New Orleans

We got back last Sunday from a wonderful trip to New Orleans. We had such a fun time - I understand now why they call it the Big Easy! It's a great city with a ton of culture all its own. Everyone's laid back and ready for a celebration.

We got in on Tuesday knowing that the Quarterfest Jazz festival was starting on Thursday - before the mad rush. I'm glad we did! We were able to really enjoy wandering around town for a couple days. We saw so many incredible sights:

• The famous Bourbon Street, which is pretty much a dirty mini version of Vegas
• French Market filled with local crafts
• Incredible live music - my favorite, other than the festival, was at the Spotted Cat where the lead singer used a wash basin instead of a mic and the band included a saw. Yup. Sounds crazy, but the music was incredible! 
• Riding the streetcar to Garden District - Beautiful! Then walking through the above ground cemeteries.

And then there was the food...wow! We tried Charbroiled Oysters, Gumbo, Po Boys, Crawfish (and even saw crawfish eating competition!). Our favorite dinner was at the Louisiana Bistro - a super small chef driven restaurant.

  

Our B&B was just wonderful - we enjoyed every minute there! The morning before we left, we even enjoyed mimosas with the proprietors! It was only 1/2 block north of the French Quarter so we could literally walk everywhere. Not the safest city we've been in, but the people we met were so friendly and enjoyable.

Now for some pictures:

Eating crawfish for the first time. It's an art form. We had to be taught!

Po'Boy!

Note the gorilla dancing behind the Navy band. He was having a very good day - we saw him multiple times!

Beautiful French Quarter

Streetcar

Beads still in the trees from Mardi Gras

At the Quarter Fest - this was Friday which was significantly quieter than Saturday



Eating a beinet and cafe au lait at Cafe Du Monde. Note the mound of powdered sugar in front of us? Yes, that's the beinet. It got ALL over my pants - but so worth it!



Mike's new hat - like? :)