffee Stand serves café au lait and hot beignets 24/7, year round. The landmark building has been located in the French Market since 1862.
As we continued to walk, I was waylaid by a saleswoman standing outside a beauty shop, handing out samples of their product. In fact, a fellow from the shop handed me a sample as we were going to the shops earlier. I grabbed it and went on as he was trying to speak with me. So, sure enough, the woman caught me going back…in the midst of all the crowds. With a promise of 5 minutes I went in. Then she wanted to have me try the product (needed 30 minutes) and with Tom’s OK (he went off to do something else), I remained. I did end up buying one of their items because it was fairly high tech, so I don’t regret the time spent there. Thank you, Tom for your patience.
We headed over to Deanie’s Seafood for dinner at 4:30. We began with an appetizer of crab-stuffed mushrooms, and it was excellent! Of course, if there are soft shell crabs on the menu, I will get them, and there were. We both ordered that which came with fries. And, we asked to split the vegetables of the day: zucchini and squash.
Turns out that the waiter mistakenly thought we wanted to split the soft shell crabs also, so one plate came out. It didn’t take long to figure out what happened. However, it was a good mistake because…I quickly found out that they had been prepared… spicy. “OK, Tita, you’re in Cajun country. Why would you not have expected that?” Because I’ve never eaten spicy soft shell crabs. I ended up giving mine to Tom (there are two on a plate, and ordered broiled grouper, which was also excellent, and a side salad. It’s interesting how something, which starts out as a negative, can end up as a positive.
After dinner we headed out to walk some more and I was on assignment to find a couple small items for some friends. One mishap…on the way to the shops, I tripped and hit my left knee on the pavement, and banged my arm some. I can tell you that, in New Orleans, there are a lot of streets, which have broken or missing bricks, or the bricks don’t lie flat, which can be dangerous if you are not careful. I would continuously see holes in the street where people could easily fall. I just happened to not catch one of them. Fortunately, I didn’t break the skin and it barely feels sore. My arm seems to be all right too. I was lucky! And, yes, I was wearing “legitimate” walking shoes, bought for walking on the streets during my travels.
We stopped in a couple stores and I found what I needed to purchase. Then back to the Drury. Lights were out by midnight.
Tomorrow we drive to Alabama.
Tita