Day 2 Touchdown New Orleans!
New Orleans, Louisiana
We arrived to New Orleans, Louisiana - Place # 1 - yesterday afternoon around 3p after gaining an hour on the first official day of our road trip! With no traffic along the way, beautiful weather with clear skies and everything packed in our new hybrid Honda CRV, we hit the road for Nawlins’.
Just 8 hours total, crossing over Alabama and Mississippi, with a couple of stops, a driver change and an impressive behemoth of a bridge we crossed to enter New Orleans and we had arrived at our hotel. We stayed at the Mercantile in the ‘CBD’ or Central Business District as my friend Sarah, a New Orleans aficionado, informed us as we ate beignets from Cafe du Monde overlooking the Mississippi River earlier today. But, before I get to our rendezvous with Sarah, some thoughts on our experience in the city I knew as the home of Mardi Gras and utter devastation from Hurricane Katrina and Ida.
I was surprised to see the heart of the city was situated within the radius of a much larger metropolis. The more common images I’d often seen of New Orleans were focused on the streets of the French Quarter or the quaint storefronts and restaurants that are scattered among the cobblestone squares. As we headed towards the city center you could see the outskirts were still riddled with damage and debris and unrestored buildings and homes. Fifteen years later and the damage is still omnipresent.
Tom and I walked to a nearby restaurant for a bite and a drink before heading out to City Park - the ‘Central Park’ of New Orleans. The holiday lights were still hung up among the willow trees and throughout the park so we took a stroll under the lights.
We meandered through city park only to find that the amusement park we’d hoped to visit was closed. But we found plenty of other enchanting areas to enjoy on this beautiful, calm evening before dinner.
After our walk through the park, we arrived to Toup’s Meatery - the restaurant we chose for dinner. Many of the popular favorites were closed as Tuesday is a common day off for restaurants which was news to me. Toup’s was a great little find by the park. Can you guess what we ate? We ate meat and a little Louisiana Seafood gratin dip and a little Cajun style shrimp as well. The meal became our night cap and we decided to call it a night and head home.
After I failed to wake up early to get some exercise in before we started the day, we woke up a bit later, had some breakfast and started walking. We walked along Magazine St. and towards the French Quarter with Cafe du Monde as the final destination and its famous beignets as the prize at the end. The streets were eerily quiet yet peaceful for a walk around town.
We made it to Cafe du Monde just by the river and got beignets and met up with my friend Sarah. Sarah and I know each other from NYC when we were ice skating coaches and performers for Ice Theatre of New York together. She is back living in NYC but happened to be in New Orleans for a few weeks so we had to meet up to say hi. It had been about 2 years since we last saw each other, before the pandemic. She visited Tom and I and stayed with us when she was in Atlanta for a Kaboom playground development gig she was working at the time.
Sarah, Tom and I went to the river to enjoy the beignets. They were delicious and delightful, but I’d argue that as per usual - it was the experience of finding the beignets and the ambiance of the local New Orleans jazz band playing outside and the Mississippi River in the background of the cityscape that made this worthwhile. After we wandered around the streets of the French Quarter, Jackson Square and the like, we said farewell to Sarah and parted ways.
Our next stop is Houston, Texas! Stay tuned and keep wandering with us!
